Round 1 Winner of our Photography Competition

The winner of Round 1 of our Photography Competition has been chosen!

The magical image of sanderlings in the crashing waves at Koppie Alleen came out tops in over 100 entries. For the judges it was no easy task, the competition was tough. “Something about this image takes me back to the De Hoop shores on an early morning or late afternoon walk. It's almost as if I can hear the waves again!” said Jade Hastings, the inspiration behind the competition and co-judge. 

The winner, Dionne Miles, had this to say about the winning image. “This photo was taken during a 5-day stay at De Hoop in October 2017. While any stay at De Hoop is magical come rain or shine, in terms of photography I had struggled with the weather conditions for the first couple of days - it was either pouring with rain, blowing a gale or harsh bright sunlight, sometimes all in one day! On this occasion though, I made it to Koppie Alleen beach before dawn and as the sun started to rise, a gorgeous mist created the most magical soft pink light. I spent some time with a pair of oystercatchers at the first bay and then walked on to the next bay to see what I could find there - as I rounded the rocks a flock of sanderlings that had been feeding close to the tidal zone took off…and I managed to get just one shot before they disappeared out of view. While all it took was a (freezing!) dawn walk across the beach, the magic for me was three-fold: (1) I was completely alone in this pristine, protected coastal environment; (2) the sanderlings had migrated all the way from the arctic tundra to be here and (3) the ocean has a wild, timeless beauty to it. For how many hundreds of years has this scene played out with no human eyes or lens to witness it?”

William Stephens, the owner of De Hoop Collection, said “Dionne Miles is such a great supporter of de Hoop and is certainly a worthy winner of the competition - congratulations!”

Round 2 of the competition kicked off on 1 June and will run until 10 August. A 2-night stay for 2 guests in a self-catering cottage is up for grabs. Full terms and conditions can be found here.