When Sageston photographer Adam Jones gave himself the challenge of photographing Tenby lifeboat, he realised that capturing its power, enormity and sheer emotion was going to be tough.
But this week his efforts paid off after his stunning photograph was named winner of the International News Agency’s Photo of the Year competition.
His win is even more momentous given the fact that he was competing against some of the world’s leading photographers who work with top international press agencies such as Reuters and Getty Images.
“The standard was phenomenal so to be named as the overall winner was the last thing I was expecting,” Adam told The Herald.
“I took the picture back in March 2021 and it took me several weeks of trying to get it right. I wanted to portray the enormous sense of power that a lifeboat has, as it’s actually quite an emotional thing to see a lifeboat being launched. And this is what I wanted to capture.”
The problem was further exacerbated by the fact that Adam wanted his image to be immaculately composed and centralised.
But as soon as he captured the lifeboat plunging into the sea off Tenby Harbour during one of their weekly training evenings, he knew that the image he’d captured was a strong one.
He sent his photograph off to the South West News Services media agency who subsequently sold it to both The Times and the Daily Star newspapers. It was then automatically entered in the International News Agency’s Photograph of the Year competition where it made the top 100 images before being subjected to a 60-day public vote via the South West News Services website. And as a result of the public opinion, Adam’s Tenby Lifeboat reigned supreme.
“And this is another reason why winning the competition means so much to me,” he continued.
“I know every single member of the Tenby Lifeboat crew who are just ordinary family lads living and working around Tenby but who provide this incredible service on a daily basis, putting their lives at risk.”
Adam, who is employed as an HGV lorry driver with Gregory Distribution, took up photography just three years ago during the first lockdown.
“Even though I was working throughout lockdown, driving all over the country, I decided to take up photography as a new hobby. It’s as simple as that.”
The photograph was captured with a Nikon D4 and a 70-200mm lens.
Adam has donated all the photographic rights to the RNLI who will be using the shot for future nationwide advertising campaigns.
