ASPC has held a photography competition, now, for 4 years. We have always been very pleased with the response and highly impressed with the quality. This year’s invitation to enter, resulted in 300 entries, which we at ASPC find very encouraging.

As is our practice, we have chosen twelve winners. In addition to receiving a modest gift, each will be featured on our website home pages -one per month.

Our July winner – Mike Diamond  – has provided us with a beautiful view of one of the majestic tall ships, setting out from the harbour. Aberdeen has been very fortunate to have had two visits from the Tall Ships Race, in recent years. These provide a terrific spectacle, both in the docks, and entering and leaving the port. They are very popular visitors to the City,  promote a good deal of business in our community, and are a major tourist attraction.

This picture highlights one of the essential characteristics of Aberdeen – a port City, with a millennium experience of seafaring. It is particularly apposite to have a tri – masted sailing ship in the harbour mouth, as Aberdeen had a tradition of shipbuilding, including the Thermopylae – a tea clipper, and rival of Cutty Sark.

Apart from the stirring sight of the sailing ship, Mike’s picture has a panoramic view of the bay, and the City, set against an impressive, but not threatening, cloudscape. It is heartening to see so many folk gathered to wave farewell; a sure sign of the attraction of these vessels.

Whether conscious or not, Mike has caught the vessel neatly positioned between the old and new harbour control towers. Was this deliberate, or did he just think – “Man, that’s a bonny picture”?