Lunar eclipse photo contest - WINNER

Photo: Guðmundur Ólafsson

Photo: Guðmundur Ólafsson

Guðmundur Ólafsson is the winner of Ice­land Monitor ’s lunar-eclipse photo com­pe­titi­on. The winning photograph is shown abo­ve.

Guðmundur’s beautiful photograph shows the blood-red moon shining above the iconic Leifur Eiríksson statue in front of Reykja­vik’s Hallgrímskirkja church.

As advertised, Guðmundur’s prize is a fantastic ARC-TIC Iceland IMT (Iceland Mean Time) Extreme sport watch (examples pictured below), courtesy of JS Watch Company Reykjavik .

The winner was offered a choice of wonderful watches.

The winner was offered a choice of wonderful watches. Photo: Golli / Kjartan Þorbjörnsson

Guðmundur is an engineer by profession and has been a keen amateur photographer since he was a teenager. He particular enjoys taking landscape pictures.

In the early hours of Monday morning, Guðmundur tried several locations looking for the perfect lunar-eclipse shot. He initially wanted a reflection-in-water image – for instance, in Tjörnin lake in central Reykjavik – but the height of the moon that night made such a shot impossible.

He also tried Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre as a possible location, but finally decided on the Leifur Eiríksson statue in front of Reykja­vik’s Hallgrímskirkja church as the ideal ‘frame’ for the red moon.

Master watchmaker Gilbert Ó. Guðjónsson presents the winner with his …

Master watchmaker Gilbert Ó. Guðjónsson presents the winner with his prize. Photo: Golli / Kjartan Þorbjörnsson

Readers can enjoy more of Guðmundur’s stunning photographs of Iceland on his Flicker page here .

The short list

Over 40 photos were received by budding photographers vying for the special prize. A short list of five was selected by Iceland Monitor journalists, from which Morgunblaðið photographers chose the overall winner.

The other four magnificent photographs on the short list can be seen below (in no particular order).

Photo: Aðalsteinn Atli Guðmundsson

Photo: Aðalsteinn Atli Guðmundsson

Photo: Borislav Makarov

Photo: Borislav Makarov

Photo: Aðalsteinn Atli Guðmundsson

Photo: Aðalsteinn Atli Guðmundsson

Photo: Borislav Makarov

Photo: Borislav Makarov

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