We’ve Chosen the Winner of Our Photography Competition!

We’re happy to announce that Pia Jakobsen’s photograph of children playing among water fountains at one of the French Riviera’s most popular attractions has been named the winner of our photographic competition.

Pia, a software engineer and avid amateur photographer from Oslo, was among 10 shortlisted on our website, Facebook and Twitter pages. Around 60 photographs from across Europe were submitted for the competition, to mark the 10th anniversary of our website.

Pia, 47, travels frequently to the region where she and her partner have a holiday home just outside Nice. She captured the image on a whim whilst walking past the fountains after a day on the beach. The picture was taken on a Nikon D800 with a 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 lens, at f/8, 1/250 exposure.

“I saw the fog starting in the background, and I instinctively took out my camera and shot the picture, without any preparation, and then went and did my shopping,” Pia told us. “When I got back home, I realised the picture had gone well, so I converted it to black and white, and added a hint of  selenium-tone to it to give it a blue tint.

“I’ve never, ever, won a photography competition before and I didn’t expect to win because of the excellent standard of all the shortlisted photographs. When I learned I had won, I was so pleased I jumped up and down!”

Our editor Justin commented that the combination of incredible atmosphere, the contrast between the modern backdrop yet quintessentially summer scene, fantastic composition and accomplished technique, marked the image out as the clear winner. “Pia’s picture summed up the traditional French summer, but with a modern twist. She is a very worthy winner and her photograph generated a significant amount of interest online.”

Pia will receive an Olympus SH-60 camera, from the manufacturer’s Traveller range. She is also looking to travel further around Europe shortly to indulge her love of photography.

The Promenade du Paillon park, constructed over a river with the same name, was opened in Nice in 2013 and includes the shallow water feature adjacent to Place Masséna. The park and water display became instantly popular with visitors and tourists.

Congratulations Pia from all of us at FrenchEntrée!

We will be launching our next reader photography competition very soon – so get snapping!