A PHOTO showing a natural phenomenon which catapulted West Dorset into the spotlight is once again showing off the region’s beauty.

James Loveridge’s photo of fog rolling off cliffs at West Bay has seen him shortlisted for the Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition in the ‘view from above’ category.

James made a time lapse video of the phenomenon, which was featured by the Bridport News in October last year. His photos and videos had more than five million views on Facebook and were shown on news channels in the UK, USA, Canada, Spain, Australia and Poland.

It was also shown on the front cover of the Outdoor Photography magazine in August 2017.

There were more than 17,000 entries from professional and amateur photographers for the competition, which features work from photographers around the world. But James’ stunning shot has made the shortlist. He said he was ‘absolutely delighted’ with the achievement.

The winners will be announced at the Photography Show at the NEC in Birmingham in March.

James said conditions were ‘perfect’ when he took the photo at 8am on October 28, 2016 while on his way to work. He works in marketing at West Dorset Leisure Holidays, and photography is part of his job, as well as being a hobby. 

James said: “Ever since I saw a photo from Iceland of fog rolling over a mountain ridge, I've always wanted to capture something similar and speed it up as a timelapse to show the fog flowing. Luckily at sunrise on that day there was no wind so I was able to hover my drone and capture timelapse videos and images of the fog flowing over the cliffs like a waterfall, due to a phenomenon known as a temperature inversion and a light breeze flowing off the land out to sea. It's something I've not seen before and hasn't happened again since. We get fog in the valleys of West Dorset on a few mornings a year but on that day the conditions were perfect.”