Gib photographer shortlisted in prestigious UK competition

Gibraltar-based photographer Steve Ball is one of 45 finalists in this year’s prestigious Royal Meteorological Society’s competition for ‘Weather Photographer of the Year’.
The competition is held in conjunction with the Royal Photographic Society and this year has seen some 2,000 entries.
The Royal Meteorological Society and The Royal Photographic Society announced the shortlist for this year’s contest last week.
It is only the second since its inception.
Around 2,000 photographs were submitted for the competition from more than 60 countries worldwide, and the 45 shortlisted images will tour the UK.
There were entries in two categories – 16 years and under, and 17 and older and have ranged from weather phenomena such as clouds, lightning, rain, fog or snow through to the impact of weather on humans, cities and the natural landscape.
Mr Ball’s photograph is one of the 45 short-listed for this year’s prize and features a rare Shelf Cloud captured on 7 July 2016 as storms moved North from Morocco across the Rock.
It gave a rare “positive” strike of lightning and thunder which shook buildings across the Rock.
“Weather and Photography are a great passion of mine,” Mr Ball told the Chronicle.
“I am very excited to have been short-listed for ‘Weather Photographer of the Year’ given the stiff competition – and am keeping my fingers crossed for the announcement in September,” he added.
Mr Ball is married to Steph Ball, the chief meteorologist at the Gibraltar-based marine and commercial weather consultancy MeteoGib.
He has won several competitions with his “weather photography” previously winning two regional Royal Meteorological Society competitions and also the Barclays Earth Global Photo Competition in 2016 which featured his picture of the Rock at Sunset.
The judges for the included Matt Taylor, a meteorologist and perhaps best known as a BBC weather presenter, Chief Executive of The Royal Photographic Society Dr Michael Pritchard and Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society Professor Liz Bentley.
The winner is expected to be announced next month, 20 September.