AN amateur photographer is celebrating after his dramatic image of waves battering the sea wall at Seaham Harbour was chosen for the finals of the BBC Countryfile Calendar competition for 2020.

Neil Rutherford, 67, who is a member of The Northern Echo Camera Club, said: "I am thrilled to bits. Because I am only an amateur photographer and have only been taking photographs for about three years."

His image, The Tide is High, will feature for the month of February on the calendar. Mr Rutherford is now waiting to find out if he has been chosen by a public vote to feature on the cover.

He said: “Getting the image was a matter of timing. It has been photographed lots of times by many people. But the perfect conditions are a north or north-easterly wind.

"You need to go down when the tide is half way in and the the waves are progressively hitting the pier at the right point. That is when you get the greatest effect of the waves hitting the sea wall and coming over the lighthouse.

"And it doesn’t have to be a big wind to get the effect. The thing is too that the wind will be blowing on to the cameras lens, because it will be coming from that direction. So you will get the sea spray as well and have to remember to keep wiping your lens."

The theme for the 2020 Countryfile Calendar is Beauty and the Beasts. Mr Rutherford's photograph was the only one in black and white and without animals. He used a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 300mm lens.