Chris Lewis was seriously injured in a fall during a rescue
More photographers have added their work to an auction to raise cash for a badly injured mountain rescuer.
The original tally of 25 participating landscape photographers has almost doubled.
So far, more than £7,000 has been pledged for the fundraising effort for Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team member Chris Lewis, who suffered life-changing injuries in a fall while on a callout in February.
Twenty additional photographers have donated prints to the online auction organised by Paula Mould and Jason Hudson. Among them are Rachael Talibart, a renowned seascape photographer; Simon Baxter, a talented landscape and woodland photographer with a formidable YouTube following; Alex Nail, who has won several top awards for his spectacular landscape photography and is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society; and the current Fotospeed Photographer of the Year, Greg Whitton, an outstanding photographer who has also previously won Outdoor Photographer of the Year. Other photographers to donate images have won a variety of awards and had images commended and highly commended in prestigious competitions.
The online event, which was launched with 25 images on 13 March, has now attracted even more interest from generous photographers who were keen to help. Paula Mould said: “When I initially had the idea of approaching photographers to ask them to donate an image for the auction, I was overwhelmed by how willing everyone was to get involved.
“This coupled with the amazing generosity of the people who are bidding on the images, has absolutely bowled us over. In under two weeks, the auction has already raised almost £5,000 and, with the announcement that another 20 outstanding photographers now have their prints up for auction, we are hopeful that we will be able to raise a really substantial amount of money. Chris Lewis, the Patterdale volunteer, remains in hospital with life-changing injuries and will need medical support for the rest of his life.
“We are immensely grateful to the photography community and also to the kind and generous people who are getting involved with the auction and placing their bids. We are doing everything we can to make people aware of this opportunity, not only to support Chris, but also to purchase a beautiful image by one of the UK’s top landscape photographers.”
A view of Great How from Holme Fell has been added to prints being auctioned. Photo: Greg Whitton
The auction originally went live on the auction site Jumblebee on Saturday 13 March at noon and the additional 20 images are also now live. The auction will end at 9pm on Tuesday 13 April.
The photographs can be seen, and bids submitted, on the Jumblebee website.
Chris Lewis fell 150m during a rescue on Red Screes above the Kirkstone Pass on 6 February and sustained life changing injuries. Chris remains in hospital since his accident where his condition is described as serious.
A JustGiving page set up by the umbrella body for the Lake District’s mountain rescue teams to raise funds for Mr Lewis’s support has so far attracted donations of almost £850,000.
