I snapped a picture of iconic Lancashire tower with my phone from passenger seat on M6

A photographer who took a phone picture of Lancashire's iconic Pennine Tower from a car passenger seat has been shortlisted for a prestigious British Photography Award.

placeholder image — Pennine Tower | Amy Oliver

The Grade II listed Pennine Tower at Lancaster (formerly Forton) Services on the M6 motorway is a 1960s landmark and former restaurant, and celebrated example of post-World War II Brutalist architecture.

Amy Oliver, who doesn't own a camera, took the image with her iPhone from the front passenger seat of a car heading southbound on the M6 in February this year.

She said “I’ve passed the Tower numerous times over the years and have taken hundreds of images of it, but this is the first time I’ve entered any of them for this award (or any other). I’m a huge fan of brutalism, and the Pennine Tower has and will always be one of my favourites”.

Amy is a self-taught and experimental photographer who founded and runs The House of Smalls, a women-first art gallery based in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

She has also had photographs shortlisted for two other distinguished art exhibitions; the ING Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries, London, with an image of an industrial structure taken from the A1(M) in Stockton-on-Tees; and Visual Arts Scotland‘s Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, with an image of the Forth (Rail) Bridge.

She said: “I’m still in shock, I’ve been exhibiting the work of others for the last 6 years and haven’t submitted any of my own ‘travel documentary’ photographs for anything previously.

"I don’t own a camera and just really enjoy capturing images with my phone from unusual angles and settings.

"To have now had work selected by three esteemed organisations within such a short period of time is completely overwhelming...it really does come in threes!”.

The British Photography Awards and the ING Discerning Eye exhibition will be held in London in November. Visual Arts Scotland’s exhibition will be open to the public in January 2027.