Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011...

From looking on the internet I found out about this huge competition and exhibition held in London over the winter. I wanted to be the one of the first to look at it, nevertheless I had not had the time over Christmas. The temporary gallery was set up at the Natural History Museum and was on until 11th March 2012. I went to see more that 100 prize winning photographs of 17 categories all captured last year. This is a worldwide competition and it is considered the most prestige of its kind, attracting all ages; because of this I was not surprised it was heaving with people.

The image above shows the student ticket I purchased for this event.

The exhibition involved photogenic plants, fascinating animals and dramatic landscapes. I noticed though that a key component to the show was the stories which accompanied the photographs. It did not just seem to be about the photograph but also the dedication that was submitted. For example in some of the images they were faced with life or death as huge mammals were charging towards them. It was a truly impressive photography exhibition and took my breathe away, just like many of the other visitors. Nevertheless the fact that it was called "Wildlife" Photographer of the Year put me off originally as I would have preferred to have gone to the Landscape Photographer of the Year which was next to Tate Modern although I did not have enough time and had to pay. On the other hand it did not contain just wildlife but all kinds of insects, birds, animals and traditional landscape sceneries.

Photograph taken by Eric Pierre of charging muskoxen in Canada.

I tried my best to capture some of the photographs from the exhibition even though I was told off later to display on my blog. The photograph above displayed on a digital display goes back to what I was talking about previously. The image was captured by Eric Pierre and entitled "The Charge." He had been tracking Arctic wolves in Canada when he spotted a herd of muskoxen approaching. He noticed the herd was nervous and this was probably because the wolves were on their trail. Eric mentioned in the statement below the image, "It was one of those situations where it really mattered that I made the right choice between technical accuracy, aesthetics - and security." It was shot using a Nikon D700 with a 500mm lens, 1/2000 second at f8 ISO 400. I think this image is incredible and in my opinion deserved to win the category, although it came runner up in "Behavior of Mammals"

The image was captured by Daniel Jara in the Patagonian woodscape.

Once again I was drawn to this runner up with an inspirational photograph of Patagonian woods. Daniel Jara had been trekking across the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina  and became engaged with the colours and textures of the sub Antarctic woodland that surrounded the glacier. He was intrigued between the relationship between the skeleton trees and the autumn colours. I think the final touch is added by the windswept snowflakes as they lead your eye all around the image from right to left. A Nikon D300 with a 70-200mm lens was used with a shutter speed of 1/10 at f16. I expect he would have also used a polarizing filter because when I am shooting trees I like to get the contrast and bring the tree foreground forward, It makes the colours more vibrant as well. I was really inspired by this photograph and I had to stand for a while to take it in. A simple composition could have been taken by anyone but captured to perfection at the right time of day and with unusual weather.

A sad story but really shows "The Assassin" of the snipe by Steve Mills.

This photograph was taken in the severe freeze in the UK in December 2010. It caused major problems for british birds, and even secretive birds were forced to roam around. Steve located a tiny patch of exposed grass near where he lived in Whitby and waited. He knew that a bird would have to come sometime. He next saw a snipe emerge trying to feed frantically. I know from experience that a snipe would normally be more cautious. Within moments later a merlin pin pointed the snipe and swooped to collect it, taking a few rapid blows to the head, the attack was unexpected. Steve said, "I was overjoyed to find I had captured the moment, but I also felt great sympathy for the loser." I totally agree with him, a brilliant shot and deserved to be the winner for this category of behavior of birds.

Motion is shown from photographer Jan van der Greef.

This photograph was taken in the Netherlands. Jan was captivated by herring gulls and wanted to get a picture of them, he crouched down low in his boat and concentrated on a single bird. Once the gull started to fly off he panned his camera horizontally using a slow shutter speeds and captures the wing dynamics. The soft lighting and shimmering stream of water from its legs almost symbolizes the transition of freedom for the gull itself.  I thought this image would fit in with my theme about movement and long shutter speeds. This was because something is not what it seems when it is viewed in a varied perspective. The shot was captured with a Canon EOS 1D with a 70-200mm lens at 1/6 second, f14 and ISO 200.


I had really enjoyed looking at this exhibition in the Natural History Museum and I got to see more than I expected; I certainly underestimated the gallery before going. This was one of the best exhibitions I had been to over the past year or so. My breathe was truly taken away at some points as I could not believe what I was seeing. After seeing this exhibition it certainly makes me want to carry on doing photography later in life.