Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2006

Well, I am back from London, and I had an excellent time at the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2006 awards dinner.. With the long flights to London and back, the 24 hours spent on the other side of the pond was extremely worthwhile. The 2006 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards dinner was a fantastic event. The turnout was more than I would have anticipated, given where most of the winning photographers were coming from (non-UK). My only wish for the evening was that we could have used name tags, as I would have been able to say hello to some of my internet-based friends that I haven't put a face to.

A huge congratulations for the overall winner of the competition GÃran EhlmÃ, as his underwater walrus photograph is truly stunning. And his acceptance speech was one of the better speeches I have heard in quite a long time.

So why was I there? I had a 'Highly Commended' image in the Creative Visions of Nature category, and am completely flattered to be a part of the competition. Here is my winning image:

And here is the accompanying text:

'I set out to present one of the most photographed animals in Africa in a fresh way, explains Andy. The shot was taken early one morning in Tanzania, on Africa’s east coast, and features the trunk tip of a large bull elephant browsing on acacia. ˜The delicate dexterity of the tip, contrasting with the thorns and fissured skin, is what I particularly like about it, he says.

Here are a few more images from the evening.

Awards dinner

Wall of images

Comments

[mgraf]

IP: 69.47.29.202EMAIL: mark@grafphoto.comURL: http://www.grafphoto.comCongrats man - looking forward to seeing your shot when it comes through this area.

[Lucia]

IP: 200.150.56.192EMAIL: landreia@yahoo.comURL: http://umamallapelomundo.blogspot.comI was also there, but your pic of the ceremony looks much better than me. I was so nervous that could'nt help but shiver all shots. :)

Congrats for your image. Really striking.