BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 07:19PM I just got back from an amazing evening at the Natural History Museum here in London, where the 2008 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards dinner was held. I can now announce that my Skeleton Coast of Namibia photograph won this year’s Wild Places category, and I was honored to play a part in the contest and awards dinner. There were some stunning images this year, to say the least. This was the second time for me to attend these festivities, but last time one of my images was a Highly Commended winner, and not the winner of a category. Here is a link to my WPOTY 2006 image.
I met some very outgoing personalities this evening, and I loved hearing the stories behind all of the images. I heard many different numbers of how many entries there were this year, but the consistent number I have heard was that there were over 34,000 entries, and roughly 12 categories where there was a winner. The overall Wildlife Photographer of the Year was chosen from 12 of us that won a category, and I know that all 12 of us were eager to hear who won the overall contest.
My Skeleton Coast image was taken in the spring of 2006, and we were flying from one camp to another. I was seated in the front seat of a Cessna Caravan, and had a significant amount of scratches and reflections on the windshield. I took with image with a Canon EOS 5D and a 24-105mm lens at 47mm with a polarizer. The settings were 1/1250 @ f/5.6, ISO 500.
I will wait for the press to announce who the overall winner of the competition is this year, as it will be more appropriate for the winner to be announced tomorrow with the press.
Here are a few images from the awards dinner. As you can see, it was held at an amazing location: The historic and grand Natural History Museum. Pardon the white balance issues of the images, as there were many theatrical lights that make for a difficult white balance setting.
Reader Comments (37)
Andy,
Congratulations. You have produced some amazing images and I am glad to see you are receiving recognition for your work. Well done.
Sweet.
Great image, as usual.
Congrats.
Nice one Andy. Congrats. Sean.
Congrats Andy. That's really an incredible shot. I thought that was taken more than a year ago though. In any case, well deserved!
Andy : Congratulations on this huge recognition. And for the image, its a masterpiece for sure
Thanks for all of the well wishes! What an honor, for sure.
Andy, congratulations!! Your picture is my favorite of all. It's from a place that I dream to go. Thanks much for highlighting with your award this beauty to the world.
Andy,
Outstanding! Let me add my hearty congratulations for your win. I regularly get BBC Books "Wildlife Photographer of Year Portfolio" and I'm looking forward to seeing your work grace the next one.
Congrats Andy...what a great honor and well deserved! Spectacular photo indeed!
Andy -
Congratulations on your well-deserved recognition! I'm sure that you will be a regular fixture at these awards for years to come! Enjoy the accolades, I'll raise a glass to you tonight.
Dave
Congratulations Andy!! That is an enormous award and your photo somehow captures the magnficent ruggedness and empty solitude of one of the few vast wild places that remain.
Andy
Congratulations and well done indeed! You must be delighted and rightly very proud.
Outstanding stuff - many congratulations!
Contratulations Andy, you deserve the recognition. I know there are many more awards in your future. Keep it up.
Chuck S
Congratulations Andy.. Spectacular photo !!
Ismar
Congratulations, Andy!
That's so awesome! Congratulations!!
i told u that this was the best picture ever. glad the guys at bbc see it this way, too.
congrats dude....btw, what fstop and settings did u use?? hahahaha
Andy:
Outstanding photograph. Taking advantage of the long charter flight defintely gave you the edge to win this prestigious award! Congratulations.
Fantastic! Congrats.
Way to go, Andy! Big congrats from Joy and me for a terrific image.
Congratulations Andy. This is a great achievement that you have deserved with this stunning image. I have been at the Skeleton Coast, but certainly have not seen it at this fantastic angle and weather.
Well done Andy. Great work !!
Dave
That is fantastic Andy!
The yearly exhibition of this competition is the source of inspiration for my own photography. Absolutely the most recognition you can get for your work. And you deserve it!
Giedo
You really deserve it. Keep on!
Mick
Well Done Andy!
Your photo is a deserved winner!
Your work is an inspiration to me and many other photographers I know - keep up the good work and I hope one day to be able to get some photos approaching your standard!
Do you have any more technical information of the shot to help? camera/lens/iso/shutter/f-stop?
Thanks again!
greg
TP Photography
W:www.thurtlepower.com
Thank you for all of the posts on this thread! You really are too kind. Props to Steve Winter who grabbed the overall winner this year. His winning image is one for the ages.
Greg, I updated the entry to reflect my camera settings. Thanks for reminding me!
Andy,
Congratulations on winning the category. Really, really stunning photo!
Regards
Andy - congratulations! This is fantastic news.
I am really looking forward to going to Botswana with you next year!
Rajesh
Congratulations Andy. you do great justice so an awesome part of the the world. Don't stop!
Best regards
Tim Driman - KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Congrats Andy! This is a tremondous achievement.
Fantastic work! It sounds like an amazing experience. Congrats!
Andy: Congratulations !! I have always thought that that was a terrific image. Look forward to seeing you in May.
Congrats, Andy! What a beautiful photograph and a great accomplishment.
What a great event - managed to be sitting a few tables away from you as a guest of the fab charity "ProjectAware" but didn't get a chance to talk to you! Great effort to win your prize without spray and spume!! Duncan
Congrats, Andy!! Well deserved!
Andy, congratualtions on such a fine shot. I visited the exhibition at the museum a couple of days ago and thought your image was a good one at the time.
Congratulations again, as said above, very well deserved!