Nat Geo Photos @ Nat Hist Museum

Vince and I made it to the Ditsong Museum of Natural History in Pretoria just under the wire to see the 49th Annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit. We would have been sorry if we missed it too. It was fabulous!





The annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition sponsored by National Geographic Channel in South Africa ran from April 2nd until June 30 this year and as always it showcased a diverse set of wildlife images from all parts of the world and all ages. The competition received more than 43,000 entries, from amateurs and professionals alike, from 96 different countries. There were special categories for photographs taken by young photographers, ages 11 to 17, and even several in the category under 10 years old! The winners were impressive and humbling.

Essence of Elephants

This year was the first time the exhibition was hosted in Gauteng and it was very special indeed because as fate would have it, South African photographers brought home the lion's share of the most prestigious awards.

That included the overall winner of the exhibition Pretoria's Greg Du Toit, a friend of African Parks, for his photograph entitled "Essence of Elephants."  South African Isak Pretorius was the winner of the ‘Behaviour: Birds’ category with ‘Sticky Situation.’ Fellow countryman  Brent Stirton won the highly acclaimed ‘Wildlife Photojournalist Award’ for his portfolio of work on the illegal ivory trade.

The photographs are selected through a rigorous selection process, adjudicated by a panel of international specialists in the field, finally narrowing it down to the best entries based on creativity, artistry and technical complexity.The display forms part of a worldwide tour co-owned by the  Natural History Museum (NHM) London and BBC Worldwide.

Vince and I really enjoy viewing these exhibits because they are so inspiring. Not only do the photographs list the locations and inspiration for the shots, but the photographer usually gives details as to how he / she set up the shot as well as the technical details such as exposure and f stop, camera and lens used.

 

Simplicity

For instance I really liked this commended  photograph of a dog-toothed violet taken in Possagno, Italy by Valter Binoto. Valter explained that his aim was to capture the bokeh effect - a Japanese word for the aesthetic quality of out-of-focus points of light - as a way to honor this simple beauty. Taken at sunrise, Valter had waited for a perfect dew to form on the flower and the vegetation behind it. Using a Nikon D300 and a Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 100mm f2.8 lens, a Gitzo tripod and a reflecting panel, it was shot at 1/1600 of a second at f2.8 using an ISO of 160.

Tiger Untrapped

Some of the photographs took an unbelievable amount of planning and patience. This picture of an endangered Amur, or Siberian, tiger is one of only a very few taken in the wild without the use of a camera trap. Toshiji Fukuda (Japan) has been photographing wildlife in the Russian Far East for more than 20 years, so when he heard that tiger tracks had been found on the shore of Russia’s Lazovsky Nature Reserve, he knew this was his chance. He camped out in a cave for 74 days in the Russian winter waiting for the tiger to reappear. It did only once on the morning of the 50th day! His photo won The Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species.

Mother's Little Headful

Not all of the shots were as elaboratively planned. Some were just captured because the talented photographer was in the right place at the right time. Like this photograph of a crocodile mother whose babies jumped on top of her head in order to catch a ride as she surfaced out of the river. A magical moment!

True Love

While there were many incredible photographs of elusive snow leopards and lions, rare jaguars and alpine ibexes, underwater sharks and dugongs, I think this simple and sweet photograph of two mating northern gannets by UK's Steve Race may have been my overall favorite. It is called "True Love" and I may have to get a copy of it for Vince for Valentine's Day next year.

You too can order a print of some of the photographs exhibited (not nearly all unfortunately) online at www.nhm.ac.uk/prints.