My thoughts.

I was fortunate enough to be successful in the first three British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA) (2009, 2010,2011) where I was highly commended for shots of a feather footed flower bee, a large white (both macro shots taken with my old bridge camera) and a shot of our late tom cat with a fledgling in his mouth (taken with my old Canon 40D).

I did enter in 2012, was shortlisted but got no further (a bit of a come down for me I guess!)  and had no time or inclination really what with many other things going on, to enter this year (2013).

Today(2^nd September 2013) the BWPA 2013 winners and commended shots were announced in the press and I thought I’d blog a few thoughts on this year’s class results (for what its worth).

Firstly – some general thoughts:

1. I seemed (accidentally!) to be part of the original “BWPA clique” that seemed to win or be commended year after year, and whilst some of that “clique” still clearly exists (Alex Mustard for his underwater shots, Danny Green for his mammal shots, Andy Rouse (for whatever he shoots – in this year’s case two hare photos), Neil Aldridge for his photojournalism series) ... this year it’s EXTREMELY nice to see winning photographers this year that a) are not professional and/or b) not particularly well known in these circles.
2. Whilst it is nice to see new names in the winning circle – it’s also nice to not see the same old names (or not all of the usual suspects). Most of these were professionals and there were many of us (in the original clique and also not) who strongly felt that the professional images were of no better quality than the amateur submissions but always seemed to take top honours. More than a little strange when it happened more-often-than-not (at best) and more-like-constantly many might have said a couple of years ago.
3. Subjects seem to be a little more varied this year than previous years also – which is so refreshing. I haven’t seen all the winning/commended shots yet, but so far I haven’t seen one winning photo of a prostrate seal at Donna Nook, let alone half a dozen ... or the same old shots of coots fighting. There are a few constant favourites of course like deer & badgers (and tompot blennies seem be in fashion right now) but it’s nice to see winning images which contain subjects other than swans, coots, seals etc...
4. Kit used may have varied a little more this year also. (I’m not sure how it couldn’t to be honest, after previous years). I’m talking lenses here mainly, but BY FAR the most popular lens used in the winning circle for the past few years has been the Canon 500mm f4 then the Nikon 600mm equivalent. These are professional lenses mainly (over seven thousand pounds each – and that’s before you start thinking about a multi-thousand pound camera body to attach to the multi-thousand pound lens) and almost certainly the most useful lenses for wildlife photography (in terms of image quality if nothing else). But in the hands of teenager “owners” who won their categories, one did begin to wonder if it was the richest photographer who won awards (or the photographer with the richest parents), as opposed to the best. The two are NOT linked by the way. There do seem to be more shots this year where composition and lighting seems more important than “getting in close” - and that must be a good thing.
5. The cheesy titles some photographers give to their images are a little nauseating these days (and pretty unoriginal now to boot). The "peekaboo deer", "here's looking at you" etc.... Compared to the much larger, much more prestigious NHM Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards where the shots are very plainly-named and appear far more professional thus.

(All the above are my personal opinions only).

The standard of photography has remained pretty consistent from year to year I think (good) – and this year seems similar (in the main). There are  (of course) a few winning photos in the mix this year which, like all the other five years, have one scratching one’s head and asking oneself “WHY?”, but this is the nature of nature photography competitions – what one person sees as a pretty average shot, another person (or a judge) may fall head-over-heels for. Certainly my three commended images in 2009,2010 and 2011 weren’t my best – by a long chalk, in my opinion (but the judges clearly disagreed with me).

Year after year I’ve seen so many disgruntled entrants pouring scorn on the winning images (after failing to win or be shortlisted/commended themselves) – in fact I’ve been on the receiving end of that sort of bilious criticism from a particularly jealous losing entrant (no names no pack drill “T.H.”) twice now -  so I’ll not bother to go down that road and even start to criticise what I (personally) regard as pretty non-descript shots this year.

I would, however, like to take a quick opportunity to briefly mention my favourite shot from this year’s winners’ circle.

“Great tit in flight” by Joseph Amess (aged 15) is a stupendous shot.

It’s rightly won the top dog honours for best image from a teenager (or 12-18yo anyway) but I think it could’ve and should’ve won the overall prize also (if that was allowed).

Now I don’t know if Joseph had the dreamy end result in mind when he shot his great tit against the sun – but if he did, the man (boy!) is nothing short of a genius.

Even if he didn’t deliberately set out to achieve such a mesmerising finish, his technical expertise is superb, that’s for sure – as is his timing and compositional structuring.

I think Joseph’s shot magnificently demonstrates that we don’t all need multi-thousand pound lenses and full frame cameras to achieve quite remarkable wildlife photographical results. We don’t need to be photographing wildlife for a living to pick up awards. We don’t all need to don dry suits and scuba gear to photograph conger eels and gannets off our coasts to win photography awards. We don’t need much else than to have a little knowledge, a little interest, patience and a lot of imagination & flare (not to mention skill) to produce something which I think knocks seven bells out of all the other shots in the winners’ exhibition this year.

Brilliantly well done Joseph – an incredible shot...  which I am both amazed and (re)inspired by – so much so that maybe if I get lucky and get a little time, I may try to enter the BWPA again next year... although I’ll not get a shot as nearly as stunning as Joseph’s great tit. For what it’s worth Joseph, (not much…. I’m not a judge!) your shot is streets ahead of any of Andy Rouse’s hares Joseph, or any of Alex Mustard’s fish.

So thanks again Joseph.

Thanks for inspiring me to get my camera out again.

TBR.