2011 Veolia (BBC) Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition Results Announced

2011 Veolia (BBC) Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year & Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition Results Announced

The results of the 2011 Veolia (BBC) Environnement Wildlife Photographer and Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition were announced last night in a ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London, England. This contest is the world’s most prestigious nature photography competition in the world. Pretty much every time that I press the shutter button my dream is to create an image worthy of entering in the BBC Contest…. The evening’s hosts were zoologist, photographer and Chair of the jury, Mark Carwardine, and Tusk ambassador, Jo Wood. (If you know what a Tusk Ambassador is please let us know :).) Those lucky enough to receive an invitation were treated to a delicious organic four course dinner in the splendour of the Central Hall before becoming the first to see the winning images. The evening was staged by Event Concept and Envy and guests were also treated to the sounds of The Organic Jam drifting through the Museum’s corridors.

I was lucky enough to receive an invitation to this year’s party but could not attend due to upcoming travel commitments. I did make it across the pond to attend the ceremony for my first BBC honored image, “Blizzard in Blue.” I think that that might have been in October, 1998….. It was a wondrous evening and the thrill of seeing an image that I created hanging as a huge backlit transparency is one that will never leave me.

You can view all of the winning and honored images from this year’s contest here. Each of you should stop what you are doing and spend an hour or two enjoying the winning and honored images. I must congratulate the judges and contest organizers as this crop of winning and honored images seems to me to be the strongest ever. Most years a few clunkers sneak in and there have been a few overall winners (the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year) over the past decade that made zero sense to me. I invite everyone to leave a comment mentioning their favorite image and what they liked about it. I will share some of my very favorite images with you in a few days and let you know what I loved about them.

Congrats to photographer Daniel Beltrá of Spain who was named Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his moving image, “Still life in oil.” And more of the same to Mateusz Piesiak of Poland who was named Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his “Pester power.” I am betting that his image was created at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY. And I am pretty sure that I worked with Mateusz a few years ago when he was a NANPA High School Scholarship student. If I am right it was pretty obvious back then that he had BBC potential. (If anyone is in touch with Mateusz, please shoot me his e-mail address.)

A big mazel tov to BPN member Peter Delaney for winning the Nature in Black and White category with his stunning “Big Foot.” Most every time that I see one of Peter’s images in BPN’s Wildlife Forum my jaw drops so his win was long overdue. Kudos to Jan van der Greef of the Netherlands whose “Wings of a gull” was runner-up in Behaviour: Birds. Jan, who had polio as a kid was on a Bosque IPT a few years back; I was so impressed with his skill and spirit that I did a blog post on him that featured his images. See Another Dutchman here. No shock that the image that I chose to open the blog post with was his BBC honoree…. My image “Snow and geese” was Highly Commended in the Creative Visions of Nature category. It was my 7th or 8th BBC-honored image–not sure which…. I did, however, like my title much better: “Salt and Pepper Snowstorm.”

I look forward to learning of your favorite photos. Very few if any of the images are typical natural history stuff. There are blurs and out-of-the-box stuff and crazy image designs that work. Many of the winning and honored images were created in horrific weather and in situations that most folks would walk right by. I spent two hours this afternoon viewing the entire collection and admiring the creativity and skill of the folks who obviously love the photographic process as much as I do. BTW, if anyone sees a winning film image please let us know.

Look. See. And enjoy.