Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2004 results

The winners of the BBC/Natural History Museum sponsored "Wildlife Photographer of the

Year 2004" competition have been announced:<p>

 

<A HREF="http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/wildwin/2004/index.html">

http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/wildwin/2004/index.html</A><p>

 

The standards appear high, as always.

Photo contest: Sending images in to a publication, and licensing them to use said images

in any way they see fit, without due compensation.

 

Suckers.

I was going to drag myself across the park on Sunday for a look -- last year I only found out about it at the last minute and really regretted not having more than a couple of hours to admire the work.

 

Strangely, the one that has stuck with me the most only received an Honourable Mention -- it was some type of monkey (perhaps a gibbon) in a market in Africa. It was seated in the filth at the side of the market and a heavy gauge chain ran from the wall to a collar on its neck... one of its hands was gripping the chain in a particularly human gesture as if to simultaneously lessen the weight and ask to be let go.

 

I'm probably anthopomorphising to some extent, but the monkey appeared to have an expression of such uncomprehending perplexity about its fate that it makes me sad to the point of tears just to think about it.

Andrew, some people care about things other than money. To market and sell photographs seems to me a very boring and frustrating activity. I'd just rather do interesting things for a living and photograph as a hobby. The most ambitious of the amateurs (and even some pros) send photos to competitions in order to gain respect from other photographers. By being published in this highly respected book they get worldwide recognition. I think asking money for having pictures published in this kind of a book is "tail wagging the dog".

to set the record straight, the BG Wildlife photographer of the year DOES pay (per image) for inclusion in the book. Winners are flown by the organizers to London for the awards banquet from anywhere in the world. The only rights winners grant is the use of the awarded image to promote the contest and the right to include the image in the traveling exhibitions. And as many find, being the prestige of being awarded in the BG often does translate into cash, albeit indirectly.

Andrew, I know where your sentiment comes from, but you

should take a closer look at this particular competition. It's

among the most prestigious ones, and for the right reasons.

This is born out by the fact that many of the winners are well

establshed pro's--who aren't exactly desperate to be published.

 

The results seem like most other years; some amazing images,

some you wonder why they were picked. My only pet peeve: the

winner in the underwater category (and overall) is Doug Perrine's

fantastic shot of the sharks feeding on sardines off South Africa.

The runner-up in the u/w category: same photographer, same

subject, same location. Hmmm... I guess it doesn't violate their

rules, but come on, was it really better than all the other

possibilities? Interesting how digital made a significant

showing too. Jolly good...