European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011

Wonderful wildlife pictures here

Mammals category, winner: Lords of the Arctic by Florian Schulz. (Three bull muskox heading towards the setting sun during a blizzard in north-western Alaska) Photograph: Florian Schulz/GDT

Mammals category, runner-up: Sleeping Whales by Magnus Lundgren Photograph: Magnus Lundgren /GDT

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011 highly commended images

The Guardian has a selection of images from the highly commended section of this award, as with the winning selection we featured last week these are quite stunning. More can be seen on the Guardian site here

Behaviour: Birds – Taking Flight, Paul Goldstein Paul arrived very early on the shores of Lake Nakuru, Kenya, before the rising sun had burned off the mist. He had returned to photograph the greater and lesser flamingos and used shade, shadow and silhouette to create drama, rather than emphasising their vivid colours with sunlight. He was helped by a combination of circumstances: rain during the night, a rapidly clearing sky, enough time for the cold air to form mist over the alkaline waters, and a hyena hunting for young or infirm birds along the far shore of the soda lake. The predator set up a wave of panic, with those closest to it taking flight and those nearest to Paul standing alert. Ten minutes later, not only had the whole flock lifted up, but the mist had also burned off, completely changing the scene. Photograph: Paul Goldstein/WPY

Behaviour: Mammals – The Charge by Eric Pierre (France) Eric had been tracking Arctic wolves on Victoria Island, Canada, when his guide spotted a herd of muskoxen 3 miles (5km) away. Approaching, Eric could see that the herd was nervous, probably because wolves were also on its trail. He made a detour and stopped about half a mile away upwind. Suddenly, he realised that the herd was now running towards them, oblivious of them. “I’ve seen muskoxen run away,” says Eric. “I’ve seen them react to a threat by forming a circle, and I’ve even seen a male charge. But I’ve never seen a herd spread out into a charging line like this. I could hear the thundering of their hooves. It was one of those situations where it really mattered that I made the right choice between technical accuracy, aesthetics and security.” Photograph: Eric Pierre/WPY

The exhibition information:

Exhibition and tickets

2011 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition
21 October 2011 – 11 March 2012

Open 10.00 – 17.50 daily

Book tickets now

This world-renowned yearly exhibition at the Natural History Museum provides a spotlight on the rarely seen wonders of the natural world.

From 21 October, enter an atmospheric space inside the exhibition gallery and be inspired by this year’s competition winners. The images are selected from 1000s of international entries and are beautifully displayed in sleek backlit installations

The 2011 British Wildlife Photographer of the Year

As with the International Garden Photographer of the Year ,this competition to find the British Wildlife Photographer of the Year, shows what fantastic talent and skill is out there. The results of this competition are again beautiful and revealing.

” The winning image of a jellyfish was captured by Richard Shucksmith. His photo was taken at Sula Sgeir (meaning Gannet Rock) a small uninhabited Scottish island, 41 miles north of Lewis. The inhospitable area is home to exposed islands sustaining an astounding variety of marine life. The remoteness of these islands, as well as the challenge that comes with visiting them, makes Richard’s incredible photo all the more special. “.…more

2011 Winner: Animal Portraits  Mark Smith

Mystical Mist (Fallow Deer, Dama dama) Surrey, England

2011 Winner: Habitat   Ian Paul Haskell

Hare in Morning Light with Hoar Frost (Brown Hare, Lepus europaeus) Norfolk

Spooked starlings make a hasty exit from a tree in Bayston Hill, Shropshire. David Biggs opportunistically took this photo from his house, and subsequently won the Urban Wildlife category Photograph: David Biggs/British Wildlife Photography Awards

The Young British Wildlife Photographer up to 11 years category was won by Walter Lovell, 8, who again waited patiently for this photo of a frog checking its frogspawn in his garden in Painswick, Gloucestershire Photograph: Walter Lovell/British Wildlife Photography Awards

Metaphors – photography by Jaber AlAzmeh

“They are not horses….nor clouds or chalky hills of white.  They are not freshly white washed walls of clay, negatives of horses drowned by the night stars, or lit by a black moon.
They are all this …  or just horses, black, as light will not reflect them, and white because they were standing here, a while ago, and now you can only see their shadows in black wraith filling the day.”..….more

If you like horses these images may be for you

PROJECT BY:

Jaber AlAzmeh

Photography Courses Oxford – dates for autumn term announced

Here are the new dates for the autumn term photography courses we run. Full details of all the courses can be found on The Oxford School of Photography website. If you are lucky enough to live near Oxford joining us for one of our courses is a sure way of improving your photographs.

Our courses run three times a year and are always very well supported and we recommend early application for places, to do this just send us an email stating the course name and start date. we will then reserve your place and send you further information.

Understanding Your Digital SLR: 4 different start dates  – 7.9.11;  4.10.11;  2.11.11;  5.11.11
Understanding Your Digital Compact Camera -starts 1.11.11
Introduction to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements – starts 13.10.11
Composition In Photography – Seeing Pictures – starts 6.10.11
Portrait Photography – starts 5.10.11
Intermediate Photography – starts 3.10.11
Travel Photography starts 3.11.11
One Day Understanding Your DSLR – 3 different dates this autumn:  25.9.11;  23.10.11;  27.11.11

 

National Geographic -Photo of the Day: Best of July 2011

like to see more…..

Breathtaking Animal Photography from National Geographic

If I am honest, and I do try to be so, wildlife photography leaves me a bit cold. I understand the technical difficulties, the patience required, the dedication, but in the end it’s about being there, however many people think it is the reason to own a camera. Here are some very nice pictures of animals

Macaque monkey steals camera and takes self portrait

Award-​​winning pho­tog­ra­pher David Slater was vis­it­ing park in North Sulawesi, Indone­sia when a male Crested Black Macaque mon­key took his unat­tended cam­era and started snap­ping away. Sounds highly unlikely doesn’t it? Well, shove your skep­ti­cism aside and enjoy the two pho­tos below which were appar­ently taken by the Macaque out of hun­dreds that were taken dur­ing the wild king­dom bout of self reflec­tion. ..more  Here is a link to many more pictures

50 Images from National Geographic`s 2010 Photo Contest

You may not be able to enter the 2010 contest but there is always 2011 and 2012. Here are some of the entries, the standard is high, the imagery varied and the subject matter vast. Do have a look at these there are some real gems, go here for more

Nate Zeman Landscape Photographer

A student on one of our courses alerted me to the utterly fantastic landscape images of Nate Zeman. His images prove the point that more than anything the quality of light makes a brilliant photograph. His website has a wide range of landscapes and images of animals that are available to purchase. If you like landscapes then you really should visit his site

We cover some aspects of landscape and wildlife photography in our Travel Photography course starting 9th June