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British
Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1995
Watery
Winners
by
Brian Pitkin
Reproduced
from in focus 56 (January
1996)
The
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1995 competition is organised
by BBC Wildlife Magazine and The Natural History Museum. Now
in its twelfth year, the competition attracted more than 19,000
entries from 57 countries making it the largest and most prestigious
event of its kind in the world. This annual competition sponsored
by British Gas offered more than £30,000 in prize money.
The
competition comprises 14 categories including one specifically
for underwater photographs, but there were underwater images
amongst the winners in other categories.
THE
UNDERWATER WORLD
The
winner of The Underwater World category this year was Darryl
Torkler (New Zealand) with a photograph of a sea dragon (Phyllopteryx
taeniolatus) taken while diving off Kangaroo Island in
Australia. It was the first sea dragon he had ever seen and
he was fascinated by its unusual shape and colouring. Runner-up
was Heinz Schimpke (Germany) with a photograph of slender
sweepers (Parapriacanthus guentheri) taken in the mouth of
a cave in the Ari Atoll, Maldives.
Highly
commended were photographs of the secretive, very small blue-eyed
triplefin by Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock (USA); a whale
shark with divers by Amos Nachourn (USA) taken off Western
Australia; Atlantic spotted dolphin by Doug Perrine (USA)
taken of Little Bahama Bank; a whale shark in "baitball"
by Douglas David Seifert (USA) taken off Western Australia;
Anthias with goby by Brant Hedges (Australia); Jewel anemones
by Paul Kay (UK) taken on the south side of Skellig
Michael in County Kerry, Ireland; yellow gobies in can by
Kimio Naito (Japan) taken in Osezaki Bay, Japan; and a sea
angel mollusc moving gracefully through the waters of the
White Sea by Nikklai A Orlov (Russia).
ANIMAL
BEHAVIOUR
In
the Animal Behaviour: All other Animals (i.e. excluding mammals)
category the winner photograph was of a sea star spawning
by Doug Perrine (USA) taken near Baltra Island in the Galapagos.
Highly commended were photographs of a coral trout with cleaner
shrimp by Linda Pitkin (UK) taken in the Maldives;
and a remora in spiracle chamber of a whale shark by Douglas
David Seifert (USA) taken at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.
IN
PRAISE OF PLANTS
In
the In Praise of Plants category Kenneth J Howard (USA) was
highly commended for his photograph of giant kelp taken off
southern California, USA.
COMPOSITION
& FORM
In
the Composition and Form category Solvin Zanki (Germany) was
highly commended for his photograph of a horseshoe worm and
goby on brain coral, taken off Buck Island Reef in the US
Virgin Islands.
ERIC
HOSKING AWARD
The
Eric Hosking Award is awarded for the best portfolio of six
images taken by a photographer aged 26 or under. This year
the award was presented to Brandon D Cole (USA), whose portfolio
included underater photographs of a decorated warbonnet (Chirolophis
decorulus) with a red sea anemone taken off Vancouver
Island, Canada; a manatee taken in Crystal River, Florida;
and a crab on a sea cucumber taken in Bunaken Marine Park,
Sulawesi. Brandon is a free-lance photojournalist specialising
in the marine environment.
AWARDS
CEREMONY
The
awards were presented at a star-studded ceremony held at The
Natural History Museum on 19 October 1995, at which most of
the winning and highly photographers were present. A splendid
buffet style dinner was served in the impressive Main Hall
at the museum that evening.
THE
EXHIBITION
All
winning and commended images are on show at The Natural History
Museum, London from 20 October 1995 until 25 February 1996.
(phone 0171938 9123 for admission times and charges, which
are waived after 5.00 p.m.). Touring exhibitions of prints
of the images will appear at venues throughout the UK until
mid-1997 and in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia
and USA.
THE
BOOK
A
beautifully presented book "Wildlife Photographer of
the Year : Portfolio Five", published by Fountain Press,
features all the winning and commended entries from this year's
competition. It is available at a special price of f:19.95
inc p & p (UK only, overseas price on application) from
WPY Portfolio 5, JEM House, Little Mead, Cranleigh, Surrey,
Wildlife
Photographer of the Year
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