Women wildlife photographers, badgers, Chris Packham and Gandhi – at the British Wildlife Photography Awards

Chris and Kris - posing with Packham

Not enough women entrants – that was the view of Chris Packham, commenting on the overall profile of entries in this year's British Wildlife Photography Awards, and one of many opinions so eloquently voiced in his address to last week’s awards ceremony.   Looking through the winning images in the exhibition and in the book, confirms the point.  Although there were two female category winners (in the Habitat and Wildlife in HD Video rounds [click here for a look at the winning entries]), there were 14 categories in total, so it’s certainly true that women are under-represented here.  Not just that, but tramping round the countryside and nature reserves of Britain, it’s usually men who behave like boys with toys.  And while there seems to be an even distribution of men and women amongst the public who enjoy these places, the balance of people carrying cameras is certainly slanted heavily towards in the direction of men. 

I spent most of last week down in London visiting various exhibitions and friends.  My wife, Katherine, came down on the train on Wednesday evening to meet me for the awards ceremony, before catching the train home the same night.  The next morning she texted me whilst I was having breakfast in St Pancras station – something to the effect of: ‘Chris Packham thinks more women should enter – if we go out some time, will you show me how to take pictures? I’d like to enter the competition next year’.  I nearly fell of my chair – sounds like the peeerfect date!

With my image 'Sundew' at the British Wildlife Photography Awards exhibition.

With my image 'Peekaboo Ant' at the British Wildlife Photography Awards exhibition.

The evening was awash with photographic personalities, pictures with messages, pictures with  voices, pictures with grit and determination and pictures which show a love of the land, sea and air.  Perhaps most moving was Neil Aldrige’s winning entry to the documentary section.  Entitled ‘The Alternative’, this documents a badger vaccination project in Bedfordshire, a clear reminder that there is a peaceful and workable alternative to the badger cull that had not started at the time the photos were taken, but was in its second week of piloting by the time of the awards ceremony [click here to see the full series of images].  We’ve all heard the arguments for and against; anyone with access to this blog also has access to the report of the Independent Scientific Group on cattle TB, commissioned by DEFRA and presented to the government in 2007 (point 9 reads: ‘After careful consideration of all the RBCT and other data presented in this report, including an economic assessment, we conclude that badger culling cannot meaningfully contribute to the future control of cattle TB in Britain.’) [Click here to read the report in full]. 

On presenting the award to Neil Aldridge, Chris Packham was applauded for his words: the ceremony was ‘not the time or the place’, he said, to launch into a tirade of criticism of the cull...‘but I’m going to do it anyway’.  And he certainly did.  I don’t need to go into detail into Packham’s views on the subject – they are available on the badgergate blog [Click here to read it].  Nevertheless, I found it notable that in addition to despairing of the government’s actions, which for the most part fly in the face of science, he was also clear that naturalists, activists, photographers, and any other groups against the cull could take a share of the blame: ‘we have failed!’ was his view.  We have failed to communicate absolute facts to the government in a meaningful way that they have been able to make sense of.  At first I found this point slightly bewildering, but of course there’s good sense of it: if activists and naturalists accepts some responsibility for not having communicated the point adequately, then this means also that the matter is not closed – if the battle is one of communication, we have not lost the battle, but we must feel compelled to continue communicating, peacefully, but with greater fervour than before.  (A mere glance at the twitter feed of Simon King, @TVsSimonKing, shows that this communication is continuing with great animation – it’s very moving and often devastating reading).

After the ceremony, I managed to grab a quick chat with Chris Packham, who was very amenable to all those taking an interest in his views.  His final words to me on the subject were a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, which he said he was taking great hope from in continuing the fight:

‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.’

Wise words for us all, men and women, as the battle goes on.

Who you gonna call? Goat busters?

We’ve all seen those bizarre old photographs of fairies and ghosts and spirits and everything else weird, usually Victorian, usually blurry, usually a trick of the light. 

I ain't afraid of no goat!

Light is a tricky thing to control at the best of times, and when you’re engraving with light (‘photo’=light; ‘graphy’=engraving) it can behave so unpredictably…especially when you point your camera right into the big light in the sky (don’t try this at home kids!), should you ever be lucky enough to see it.

That’s how a lot of those freaky images are made.  And here’s one I made earlier.

Don’t have nightmares – do, sleep well…or the headless wild goat’s gonna come and get you  WWAAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAHAAAHAAAAAAA!!!

British Wildlife Photography Awards success!

I'm delighted to announce that two of my images have received awards in this year's British Wildlife Photography Awards.  

'Ant Peekaboo' - Highly Commended in the Hidden Britain section

My image 'ant pekaboo', taken in roadside foliage just round the corner from my house, was highly commended in the Hidden Britain section (a specialist macro section),

'Round-leaved Sundew' - Highly Commended in the Botanical Britain section.

and my image of a sundew (another macro image, this time from the Isle of Mull) was highly commended in the Botanical Britain section.

The exhibition of all the winning pictures opens today in The Mall Galleries, near Trafalgar Square in London this week (until Saturday 7th September), then it goes on tour around the country.  The book containing all the winning pictures is also out today and available in most bookshops.

Congratulations to all the other successful snappers out there. I look forward to seeing as many as possible of you at the awards ceremony on Wednesday!

All you need is...

Q: Why should you never trust a wildlife photographer in a home furnishings shop?

A: It's easy - all you need is...

What do you think of that then?

Ooooooooooooooooooooh!!!!!!

Wild goats, scraggy rocks, and endless blue sky.

Wild goats have been a part of the British landscape since Neolithic times, although many of the herds in Scotland are descended from those released by the evicted crofting communities during the dark days of the Highland Clearances of the 19^th Century.   It’s certainly not difficult to see them as part of the landscape since they make a perfect fit.  Following them around for a few days (or even hours), you become acutely aware of how well adapted they are to the landscape in their habitat, a mixture boggy grasslands and steep, rocky cliffs around the coast.  Moving around this landscape, they can scale near vertical rocky walls with apparent ease.  Following them with a heavy backpack of camera gear is, therefore, extremely difficult at times.

In this series of silhouettes, I wanted to shoot as wide as possible, dividing the earth from the sky, and bringing the goat and the rocky ground together in the black part of the image.  The goat merges with the landscape, but at the same time remains distinct.

This particular goat is a large Billy, whose trust I gained over the course of several days.  In these photos, he found a spot to sit down for a sleep, and was perfectly comfortable with me crawling closer.  I shot the images with a short telephoto lens (my beloved 70-200mm), but then clumsily dropped this into a deep rock pool whilst trying to crawl closer.  Watching four-figure’s worth of lens plummet like a stone to the bottom of a salty pool is not a pleasant experience when you’re in mid flow of a good photo session (miraculously it survived!), but it forced me to switch lenses, and I continued shooting with a wide-angle lens (17-40mm), making the goat very small within the frame.  That’s the kind of picture I really like.  

Mystery animal revealed!

On yesterday’s blog, I asked if you could identify this animal, and there were quite a few suggestions, some less sensible than others!!

The answer is…

…it’s a Grey Seal.

I took the photo a couple of weeks ago on the Isle of Mull.  That is, the seal was off the Isle and I was on it, but only just!  By the end of the session, at least, I was more in the water than on the land. 

I’d been sitting on the rocky shore for most of the day, hidden away between a group of rocks about 30 yards or so from the water.  This position kept me hidden whilst affording me a good view of a stretch of coast, in case my otter friend should come along.  He didn’t.  But much as I was hidden adequately from an otter, the seals were on to me, and five of the sat bobbing about in the water for the whole day (don’t they have things to do?) just watching me inquisitively.

Towards the end of the day, the light was getting good and the tide was coming in, so I decided to edge slowly down towards the rapidly receding shoreline, and see if I could get some frame-filling head shots at water height.  I like the fact that the waves were coming in, and that these partly obscured the seals’ faces as the water level bobbed up and down. 

The only problem was that I hadn't protected my camera, and taking photos at water-level with an incoming tide means your camera can get wet, and salt-water is a particularly bad addition to a camera.  I tried my best to keep the salt water off it, but given the choice between being careful and getting the shot, I always go for the shot.  By the end of the session, the seals’ inquisitive nature, combined with the incoming tide, had brought them very close to me indeed.  I was lying on the rocks in the shallow water, with my camera held just above water height by the beanbag it was resting on.  I was cold, wet and happy in equal measure.  My camera was not so happy – the battery grip is almost certainly a write off, and I’ll need to get the whole thing serviced before I’m able to use some features again (I can’t switch to movie mode!).  Was it worth it?  For me, yes, definitely!  Moments where you manage to get this close to wildlife, and your presence is accepted, are simply golden.

Post bank-holiday quiz fun!

Post bank-holiday FUN! 

Here’s a little quiz question – can you identify this mystery animal?

If you think you know (and even if you don’t), have a guess and post your answer as a comment here or on my facebook page, or you can tweet me using the hashtag #krisquiz.  The answer will be revealed tomorrow!