Southampton residents better get snappy if they’re looking to catch the world-renowned photography competition. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year leaves the SeaCity Museum this Sunday 24 September.
The exhibition and photography competition features wildlife images from around the world curated by the Natural History Museum.
I’ve never seen this exhibition outside of London and I have tried to catch it before when I’ve been up in the big smoke.
Imagine my surprise when I saw that the photographs were touring and had come to Southampton!
I love photography so I was absolutely thrilled when I saw that I could see it on my doorstep. I decided to kept it a secret from my boyfriend and surprised him with it one Saturday afternoon.
He was chuffed, he’d followed the competition as a child and still does to this very day. What a treat to be able to see it in our home town.
If you don’t know much about the competition have a look at its website, it’s been running for over 50 years.
This year it’s been so popular that the museum received over 40,000 submissions from photographers in over 90 countries.
There are multiple categories and winners with an overall being selected as the grand title winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 and Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016.
The exhibition was stunning. Instantly you are immersed into a dark black room. Bright light boxes shine out of every corner punching through the darkness with spectacular imagery.
Some images are amazing, others funny and unfortunately some are desperately sad. I hate to sound like a cliche but it really is thought provoking.
In my opinion you don’t have to be into photography to appreciate these images. They are like something off the pages of National Geographic.
I also really like the ethos behind the competition which is echoed by the director of the Natural History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon.
Touring
The exhibition is nearly over in Southampton and then it continues on it’s UK tour.
Find out where it’s heading next…
Seacity Museum, Southampton
1 July 2017 – 24 September 2017
10am – 5pm
Last admission 4pm
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
22 July 2017 – 1 October 2017
Old Big School Gallery, Tonbridge School
23 September 2017 – 5 November 2017
In November the exhibition embarks on an international tour.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016
Winner – Entwined lives © Tim Laman
Tim spent three days rope-climbing the 30 metre tall tree to set several GoPro cameras that he could trigger remotely. This captured the orangutan’s face from above within a wide-angle perspective of the forest below
Wild orangutans face a crisis of habitat loss due to agriculture and logging. Combined with increased poaching for the illegal pet trade the species’ future seems bleak.
‘Protecting their remaining habitat is critical for orangutans to survive. If we want to preserve a great ape that retains its vast culturally transmitted knowledge of how to survive in the rainforest and the full richness of wild orangutan behaviour, then we need to protect orangutans in the wild, now’, says Tim.
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016
Winner – The moon and the crow © Gideon Knight
Shot near his London home it shows the twigs of a sycamore tree silhouetted against the blue dusk sky and the full moon. This ‘makes it feel almost supernatural, like something out of a fairy tale,’ says Gideon.
‘If an image could create a poem, it would be like this. It should certainly inspire a few lines,’ says Lewis Blackwell, Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury. ‘The image epitomises what the judges are always looking for – a fresh observation on our natural world, delivered with artistic flair.’
The two images were selected from 16 category winners, depicting nature at its finest, from displays of rarely seen animal behaviour to exotic landscapes. The competition is judged by a panel of industry-recognised professionals. Images from professional and amateur photographers are selected for their creativity, artistry and technical complexity.
Don’t miss the Wildlife Photographer of the Year while it’s in town!
*A huge thank you to Zoë Stanton in the Natural History Museum Press Office for letting me use these images!
Beautiful and fascinating. Thank you for the links and the follow, too.
You’re welcome, it’s travelling the UK and abroad, if you get the chance to see it I’d highly recommend it. I think the one for 2017 gets launched soon!