Photography News | Issue 36 | absolutephoto.com
17
Competitions
Is there anything specific you are looking forward toseeing in thisyear’s competition? We are looking forward to seeing some really good examples of the seasons. Personally I love wintry scenes, so I’m hoping for some good snowy pictures! Having said that, autumn can be a very photogenic season, and spring and summer is when flora and fauna are in abundance. We were lucky this summer that the sun was shining and although it’s almost over now, I hope people managed to get out with their cameras. How has the standard of entries varied over the years? How have the numbers of entries increased? The numbers have definitely increased. In 2013, the winning image was printed in The Telegraph , giving the winner, and the competition, huge publicity. This has helped the competition become better known and we have seen the number of entries increase since then. The standard has always been high. The winner of our first competition, back in 2011, was taken by a photographer who was only 15 years old, but the image has remained one of my favourites. Do you tend to get more entries from amateurs or professionals? Has this changed over time? I think most of the images we get are taken by amateurs, but many are very serious about their photography so are extremely good. We do specify in our rules that any submitted images must not have won a national or international competition or have been published before.
composition, and powerful, so that it still has impact if only reproduced in a small size. Images must clearly demonstrate the subject, in this case, the seasons! What are the requirements for the competition and how do people enter? A maximum of two images can be submitted per person before Friday 30 September. Files must be at least 1MB in size and JPEG format. Images need to be emailed to nature@ thomsonecology.com and should be named first name-last name-image title.jpg. The email also needs to include a caption and brief description, including any species names; your name, address, telephone number; the date of the photograph and where you took it. The rules and requirements can be found on our website – thomsonecology.com/thomson- ecology-photography-competition-2016. How does the judging process work? Three people within the company, myself included, will each pick our ten favourite images. We then compile them all and narrow them down to a shortlist by discussing them. We ask a previous winner of the competition to shortlist them further. More discussion will narrow them down until we have just the winner and runners-up. How are the winners awarded? Each winner will be contacted via email or phone. The prize money of £200 for the winner and £50 for three runners up will be transferred to their bank accounts, and the winners will then be announced on our website and via social media.
Autumn can be a very photogenic season
Above Godwits fighting by David Cantrille, runner-up in the 2012 competition. Top left Root of it all by Kristian Cruz, winner of the 2014 competition. Centre left Splash and Grab by Bill Doherty, winner of the 2013 competition. Bottom left Snail habitat by Ayokunle Ola, runner-up in the 2014 competition. I would advise entering photos that are relevant to the title Seasons of the British Isles. We’re received images which have clearly not been taken within the British Isles, so they are disqualified straight away, which is a shame. Whilst images don’t have to be of a professional standard technically, there are a few rules which are good to follow – such as, horizons should be level and not at an angle, and the subject must be sharp! What’s next for the competition? I hope that we can continue to run the competition and receive many, varied images. We love to use great photography on our website, and would much rather use photographs submitted through the competitions than library images! What advice would you give to anyone submitting an image this year?
Above Left European brown hare by Dave Griffiths, runner-up in the 2012 competition Left Home coming by Debashis Mukherjee, runner-up in the 2015 competition.
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