It’s around this time of year when I’d be looking forward to a visit to Ruland Birdfair and one of the exhibits I always make a bee-line for is the Bird Photographer of the Year marquee. Sadly, Birdfair will not be going ahead this year, however the winning photographs can be viewed on the link below.
As we’ve seen in the Bird Club’s competition the winning shot doesn’t have to be a rarity and this year’s BPOTY winning shot of a European Shag is no exception although the impressionistic image and the manipulation to make it would not fit with the Club’s rules. So there!
Jealousy and joking aside it’s impossible to know which of the shots have or haven’t been Photoshopped in some way or another. I suspect a great deal of Gaussian blur has been applied to many of the images to create the smooth foreground & background as seen in the Highly Commended Oriental Darter image. It’s possible to get a similar effect by getting down low to water or ground level as can be seen in Matt Hazelton’s winning Sanderling image in last’s year’s BC competition.
It would seem that no bird photographic competition is complete without a shot or two of the photogenic Dalmatian Pelicans from Lake Kerkini, Greece. Bob Mason’s shot gained a 3rd place in this year’s BC competition and the species features in the Attention to Detail & Birds in Flight BPOTY categories.
Mark Williams’ 2nd placed European Bee-eaters shot taken in Bulgaria may have given the BPOTY Commended Bee-eater shot a run for its money and may have been taken from the same hide!
There are many exceptional shots that it’s impossible to choose a favourite. Some are WOW and others are HOW?
When viewing photos, I tend to favour the ones I’d love to have taken and most of these are in the Commended & Highly Commended images. Guang Hua Chen's Great White Egret in the Birds in the Environment category is a masterpiece and one I'd hang on my wall. Having a penchant for waders the photographer I would've dearly loved to have been standing next to is Tim Hopwood. His Wilson's Phalarope, Marbled Godwit & American Avocet images are sublime.
Georgina Steytler’s winning Best Portfolio shows the very high standards of the competition.
It’s encouraging to know that one no longer has to own a scuba-diving suit, a drone or a monthly Photoshop subscription to win a place in the competition.
There are many talented photographers in the Bird Club, maybe we’ll see a local winner next year?
https://www.birdpoty.co.uk/bpoty-2020-winners
Green Woodpecker
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