Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has never been as inspiring and powerful as this year. The talent across all age groups, from entries of children aged eleven to professionals who having been photographing wildlife for decades, has not only created a pool of stimulating photos, but intelligent resources from which we can see human impacts on the wild as well as the distance we have from our world. The scale of this exhibition is extraordinary with photographs ranging from the depths of the ocean to the northern lights of Iceland, and it ties together the growing impacts of human interference while still showing the calm and peacefulness these creatures maintain as some of their ecosystems and habitats lay untouched.
The exhibition is split into 6 sub-categroies: interpretations, first shoots, Earth's environment, documentary, portfolio, and Earth's diversity and the room was sectioned accordingly. The dimly lit expansive room curved around, making it easy to follow from one section to another. Beginning with interpretations photographers had to create experimental representations of the shapes, colours and patterns within nature. The intricate detail of these photos allows us to view things we have never seen before - for example, the intimacy of the lava and the camera meant that the camera was too hot to touch for several minutes after the split second it had been held over the lava but the final photo was outstanding.
The first shoots category called on photographers seventeen and under and the content of this category was impressive for their age. Each photo was unique and distinguished and the exploration of different camera techniques at such a young age is an encouraging message to all aspiring photographers.
The subsequent category of Earth's environment shows the power of natural forces that sculpt the planet and the phenomena that come with it. Within this category we are presented with the naturally occurring beauty of the Earth as it catches one moment in time that has not been touched or tampered with, but something that the Earth can create without human interference. This generates a significant thought that perhaps the most magnificent thing on Earth is nature itself, not something created by man.
The following section of the exhibition hosted the documentary photos that illustrated how attitudes, decisions and actions impact the natural world. The category showed the negative impact humans are having on the diminishing wild animals and plants and puts our world in a cruel, harsh light. These confrontations are necessary in the rapid way our planet is developing today because it shows the warning signs that what is going on is a dangerous enterprise and needs to be stopped. The 'Sea of Death' by Paul Hilton depicts the barbaric fishing for shark fins and the increase in sharks being killed each year. This number has risen to 100 million but this public awareness that is slowly being brought to our attention, is having a positive impact as shark conservationists are becoming more active but no where near to the scale that it needs to be. Hence why exhibitions like this are incredibly important in making change to the relentless activities all over the globe.
The penultimate category was a series of entries under the title 'Portfolio' of which photographers submitted a body of work that reflected deeper and broader subjects that could not just fit into one frame. These pictures taken by Michel d'Oultremont were rather different to many of the other entires this year because of the unique composition of the photos. Rather than close-ups of animals or plants, he has instead chosen to distance the subject from the lens - almost so that it becomes an isolated silhouette and it becomes far more interesting than the, amazing, yet over-done macro photo of a tropical bird.
The final category is Earth's diversity which celebrates the familiar to the less well-known, the widespread to the endangered, and the urban to the wild. It shows diversity across all spectra of the Earth's scale and I think it was the perfect way to round off the competition showing not only a colossal range of technical skills but what is left on our planet and how we must protect it.
Overall, the entrants from all over the world have produced phenomenal outcomes that have sparked so much interest and controversy that this world needs in order to make a difference to how we are treating the growing extinction rates of animals and the globalisation of natural habitats. With this relatable imagery presented before us, we are given the opportunity to make a difference and I hope that one day this wildlife competition will not have to be used to teach humans to care but to display how we have protected the animals that inhabit this planet too.
Exhibition: Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Run time: 24th October 2014 to 30th August 2015
Price: £14 or £7 concession
Nearest tube: South Kensington
