Photo of the Year: 2017

"Red Squirrel" by Paul Stuart

Let us round up last year's photo "competition" by announcing the winner, this year chosen by professional wildlife photographer Bob Brind-Surch.

Bob has been a wildlife photographer for most of his life, and teaches others about both photography and the animals he photographs through his workshops under "Natures Photos." A great photographer, a brilliant teacher and just an all round nice bloke! He describes himself as "foremost a naturalist that photographs what he observes rather than a photographer that specialises in wildlife. This is very important to me"... and it shows during his workshops at the Centre, where Bob is just as passionate about the animals he is photographing as the photography itself, and seems to enjoy sharing this knowledge with his clients too.

So, what did Bob choose to win the photographic day here at the Centre?.. Well let me pass you over to him...


"Thanks so much for asking me to judge these photos, there are some great ones there. You have asked me for my favourite and that was very difficult as there are a number of excellent photos... but after much deliberation I have chosen the squirrel on the vertical branch by Paul Stuart."

"He (Paul) has framed this superbly with the vertical branch travelling bottom left to top right, whilst conventional composition rules say it ought to be the other diagonal this approach draws the viewer's attention up along the branch and to the squirrel and especially it's face and amazing ear tufts which are perfectly sharp, as are its whiskers. Try flipping the photo horizontally and you will see what I mean. The management of the focus either deliberately or in post-production is great blurring the trunk to the left and making the edge of the photo form a great boundary to hold the photo together, and the blurring of the tail with a shallow depth of field again draws your eye to the face and ear tufts - the key parts of the squirrel." - Bob Brind-Surch


Many congratulations to Paul. Your beautiful portrait of a red squirrel will not only grace the wall in our coffee shop gallery along with the other 11 photographs chosen last year, but also wins a photographic day here at the Centre. The office will no doubt be in touch soon with more details.

To see more of Paul's photographs, click on the link in his name above, to go to his flickr page.

Many thanks again to Bob Brind-Surch. If you want to see any of Bob's images, or learn about some of the workshops he provides, click on the link below to go to his Natures Photos website.

Natures Photos - Bob Brind-Surch