Monday 29 December 2014

BWC Photo Comp 2014: "Animal Portrait" Shortlist

Just before the turn of the new year, we announce the final shortlist for our 2014 BWC Photographic Competition. As before, we have left the "Animal Portrait" category till last. This has always been the most popular/entered category, and this year was no different! A lot of fantastic photographs were seen, and below is our final ten for David Lloyd to look at.

Professional Wildlife Photographer David Llyod runs workshops here at the BWC, but is perhaps better known for his African wildlife photographs and inspiring black and whites. He currently has a book out "As long as there are animals" check it out if you can... I highly recommend it!

David will be selecting his favourites to win each category. Head over to his website, linked in his name above, to see some amazing wildlife photography, but only after you have seen the photos below :-) 



BWC Photo Comp "ANIMAL PORTRAIT" Shortlist


Eagle owl - Darren Hitch

Add caption

Hogshead - Gary Manktelow

I've got my eye on you - Helen Hooker

Horse's eye - Irene Ford

Stoat - Paul Neville

Barn owl - Peter Karry 

Hedgehog - Rose Atkinson

The inquisitive Mr Fox - Tim Clifton

Otter beauty - Zena Saunders

Good luck to all the above, winners to be announced some time in the new year!

14 comments:

  1. Matt, Great to see the final ten for this category. There are some cracking shots and David will have his work cut out to select an eventual winner. However I do feel that on maybe one or two of the photos the brief for the category has not been fully met. i.e

    Animal Portrait: a classic portrait, the ANIMAL fills the shot !

    Regards

    Mike

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    1. Hi Mike,

      Thanks for your kind words, there are some great photos there for David to chose from. I appreciate your comments on the category brief, but have to respectfully disagree. I personally feel that the animal does fill the shot, although interpreted in different ways, in each of the shortlisted images above.

      Part of us looking through the entries was to not only pick out our favourite photos, but also those that did fit the criteria. There were a few photos we really liked but felt had to leave out due to this.

      Matt

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    2. Hi Matt,

      Lets say that i agree to disagree using a dictionary standard definition of the word portrait. Def: "A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant." Therefore using this definition then there are some where the face and its expression are not predominant !

      Kind regards

      Mike

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    3. A portrait can be a head, a head and shoulders, a full body or even part of a face (or other bodily part) - as long as the expression or unique personality of the subject are there. For instance, check out Tim Flach's animal portraiture : http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-flach-more-than-human-animals-2014-7?op=1&IR=T

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    4. Hi Mike,

      I guess we just interpret it differently, even by your definition I feel the above photos meet the criteria. But I respect your opinion.

      Matt

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    5. "Anonymous"

      I agree. I have a couple of Tim Flach's books, and although not really a style of photography I go for, I appreciate how good he is. "More than Human" in particular is a good coffee table book.

      Matt

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  2. How to choose between these beauties? Cute Mrs Tiggywinkle or Mr inquisitive fox's stunning eyes are my favourites. Good luck everyone.

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    1. Hi Marie,

      Some lovely photos... I must confess I have my favourite from this category already, will be interesting to see what David choses.

      Matt

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  3. Just a quick quastion, I assume David Llyod will be judging the original image that is on the applicable shortlisted persons Flickr page and not the degraded/compressed version of the shortlisted image displayed on this blog?

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    1. Hi,

      I am not sure, the office deal with all that side of things as the photos come in and out.

      Matt

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  4. Any idea what date the winners will be revealed and do they get notified in advance or is it a surprise? Thanks!

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    1. Hello,

      We hope to announce the winners by the end of the month. The first they will hear about it will be seeing it on this blog.

      Matt

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  5. Some wonderful images to judge and good luck to all my fellow shortlisted entries!

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  6. Thanks for letting me know Mike, as Tim has said above, good luck to all shortlisted finalists : ).

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