Wildlife Photographer of the Year: 50 Years

by Rosamund Kidman Cox (Editor)

Overview

How wildlife photography became art.

The ultimate book of wildlife photography, with 200 award-winning images from the BBC competition.

Fifty years ago, the BBC originated a now-famous competition open to professional and amateur photographers. It was a pioneering display of "photographic hunting" and shaped how we now see the natural world.

With time, better access to wildlife, and improved equipment (especially underwater), the world's best photographers continued to make astounding pictures. They captured moments of speed, flight, aggression and repose in ways that brought the deserts, African plains, and tropical and polar regions into our homes.

This book showcases the work of 50 years and hundreds of award winners. The exhibition, based at London's Natural History Museum, travels the world and features the work of:

• Frans Lanting
• Jim Brandenburg
• David Doubilet
• Art Wolfe
• Tom Mangelson
• Brian Skerry
• Paul Nicklen
• Anup Shah
and many others.

The 200 photos, in brilliant color, are grouped around subjects related to the competition, from aerial shots to close-ups, underwater masterpieces, nocturnal shots, panoramas and many more wildlife stories. All are thrilling.

The photographic competition is owned by the BBC — famous for popular TV shows about the Earth's wildlife and wild places — and the Natural History Museum of London.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770854628
Publisher:	Firefly Books, Limited
Publication date:	09/11/2014
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	11.50(w) x 11.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rosamund Kidman Cox is an editor and writer specializing in wildlife and environmental issues, and with a particular interest in photography. She was editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine for 23 years, and has been a judge of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition since 1981.

Table of Contents

Contents

Putting it all in context
In the beginning
The rise of the competition
The art of seeing
Down to eye level
A sense of place
And then there was light
The moment
Wild spaces
Natural design
The white canvas
Faster and faster
The portrait and the pose
Remote design
The tiny things in life
And then there was night
Telling a story
Back to black and white
Aerial exposure
The underwater revolution
The passion of youth
The final message
Index of photographers

Preface

Putting it all in context

This book has been produced to mark 50 years of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and as a celebration of wildlife photography itself. Its intention is also to show that wildlife photography is an art that deserves a place in art history.

Nature has been a subject of photography since photography began. Yet because a certain understanding of natural history is required to capture pictures of wildlife, and so many photographers of wildlife are also naturalists or even biologists, a divide developed between this branch of photography and the photographic mainstream. When narrowed down to fine-art photography, that divide has been crossed by only a few professionals. Yet it can be argued that many wildlife images straddle the boundary between documentary and fine art, especially as those classifications so often depend on how images are presented and in what context.

The competition itself has grown from modest beginnings in the 1960s - when entries tended to be just records of nature - into a showcase of the work of the world's leading wildlife photographers and a display of different ways of seeing nature. The 160 or so prize-winning and commended images in this book represent 50 years of different times, styles and specialisms. The chronology is within the sections. Every picture dated before 2004 was shot as a transparency (slide) or print (rather than a digital file). And in some cases their reproduction here is from old prints or duplicate slides. But the aesthetic qualities of the pictures remain as high now as they were then.

Some of the images are by top professionals, others by photographers early in their careers and yet others by non-professionals. What all of these artists share is a passion for their subjects and an emotional link that shines through their work. Some of the pictures are pure documentary - photojournalism at its best. Others are creative interpretations. All of them are remarkable - the product of experience, knowledge, patience, skill and aesthetic instinct.

The rewards given to pictures in this competition have over the decades been important for photographers, for both reputations and careers. The time has come now for wildlife photography to receive due recognition by the art world and be given its place in the world's international photographic art collections.

Editorial Reviews

11/10/2014
For this book, Cox, a longtime editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine, gathered images from 50 years' worth of a photography competition. What she created beyond that is an emotive tribute to the earth's wild creatures and places, through the lenses of countless photographers from all over the world. Britain's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is an international, furiously competitive contest, and one that Cox, a judge since 1981, argues has helped shape the craft of wildlife photography into an art form. Cox takes readers through the history of photography, the development of nature and wildlife photography and the evolution of the competition. Old and significant photos, such as one of the now-extinct quagga and the first ever action shots of birds, illustrate. Poetically named chapters such as "and then there was light" and "the tiny things in life" each have their own helpful introduction followed by stunning images that alternately intrigue, entertain, inspire and amaze. Many are moving, others are revealing and others, simply beautiful. Spare text offers readers a glimpse into how each image was made, its back story and why it deserves to be in the book. Clear the coffee table — this book has substance, beauty and will draw readers in again and again. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Every year the top wildlife images are selected by a panel of judges to determine the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. A competition that began in 1965 continues to draw the very best photographs from around the world. The top 100 images are exhibited worldwide after first appearing at the Natural History Museum in London. Fifty years worth of photos to select from has resulted in a spectacular collection that has been presented in this stunning book. Instead of a straight chronological presentation, the editor has selected themes to link the photographs, such as aerial viewpoints or underwater images. Within those topics it is possible to see the evolution of different photographic approaches. To have one photograph chosen to appear in this book is impressive, but there are a number of photographers, such as Vincent Munier, Erlend Haarberg and Jim Brandenburg, who have multiple images included. From the tiniest shrimp on the ocean floor to a polar bear poised alongside an Arctic fox against a vast ice wilderness, we are given the chance to see into many unique areas where nature has been free from man's influence. The talent and perseverance of these photographers have resulted in breathtaking looks at the natural world, and remind us how important it is to protect these spaces and species.

North Shore News - Terry Peters

Conservation Photographer of the Year and First Place Winner 'Six Frames for Change' category.

El Planeta Photo 2015 Awards