Wildlife Photographer of the year Exhibition

In the weekend I went to go and see the Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition at the Auckland Museum. What an amazing exhibition!! Firstly I was impressed at how well the Museum has done to organise and set up such a glorious space to display the artworks and secondly by the amount of talent some kids have!

A piece from the under 10's

The whole gallery wasn’t children’s work, it was mostly professional photography, but there were a few sections dedicated to teen work and another section to under 10. Just incredible! I did wonder how much their parents had to do with the image though, the cameras they were using were an easy $5,000 – I don’t consider my childhood to be overly under-privileged but there is no way my mother would have bought me a $5,000 “toy”.




I was also impressed by the stories told behind the photo, so many photographers put their own life on the line for a good shot. There was an incredible image a heard of bison storming through the snow towards the camera, the photographer was out shooting wolves at the time and something startled them and they began to run towards him. Instead of ditching the camera and running for his life he was adjusting saturation and lenses!! Another, the winning shot was a Polar Bear, half in the water half out. The man who took this shot was in the water with a snorkel and fins only, tied to the boat by a rope, this bear swam up to him and patted his camera with his paw… WITH HIS PAW!!! It then swam away but not before giving an award winning masterpiece. Was it worth it? It appears so…

Possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen

We started to discuss how much image alteration is allowed before it becomes graphic design instead of photography. Am I just being a cynical designer here in assuming every image I see released professionally must have had some Photoshop work done to it? If these images truly are untouched and this is the raw photo taken, then I am even more impressed!

It has definitely inspired me to take up photography myself, and I’m not ashamed to admit my early photography WILL require the use of Photoshop I have no doubt in that. As I have done a bit of photo work already for clients building websites who need product or shop photos done before, I think it is time I invested into an SLR camera. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know, there are a couple that have been suggested to me already so I’m going to look further into the Sony Alpha A290, Canon EOS 1100D and the Canon EOS 60D.

If you live around the Auckland area and are looking for some free entertainment, definitely go check the gallery out, you won’t be disappointed. Be warned this also appeals to families, and screaming children also come with the gallery.