Wildlife photographer of year

[Anders Schersten]

What do you think of this years selection of uw-pics? They can be seen (in low resolution) at http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin....ip2=tuw

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>The winner is a nice picture, but is rather less impressive when you know about the manner in which it was taken. It's hardly the same when you realise that the photographer has had all the time in the wolrd to set himself up, ready for someone to obligingly drop the turtle into the water from a boat just out of shot.

For that reason, the crown jellyfish would get my vote.

[John Gulliver]

The winner IS a wonderful picture, though. My own favourites among the others are Linda Dunk's Sleeping hawksbill and Thomas Haider's Sperm whale calf. I can't see anything special about Darryl Torckler's Coral trout and anthias shot, though.

[Anders Schersten]

Mark, I see your point, but consider the overall winner (mindblowingly good to me). The main points are that the photographers are honest about the details and that the picture convey something. In a way, the winning picture benefits from knowing that this could have been a rotting carapace unless the turtle had been saved. Given that, and the pure beauty of the picture,one can really see why these creatures are worth saving, n'est pas!?

John, I concur that the coral trout is a little &quot;bleak&quot;, and to me the sperm whale is the winner, simply because of what it tells us about their behaviour. However I guess that does not count enough given &quot;These photographs can show marine or freshwater animals or plants. The most important criteria are aesthetic ones, but interest value is also taken into account.&quot;
Of the two turtle shots, only the winner does anything to me even though the other is techniqually perfect.

[Dr Stevil]

Wow! imagine getting that close to a sperm whale!! Awesome...

[Anders Schersten]

Azores next Steve! Are you in?

[Lou]

My two favourites are the sperm whale and the jellyfish. &nbsp;The sperm whale i like because of its natural appearance. &nbsp;I find some of the other shots to look very &quot;over-processed&quot;, even if they aren't necessarily.

The jellyfish still has that same kind of natural quality but appears mesmerising. &nbsp;They photograph somehow conveys the whole experience.

[Dr Stevil]

Mon dieu! I dread to think how expensive it'd be to get to the Azores! &nbsp;go on, shock me

[Anders Schersten]

Lou, rest assured these are genuine pictures. A bit of flash light and the right choice of film (in conjunction with solid craftmanship) does the rest.

Steve, I have a sneaking suspicion that it does not have to be that bad. In fact there are plenty of cheap charters from Sweden. The main problem may be how to approach the whales (permissions and the fact that they probably do not come up and play with you without caution, but what do I know. Need to do my homework on this).

[CotoChris]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Steve W @ Oct. 22 2003,16:23)]Mon dieu! I dread to think how expensive it'd be to get to the Azores!  go on, shock me

<font color='#0000FF'>Steve
It's not all that expensive and easy to get to. I went there in May 2000 for my honeymoon and paid aprox £200 for Lisbon -Faial-Terceira-São Miguel-Lisbon visiting 3 islands in all. Ok you may have to go to Lisbon first. There are two airlines that fly there that I know of -TAP and SATA. Once there it is not that expensive, cheap by UK standards.
The islands are beautifull, expecially Faial and the diving is supposed to be fantastic but being open ocean it is weather dependent. There is a ridge called Saint Alices bank that is supposed to be one of the best dive spots in the Atlantic. The infrastructure for diving is not as that well set up so you need some organising and enquiring before going. Now why more people don't go there I don't know buyt I'm not complaining!