GCT's 2010 Photographic Competition Winners
From hundreds of submissions for GCT's 2010 photo competition, our panel of judges selected Karl Mallia's delightful photo of a ghost crab in a sand storm as the overall "Judges' Winner". We received more than 1,100 votes for the shortlisted photos displayed on our website in December, and our supporters chose Jacintha Van Beveren's comical image of a Nazca Booby chick as the "Public's winner". Our panel of judges also chose ten other winning images. Together the 12 images will feature in our Galapagos Conservation Trust 2012 calendar which will be available for purchase in May. We would like to extend a huge thank you to our wonderful judges for their generous expertise and knowledge. We are extremely lucky to have three world-renown photographers - Mark Carwardine, Tui De Roy and Pete Oxford and also the calendar's sponsor Jarrod Kyte from Steppes Travel to judge our competition.
Our 2011 competition will be launched in April, so please do come back to the photographic competition pages then to enter your images!
If you would like to order a calendar, or purchase other gift items, please contact the GCT office or visit our online shop.
"Judges' Winner" - Karl Mallia
A ghost crab braving the sandstorm © Karl Mallia
Judge's comments:
Tui de Roy - "Thousands upon thousands of photos are taken in Galapagos each year, most of the portraying the splendid array of unique species lounging unconcerned in full view of the visitors. But here is a shot that required special attention, plenty of patience, and a real eye for the perfect angle, which depicts this shy animal in its habitat with clarity and excellent colours. The wind-blown sand really makes it."
Jarrod Kyte - "Getting an engaging photograph of a crab is a tall order but the photogrpaher has done it and in doing so has given us a unique perspective of the Galapagos; from eyes of a Ghost Crab!"
"Public's Winner" - Jacintha Van Beveren
A quizzical Nazca Booby chick, Espanola Island ©Jacintha Van Beveren
10 other winning images chosen by the panel of judges
Shoal of pelican barracuda © Alice Bartlett
Pete Oxford - "A beautiful and well composed image seldom seen. It is actually not often that you can get right into a shoal of these barracudas while diving so the image first has some novelty value for subject matter and then I really like the polarization of the school, the even light and the good depth of field. Lastly it is very nice to highlight the all important underwater realm of the archipelago."
Brown Pelican at sunset © Jackie Hoare
Tui de Roy - "In its simplicity, this photo captures to perfection the natural peace and timelessness felt so strongly in Galapagos: the silken smooth sea, the vibrant sky, the slumbering volcano, and the pelican heading somewhere only he knows why. I you look at this picture long enough, you'll feel the damp caress of the warm air, the gentle swish of pacific wavelets, and maybe even hear a sea lion calling in the distance."
Pete Oxford - "This image has a beautiful, serene quality about it. Such a commonplace occurrence in the islands to see a pelican flying past yet something taken for granted has, in this case, been captured so beautifully. I like very much the slow motion blur of the ocean while the pelican remains pleasingly sharp."
Seascape at sunset © Baijul Patel
School of Spotted Eagle Rays, North Seymour Galapagos © Alice Bartlett
Scorpion fish, Sulivan Bay, Santiago © Derek Haslam
Sea Lion on Cerro Brujo beach, San Cristobal © Susanna Kubernus
Parrotfish under the watchful eye of a sea of garden eels, North Seymour © Alice Bartlett
Mockingbird feeding on Scutia berries © Denise Dyer
Galapagos Hawk © Susanna Kubernus
Have a look at the winning entries from previous years:
Photographic Competition 2009 Winners
Photographic Competition 2008 Winners