June 21st, 2017
Ireland’s leading amateur nature and wildlife photographers are set to be celebrated at the launch of Ireland’s ‘Biodiversity Photographer of the Year’ exhibition today.
The exhibition of winners and shortlisted finalists will be on display in Pearse Street Library from 1pm today and will continue for four weeks.
A record number of over 500 entries were received for the annual photo competition organised by the Irish Environmental Network as part of National Biodiversity Week (NBW).
NBW is all about encouraging people to get outdoors, connect with nature and celebrate the extraordinary variety of flora, fauna and habitats on our doorsteps.
Over 50 free events took place across the country in May as part of NBW, from bat walks and urban beekeeping to whale watching and eco-village tours.
This year’s winning entry was a shot of a Northern Gannet returning to his mate with an offering of freshly harvested Sea Campion, taken on the Great Saltee Island, Co. Wexford.
Northern Gannet by John Holden is the overall winning image in the IEN Biodiversity Photographer of the Year competition.
The photograph was submitted by amateur nature photographer John Holden, who said it was a “huge honour” to win the top prize.
“It’s a case of two passions meeting for me really, a great love and interest in local flora & fauna combined with a love of photography and the ability to create a beautiful and interesting image,” he said.
“I hope it may draw some more attention to the amazing wildlife and beauty we have here in Wexford. We really are spoiled here when it comes to biodiversity and habitats.”
Second place was awarded to Catherine Dolan for her photo of a stonechat perched high among the wildflowers, while Jessica Hamilton took third place for her image of a cockchafer.
- Jessica Hamilton’s image of a Cockchafer “What are you doing here??”
- Catherine Dolan – “Their Habitat Must be Protected” took 2nd place overall
The competition was opened up to secondary school students for the first time this year, with Brian Joyce from Rice College in Westport, Co Mayo scooping first place for his image of a flowering tree and mountain.
Speaking at the event, competition judge and picture editor at The Irish Times, Frank Miller, praised the competition’s duel role in raising awareness of our natural surroundings and providing “an outlet for photography of nature and ecology”.
“Judging [the competition] was difficult because there were many quite beautiful images but in choosing the winners I was looking for something which reflects the beauty and diversity of our environment,” he said.
He added that nature photography holds great value in keeping us in touch with, and valuing the natural world as our lives become “increasingly urbanised and digitized and virtualised”.
National Biodiversity Week is organised by the Irish Environmental Network (IEN) and is supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The full gallery of shortlisted photos is available at The Irish Times website here: https://goo.gl/idomiZ.
