I’m Alan and I’m an ornithologist. There I’ve said it. I’m a birdwatcher and proud of it. Also being Head of Content at Alamy I guess someone thought I’d be a reasonable candidate to be a judge for the upcoming Bird Photographer of the Year competition. I was honoured and delighted to have an opportunity to indulge in two of my passions at the same time!
I love birds and I’ve always loved birds, I think my curiosity was initially pricked by that British film masterpiece Kes and continued through the YOC (Young Ornithologists Club) and now whilst a lapsed truly dedicated bird watcher, I still surprise the family with casual identification of passing birds as if everyone should know their Greater from their Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
So what will I be looking for? Here I’m going to give a brief insight into the mind of this particular judge, I can’t, nor would I want to, speak for the other more esteemed judges including Chris Packham and Alamy contributor David Tipling – the joy of being on a panel is we’ll get diverse views and preferences. For what it’s worth here’s my take on what will grab my attention and how I approach judging:
- Emotionally, I tend to go on first impressions. What’s the initial feeling that an image evokes? Am I intrigued, delighted, saddened or puzzled? Aesthetically you’ll get a second chance from me, I’ll take time to look and consider the composition but if you’ve got my attention from the off you’ll give yourself a better chance.
- I’ll do my best to put personal preferences aside. Bird fans have their favourites as do football supporters, photographers or motorbike enthusiasts. For me it’s Birds of Prey, they are the Harley to the 49cc moped of the sea bird. But they tend to be wonderfully photogenic and as such are sometimes over photographed. I’m going to be as impressed with a stunning original feature of a Blue Tit as I will a portrait of an Osprey.
- A search for ‘bird’ on Alamy turns up over 1 million images, so your challenge to impress this judge is to show me something I’ve never seen before. A rare species is one thing but rare behaviour or unusual situations will be more appealing.
- Character; I see human qualities in birds, whether it’s the faintly nerdy Curlew sifting through stones or the upright and arrogant Secretary Bird that you would never mess with. If your shot can capture the essence of the bird, even the simplest portrait will catch my eye.
- Is there a back story? Whether concrete or implied, there was a lot of coverage recently for the immense dedication of photographer Alan MacFadyen who spent 6 years trying to get the perfect shot. One look at the end result tells you this shot took skill, patience, dedication and extreme tenacity. These are qualities that can shine out through an image and appeal to a judge sorting Wheatear from Chiffchaff (that’s a bird joke btw).
- Please no swans and ducks, it might seem harsh but at Alamy we are swamped with this easy prey for the complacent bird photographer. OK, maybe I should be clear, by all means give us something we’ve never seen before from this ubiquitous genre but chucking some bread on an icy pond and lapping up the easy pickings will not a BPOTY make.
So I hope to see something new, something extraordinary or just something that makes you look, once, twice, a hundred times.
For inspiration we’ve put together a lightbox.
Helping to judge the competition will be a pleasure and I eagerly await the shortlist.
Good luck to all entrants and may the best bird win..even if it is a swan.