Wildlife Photographer of the Year Review 2011

Walking up to the first photo, a close up of an evil-looking insect, you are drawn in by how beautifully focused, and composed it is. Let alone the mindblowingly incredible subject matter, where something normally reserved for David Attenborough is suddenly larger than life in front of you, you then realise the artist who took the photo is in the Under 10′s category…yes, really! Much of the exhibition continues in this vein, a beautiful photograph with an underlying message or story, which makes you double take. The exhibition is curated wonderfully and the photos are beautifully presented on huge screens. The winner is placed slightly oddly and is a bit hard to pick out, especially when almost every photo seems incredible. However, when you find it and your eyes adjust to the image of the birds huddled in a crate, covered in oil after the Deep Horizon disaster, you can easily see why it’s the winner.  Although, in my opinion, the Qinling Snub-Nosed Monkey baby cuddling itself on a branch, definitely stole those birds show.