VOLUME 31, ISSUE 3 SUMMER 2022 PAGE 9
Community
Wildlife Photographer of the Year: An eye-opening exhibit that you don’t have to be an expert to appreciate
Photo: Qiang Guo
By: Victoria Gotcheva
A
few weeks ago, I went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Receiving more than 50,490 photo submissions this year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year is considered the world’s most prestigious nature photography competition, and it showcases the work of people from all around the globe. Since I had visited the exhibit five years back, I had a vague idea of what to expect. However, given the fogginess of my memories from my 2017 visit, I had no strong predispositions going in. Despite my limited knowledge about
Photo: Justin Gilligan
wildlife and photography, I found the exhibit very insightful and captivating. I also thought that it was well-organised and that it achieved its goal in raising awareness about the importance of protecting the natural world. The exhibit featured 100 of the most highly-commended photographs from the competition, and the photographs were spaced out on the walls in such a way that ensured that I was never stuck behind a crowd of people in an attempt to view a photograph. The photographs were organised into categories that included behaviour, environments, aquatic worlds, and perspectives. Although there were stunning photos
in each, one of my personal favourites was Young Photographers. The selections from the Young Photographers category were sorted based on the photographers’ ages, and it was incredibly uplifting to see that there are people even younger than 10 years old who care deeply about documenting the beauties of the world around them. Many of the photos showcased species that I had never heard of before, like Bohemian Waxwing birds, while featuring a brilliant array of bright colours. I also found it inspiring how much curiosity and attentiveness the photographers had displayed in order to capture rare moments in time. One
young boy, for instance, was able to document three roseringed parakeet chicks’ first peek outside their nest. Overall, I thought that the exhibit did a great job including photos that would make people think about and remember significant issues involving the natural world. One photo that stood out to me in particular in this respect was “A Distressing Matter” by Michael Watson, which depicted a seal screaming in pain from being cut by a rope. It was heartbreaking to see the consequences of irresponsibly-discarded fishing gear and even more devastating to read in the statement below the photo that the seal had gotten entangled when it was just a pup. However,
Photo: Michael Watson
there were also photos with a more optimistic mood depicting work currently being done to amend such issues too; Justin Gilligan’s “Rich Reflections”, for example, showed how careful human management helps preserve a vibrant seaweed jungle in Australia. In addition to being able to appreciate the photographs because of their content and composition, the diagrams above certain photos explaining the techniques used to capture the shots allowed me to admire the photographers’ innovative approaches. I came away from the exhibit having learned about photo stacking, forced perspective, and camera traps. The diagrams also satisfied my
curiosity about how a grizzly bear could be captured peering right into a camera lens, for example. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit opened my eyes to all the beauty that lies within the natural world, as well as the threats that animals and other living organisms are facing around the globe. I hope to visit the exhibit again next year and would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of how much knowledge they have about wildlife and photography going into it.
