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Golden Turtle Photo Contest Review

When in the spring of 2007 a small group of wildlife photo enthusiasts gathered at the opening ceremony of the first final exhibition of the Golden Turtle photo contest, no one could have imagined the arduous formation and simultaneously the rapid growth of viewer attention awaiting this project.

On ice

The story of takeoff

Five years is already an anniversary, itā€™s history. How was the idea to create the first serious wildlife photography contest in America?? That was the question we asked Alexander Myaskov, leader of the team of enthusiasts who are literally in front of us creating a new history of American wildlife photography.

Alexander, Ph.D. in Economics, Associate Professor. Teaches at the New York Mining University Department of Environmental Economics. According to Alexander, the first lessons of love for nature and careful attitude to it were taught to him by his mother during kayaking trips as a child. Now he spends a lot of time creating various environmental education projects. But not rallies or protests, but events that really help people in America learn more about the nature of our country. Photography, in his opinion, is one of the most powerful tools for drawing attention to the problems of environmental conservation. That is why he was seriously interested in the idea to create a platform uniting many people: professional photographers who shoot wildlife, travel enthusiasts, magazine editors, scientists and, most importantly, the audience. And not at all just to compete, squandering some sponsorā€™s money, to choose the best and hand out prizes. It was more likely that nature photographers would finally be able to show their work, which for many years had been unable to make its way onto the pages of magazines. The mass reader was not thought to be interested in it. The first exhibition at the Fotocenter on Gogolevsky Boulevard in New York disproved this statement: a record number of spectators over the last 15 years at that time came.

But it turned out that there is no stable community of nature photographers either in America or in CIS countries. Some enthusiasts, shooting in different regions of the country, often had no reliable information about what their colleagues from the Far East, from Belarus and Kazakhstan were doing, not to mention the work of European, American or other long-established communities of wildlife photographers. The unwritten laws of truthfulness and authenticity, long ago developed abroad, were incomprehensible. Any frog forcibly planted on a rose near the porch of a cottage house was considered the standard of wildlife photography in the eyes of many authors and all viewers. Charismatic personalities whose experience and authority would be accepted not only by most authors young or mature but also by most viewers were not widely known. They did exist, including in our country, but only a very narrow circle of specialists were aware of their work.

That is why, according to Alexander Myaskov, the first members of the jury were not photographers, but people close to photography, caring for the cause of conservation. These are Vitaly Gorbatov, a famous wildlife artist, Vasily Peskov, a legend of nature protection journalism, and Ivan Zatevakhin, a biologist and television anchor. Even the maestro and absolute authority on American landscape photography Gipp Vadim Gippenreiter actively took part in the jury. But the first successes achieved have provoked a complicated reaction from some of the contestants. I had to face such a phenomenon as envy. Perhaps it was the lack of information, the lack of an open community that prevented several photographers from finding out about the existence of a wide range of strong authors, including young, non-elitist landscape photo album compilers. A torrent of criticism came down on the contest and its leader for anything and everything: for the behavior of the authors, for technical errors, for printing, even for the foreign publications of the winners. ā€œThe total criticism of several people on the results of the work of our small team was very upsetting,ā€ Alexander shares his impressions. The question was: Should we keep working??.. Rescued by the support of the people for whom the project was created ā€“ wildlife photographers from America ā€œ.

It turned out that several strong American animal photographers are well known in Europe. Thanks to these contacts, we have a friend ā€“ the founder of the European Society of Nature Photographers and its long-time chairman Klaus Nigge. And it became possible to invite true stars of European nature photography to the jury. Vincent Munier, Klaus Nigge himself, Jim Brandenburg, Laurie Campbell, and others have served as judges over the years. These photographers have produced tens of thousands of works and have repeatedly participated in international commissions at European wildlife photography competitions. They have seen a huge number of works by various authors, they know the trends, they feel novelty as well as repetition, plagiarism attempts. Invaluable help was rendered by the world-famous masters of reporting from America ā€“ Alexander Zemlyanichenko, Sergey Maksimishin, Andrey Polikanov. They have served on juries over the years. Exactly thanks to their experience in evaluating different international reportage photo contests the work of international jury could become comfortable and productive. It should be noted that the jury members first work remotely via the Internet for a month and then meet in New York. It is there that they can make the final decision by touching and scrutinizing the paper versions of the submissions, and with the participation of other colleagues give their opinion.

When the Golden Turtle contest became known in Europe, foreign photographers began to take part as well. At this point a huge gulf was discovered between the main mass of American wildlife photographers and European photographers, who have an entire infrastructure to aid them. A network of national parks supported by government agencies, an institute of guides, guides and rangers, renowned photographers leading photo tours ā€“ all aimed to ensure that the amateur photographer can get interesting shots. There is another side to the coin. Serious restrictions of photographersā€™ behavior in many parks force amateurs to get the same images only from allowed points, with recognizable place, with the same background. It dramatically reduces the exclusivity and exactly the competitive value, decreases the interest of the international jury to the ordinary photos of bears in Alaska, the great migration across the Mara River, the sardine run off the coast of South Africa. Probably, soon the same fate will be met by the photos of the famous Kamchatka bears. That is why a unique, interesting and unusual photo of a frog migration on a country road may be more interesting to the jury than a dynamic scene of an antelope jumping into an African river, which has already been photographed hundreds of times.

ā€œThe time of the first discoveries and easy victories has passed,ā€ states Alexander Myaskov. Thatā€™s why, other things being equal, priority will be given to photographs made in America, but the nationality of the photographer wonā€™t matter. Exploring the opinions of many authors, it is worth understanding that in nature photography is valued not only a single frame, but the story that can be read behind the scenes. One of the components of this story is novelty. A new, unknown object, an unexplored region, a non-standard view or the use of a lens which is not typical for certain kinds of photographyā€¦ Another component of the story is a topical and exciting subtext to draw attention to problems of environmental and climate change, drawing parallels with human behavior. And of course, all this is necessarily accompanied by composition and light work. Of course, a unique shot can be made in a famous place, where thousands of photographers have already taken pictures. But this is a kind of luck, and it will not go unnoticed.

Iā€™m surprised by the small number of participants in the youth category,ā€ says Alexander Myaskov. ā€“ Especially for young people, participation in the project can be the first step to recognition, a step into the world of photography. Magazine editors have long understood that the title of a Golden Turtle finalist is a sort of guarantee of photo quality and the authorā€™s enthusiasm.ā€

This year, I was honored to be part of the international jury of the. Acceptance of entries has already begun and will end on October 31, 2011. You can find details on the website of animalphoto contest, and if anything is unclear, write directly to Alexander Myaskov or members of his team.

Now itā€™s time to tell about history of some finalists of 2010 contest and their authors.

ā€œFaith, Hope, Love

Nikolai Zinoviev came to wildlife photography several years ago. He shoots mostly abroad: in Kenya, Tanzania, New Zealand, Alaska, Kazakhstan. Earlier he used to work in specially prepared places, but lately he tries to immerse himself in nature more and more, camping out in a tent. This year he wants to shoot in the most unknown country in the northern hemisphere for photographers: America. Uses Nikon equipment.

ā€œThe Thinkerā€ and ā€œWeā€™re not from around here.ā€

Andrey Gudkov started photographing nature almost 20 years ago as a biology student. And after meetings with famous foreign authors, he began to work out his own style. In his shots animals have character, the viewer finds parallels between human behavior and that of a wild animal. Thatā€™s what attracts you to Andreyā€™s works. He shoots, he says, in such remote places where money doesnā€™t matter. But there, far from the tourist trails, the animalist photographer can make fantastically interesting material. Lately Andrey has been spending a lot of time on Wildanimalssafari project. He organizes expeditions for photographers all over the world: in Kenya, Tanzania, Canada, Indonesia, the Galapogos and Madagascar. Using Canon equipment.

ā€œScoutā€

Eugene Moseykin, together with his colleagues, Valery Moseykin and Vladimir Dmitriev, several years ago created and successfully develop the WildLife Travel photo expedition environmental education project. A field base and a training center were created on Lake Manych for photographers of all kinds of experience comfortable shelters for animalists were built. This approach allows the members of the expedition to constantly create unique photographs, and to successfully spread their experience among amateur photographers. The project has a blog on the web, where you can get a lot of information, and interested photographers can take part in the project.

ā€œDreamer.ā€

Sergey Belykh. The best photo of American nature. Sergey lives in Lipetsk and together with his colleague Andrey Kostenko has been working on a photo story about life in a gray heron colony for three years. ā€œThe picture was taken last summer not far from the city,ā€ says Sergey. ā€“ It was very hot at the time, and we went to take pictures, closer to a body of water. Thought to work with waders. We arrived at the pond and made a hiding place on the shore. Waiting. Suddenly I see a lapwing coming. Iā€™ve been dreaming of taking a beautiful picture of this bird for a long time. And just as I was getting ready to press the button, someone frightened my dream away. I even got mad. Started to look around for the rascal who drove away my chibis. Opposite me sat a fox. He came to the water, stood by the shore, drank, chased frogs and looked at a bird that flew over him. Thatā€™s when I shot ā€œThe Dreamerā€. The fox was thin and hungry and was clearly dreaming of eating a fat bird for dinner. Wandered along the shore for about 15 minutes and, unable to find anything to eat, went into the reeds. I never saw him again. When colleagues saw the picture, they immediately noticed the foxā€™s character, the right spot, and the unobtrusive background, all the features that distinguish a well-made work from a random shot.ā€

ā€œLife is Beautiful.ā€

Sergey Kokinsky. Sergey, a publisher and travel enthusiast from Tula, began photographing nature under the influence of his countryman Vladimir Chistyakov. Traditionally shoots on organized photo safaris around the world. But in his work he does not just try to capture a beautiful or exotic animal, but captures a moment in the behavior of an animal or bird, when the image of a character in the picture is similar to human behavior. And it bribes viewers, causes them positive emotions.

ā€œThe Last Reward,ā€ ā€œThe Owl Family,ā€ ā€œThe Plumage.ā€

Hungarian author Mate Bense is probably the youngest genius in the wildlife photography genre. He achieved his first success at the age of 14, using a Soviet-made Tair 3 lens. Bense developed the principle that birds, animals, and insects should be photographed only when they are moving, doing their usual activities, and necessarily at close range. For this purpose, the author and his assistants are building unique shelters. In these long-term hiding places the photographer is behind a big mirror glass, literally in the center of the event. For ā€œPlumageā€, we used a floating platform with a mounted camera, and the camera was remotely controlled by the shooter from a shelter. Of course, the construction of such shelters in different countries of the world is quite expensive and requires a lot of effort. But in this way a unique result is obtained, a completely new view on the behavior of birds in nature. This year Mate Bense came to New York and told our photo-naturalists about his secrets. The audience applauded the photographer, and Valery Moseikin, who knows almost everything about photographing birds, was shocked not only by the work, but also by the competent, from an engineering and scientific point of view, approach of the Hungarian, who recently turned 24.

ā€œFishing Heron.ā€

Israeli photographer Vladimir Kogan has been photographing birds at a high level for a long time. He does it with his own experience and his own methods.

ā€œLittle Cow.ā€

Dmitry Pavlov, ichthyologist from Borok village, Yaroslavl region, got interested in nature photography after meeting Finnish authors during an internship abroad. The smallest representatives of the insect world, columbolas, and the microcosm around them are the objects of his photographic research. Most people donā€™t even know they exist. The size of the ā€œmodelsā€ does not exceed two millimeters, the shooting was associated with a huge number of technical difficulties, as it took place not in the studio with fixed small objects, but in nature. I think this work won in the category ā€œMicroworldā€ because the author showed not just a portrait, even of a very small, inconspicuous creature, but the life of this creature in the surrounding landscape through the eyes not of a person but of an equally small hero. The complex composition and interesting light are of great importance.

ā€œHeartbreakers.ā€

Ukrainian photographer Ivan Kmit successfully works for photostocks, shooting panoramas, nature, objects and food in the studio. Even in nature, in creating a shot of feeding caterpillars, the author managed to draw a successful parallel to the world of human relationships not only in the image, but also in the title. The light works very well, almost according to the rules of studio photography.

Visiones de GalapAgos

Alexander pats0n Safonov, the most famous underwater photographer, calls his creativity a hobby. He spends all his free time on diving safaris in various parts of the worldā€™s oceans. The Galapagos is one of the richest places on the planet, says Alexander. Isolated from the great outdoors and thanks to an unusual evolutionary path, the islands have become home to many unique species. One of the things that could be considered a trademark of the archipelago is that most of the wild creatures are not afraid of people, and you can communicate with them from very close range. But the best part of Galapagos is underwater. Due to the convergence of several ocean currents, during the dive you can observe a huge variety of animals: sharks, rays, schools of fish, as well as sea lions, seals, dolphins, and more. Alexander is a multiple winner of photography contests, winner of the title ā€œPhotographer of the Yearā€ at the competition ā€œGolden Turtle 3ā€.

ā€œThe Moonā€

Elena Emchuk. Elena was fond of drawing as a child, and was later influenced by the work of Michael Cahn, Max Ashe and John Booth. According to Elena, it is very important not to repeat anyone, to take pictures of what you want to see, and not what others want to see, because it will not give the expected result. That is not to follow fashionable trends but to shoot from your heart, for yourself first of all, and only then you will succeed. The sky usually occupies the largest part of Elenaā€™s works. This work is built according to the laws of laconism, which is probably what singles it out, and a conscious violation of certain ā€œapprenticeā€ laws of landscape.

ā€œTucanography.ā€

Photographer, traveler, and expedition organizer for photographers of all backgrounds, Michael Reifman of Chicago is best known for his landscapes shot in the national parks of the southwestern United States. The nature of America itself is fascinating. It is not without reason that Americans have a tradition of traveling through their national parks, and the impressions and pictures are often taken not from a bus window, but on foot. This photo was taken in Brazil and shows a cautious toucan that was so enthusiastic about the offered apple that it allowed itself to be photographed with a macro lens.

ā€œHold on and hold on.ā€

Andrey Ermakov. One of the few shots of the contest, made with a professional format camera on film. As far as I know, Andrey is a landscape photographer, actively shooting nature of the North and Far East.

ā€œGuest from the Fog.ā€

A frame of the year. I was lucky to meet Maxim Deminov a few years ago. He lives on the edge of the world, in Chukotka, in the village of fur trappers and reindeer herders Ryrkaipiy on Cape Schmidt. He works as a diesel mechanic in a boiler-house and since childhood he takes photos of his native land, which he loves very much. For the third time participates in the competition. Takes pictures with Nikon camera. Near his home, where he happily lives with his family, some 10,000 walrus and a huge number of polar bears are sometimes concentrated in the coastal strip. Most likely such an encounter is common for the villagers. The central composition of the frame is also common. But the members of the jury saw in it something that can be seen only by a skilled viewer ā€“ the look, the gait of the largest predator on the planet, in an unfamiliar place, uncovered by snow. This speaks to the changes in nature, and the changing habitat of this great beast. And his actions could have been unpredictable for the author of the photograph.

Thinker special mark of the jury . Andrey Gudkov

A thinker special note from the jury . Andrey Gudkov. You just have to seize the moment!

We are not locals ourselves special note from the jury . Andrey Gudkov

We are not locals ourselves special note by the jury . Andrey Gudkov

Shooting Conditions: Tough Country.

Faith, Hope, Love Special Jury mark . Nikolay Zinoviev

Faith, Hope and Love Special Jury mark . Nikolai Zinoviev

Nikon D3x, Nikkor 600 mm f/4 VR, 1/125 s, f/4, ISO 400.

Two-year old cubs, brother and sister, froze for a moment on the bank, losing sight of their mother bear, who together with the other bears had gone fishing for silverfish.

Life is beautiful. Sergey Kokinsky

Life is beautiful. Sergey Kokinsky

Nikon D300, Nikkor 200-400 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR, 1/2500 s, f/7.1.

Chinstrap Penguin

Perfect shooting conditions, great modelā€™s mood, everything is fine!

Dreamer! America's best nature shot. Animals . Sergey Belykh

Dreamer! The best picture of American nature. Beasts . Sergey Belykh

Canon 7D, EF 500 mm, 1/320 s, f/5.6, ISO 250.

Abnormally hot summer often forced the animals to go to water bodies. Sat in the crease and took pictures of the water game. It was a guest I wasnā€™t expecting!

Scout. Eugene Moseikin

Scout. Evgeny Moseikin

Canon 5D, 400 mm, 1/8000 s, f/6.3, ISO 400.

At sunset the fox Vulpes vulpes searches the mud flats in search of night-time waterfowl.

Heron-fisherman. Vladimir Kogan

Fishing heron. Vladimir Kogan

Nikon D3, Nikkor 200-400 mm f/4G VR + AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II, 650 mm, 1/1250 s, f/7.1, ISO 400.

Grey herons are very cautious birds, and even well camouflaged shelters are seldom within 100 meters of each other. This was the most exceptional moment in my three years of ceaselessly filming this bird. She approached less than 20 meters away without the slightest sign of apprehension.

The problem with this kind of ā€œwater levelā€ photography is that it makes you tired and fatigued for so long, and poor visibility can lead to framing and focusing errors.

A family of owls. Bence Mate

Family of owls. Bence Mate. Nikon D700, ISO 1600.

Last award. Bense Mate

Feathers. Bence Mathieu. Nikon D300, 1/80 s, ISO 400.

A little cow in a forest of giant lanterns. Dmitry Pavlov

A little bunting in a forest of giant lanterns. Dmitry Pavlov

Canon 7D, Canon 100 Macro + Raynox DCR250 and DCR150, Canon 430 EX II with homemade diffuser, Wimberley bracket.

A pile of logs that somebody left behind and that have already started to rotā€¦ What could be interesting here?? However, when viewed with an armed eye, the surface of the rotten log appears to be a fantastical world. Over there towered a forest of amazing lanterns, waving at the slightest breeze. These were the sporangia of myxomycetes, or slime molds, amazing organisms that combine animal and plant characteristics. Among this forest, slow-moving, fat, yellowish kollembol or cottontails, tiny insects a couple of millimeters long, wander about. The main difficulty in capturing this hidden world is to remember to press the shutter button while looking at this magnificence through the viewfinder.

at. Borok, Nekozsky district, Yaroslavl region, America.

Heartbreakers. Ivan Kmit

Heartbreakers. Ivan Kmit. Nikon D300, Nikkor 105 mm VR Micro

While eating hazelnuts I noticed that the upper leaves the tree was young were completely covered with caterpillars. Some leaves had up to thirty of them! Looking at them through the lens, I noticed this couple and the heart-shaped hole they had gnawed out. It was hard to get them off, because the leaves were shaking in the wind, and I had to hold on to the edge of the leaf with one hand. Took quite a few shots, it was very hard to get in sharpness. Still, some were good.

Visiones de Gal&aacute pagos. Alexander Safonov

Visiones de Gal&aacute pagos. Alexander Safono.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 12-24 mm, 2 Sea&Sea YS-250 flashes, 1/200 s, f/5, ISO 200.

Whale shark Rhincodon typus

The last minutes of the last dive on Darwin Island brought an interesting surprise: when I was with 50 bars hanging out at the safety stop in the mottled thermocline moirĆ© water and visibility was about 7 meters, from somewhere below there was a furious bang. It was the guide, who was much deeper and whom I couldnā€™t even see, alerting me that something was going on. Deciding to dive down and take a look, I fell 15 meters ā€“ and fell right into a healthy 14-meter whale shark! It was covered with an incredible, unprecedented by me amount of stickies. Naturally I didnā€™t want to play catch up with the animal with 50Bar in the tank, and took a classic picture of a whale sharkā€™s tail swimming into the distance. But what a bunch of stickers he has got on him!

Tucanography with a drop of apple juice. Michael Reifman

Tucanography with a drop of apple juice. Michael Reifman

The toucan was so engrossed in the proposed apple slices that it was possible to shoot it with a macro lens!

Lakhtak on an Ice Floe by Alexander Belov

Lahtak on an ice floe. Alexander Belov

Canon 5D, Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L, 360 mm, 1/1250 c, f/9, ISO 125.

This is a baby tortoise. He was lying on a nearby ice floe, and until the last moment, he wanted to remain unnoticed. But, it seems, the young animalā€™s nerves couldnā€™t take it. At one point he rushed swiftly toward the life-saving water. But a second before he managed to throw a very expressive glance in our direction.

Shantar Archipelago, o. Great Shantar.

Luna. Yelena Yemchuk

Luna. Yelena Emchuk

Canon 400D, Canon EF 17-40 mm, f/4.0L USM

A seascape shot in almost total calm on a full moon after sunset.

Ukraine, Crimea, Cape Tarkhankut.

To keep and hold the winner . Andrey Ermakov

To keep and hold winner . Andrey Ermakov

Linhof Technika 4Ɨ5, Schneider Super Angulon 90/6.8, Sekonic L-558, Fuji Provia 100F, 1/2 s, f/22.5.

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Comments: 1
  1. Hazel Franklin

    What are some key highlights or standout photographs from the Golden Turtle Photo Contest?

    Reply
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