I have just heard that my photograph “Lean on Me” of a pair of rainbow lorikeets was selected as “highly commended” in the Wildlife Portraits competition run by Will Burrard-Lucas and his younger brother Matthew. Here is the article from Burrard-Lucas Blog site
We would like to thank everyone who entered our recent Wildlife Portraits competition. Matthew and I have been overwhelmed by the response and have spent the last week sifting through the 3,500 photographs that were submitted.
The overall standard of photography was fantastic and we had an extremely difficult task in whittling the submissions down to a final selection. We had to be very harsh and eliminate any photo that wasn’t technically perfect. We then took into account more subjective factors such as composition, originality, atmosphere and character to pick the images that stood out the most.
In the end Matthew and I unanimously settled on Thomas Vignaud’s Tompot Blenny as our winner. The perfect framing and spot-on exposure combine to beautiful effect. Thomas has used the strobe light masterfully to gain a sense of the blenny looming out of the darkness. Ultimately however, it was the blenny’s characterful face and frilly appendages that clinched it for us! Congratulations to Thomas – he has won a Olympus SP-570UZ digital camera.
We have also selected two runners-up and eight highly commended entries which we feel exhibit the wonderful quality and diversity of the images that were submitted. All of the photographs appearing here fought off stiff competition and deserve special praise.
Given the success of this first competition, we have decided that we will launch another photo competition soon! If you would like to be notified when this competition is announced then please subscribe to our blog via RSS feed or email updates.

Tompot Blenny by Thomas Vignaud
“This male Tompot Blenny was trying to keep me away from the precious eggs he was guarding.”
Equipment: Canon 400D, Canon 60mm macro
About Thomas Vignaud
I’m a 23 year old marine biology student, working with the shark population of French Polynesia. I started photography with underwater photography, and now it’s a big part of my life.
Website: www.flickr.com/photos/thomasvignaud

Timidity by Mark Simms
“I was so lucky to be in the right place at the right time. The deer stood like this for a matter of seconds before running away.”
Equipment: Canon 5D
Mark Simms – IT engineer (and part time wedding photographer!) who loves to take pictures of nature! Some of my best work (such as this photograph) is taken at Richmond Park in London – an amazing place to go!

Lion in a Tree by J.L. “Woody” Wooden
“This male Lion was injured. He positioned himself in this tree so that he would not be dinner for another predator. Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.”
Equipment: Canon EOS 10D & 100-400 L lens
J.L. “Woody” Wooden – BA & MS Brooks Institute. Commercial Photography for 25 years. Photographed lightning 30+ years. Wildlife photography 8 years.
Website: JLWoodyWooden.com



7:18 am
Good stuff, I “Stumbled” you. My DIGG account got messed up but I like Stumbling better anyway.