The Base at Greenham has re-opened with a superb exhibition of wildlife photography. For the third year, our local visual arts and crafts centre is hosting the Natural History Museum’s “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” exhibition, itself in its 56th year.
The competition attracted 49,162 images from which 100 were selected, representing 86 nationalities. There are 17 categories and two “grand title” winners. The six judges were drawn from wildlife and photography experts from as far a field as Singapore, India, the USA and Spain, as well as from the UK.
The photographs are breathtaking with many interesting categories such as “Animals in their Environment”, “Photo journalism”, “Restoring nature”, “Rising stars”, “Urban wildlife” and “Under water”.
Each photograph has its fascinating story on a plaque beside it. Often the photograph has taken many months, sometimes years, to capture. There are some taken using techniques such as “camera traps” or drones.
Some of the images, for example, those reflecting mistreatment of animals, are disturbing.
The exhibition, above all, is a riot of colour and a amazing reflection of our natural world.
Alongside the “Wildlife Photographer of the Year 56” exhibition are images from local photographers in the “My Wild Life” photography competition launched by the Base itself in December 2020. Over 250 entries were narrowed down by local professional photographers Phil Cannings from the Newbury Weekly News and Philip Tull, to a collection of 40 photographs which are on display. This includes these two winners and two runners-up who were decided by a public vote on The Base’s Facebook page:
1st PRIZEUnder-18s Winner: Charlie Green | Over-18s Winner: Thomas Cawdron
2nd PRIZEUnder-18s Runner-up: Lara Rudland | Over-18s Runner-up: Adrian Cubitt
“Wildlife Photographer of the Year 56” is open everyday until Sunday 13th June from 10am until (last entry at) 4pm. There is a special Parent and Baby day on May 24th and a Relaxed Day on June 7th. Tickets can be booked on The Base website.
