2014 BBC Camera Trap Pictures of the Year Announced

BBC Camera Trap Competition Winner's Gallery

BBC Camera Trap Competition Winner’s Gallery

The results are in for BBC’s Camera Trap Photo of the Year Competition. I have entered some of my SLR camera trap pictures every year into this camera trap photography contest and this year the quality level of images has definitely stepped up in this competition. I think it was smart of them to separate the contest into a research and photography category as that allows for the lower resolution research pictures to shine on the same level as the SLR camera trap shots.

I’d like to first highlight that a good friend of mine, and an amazing biologist, Laila Bahaa-el-din, was commended in the Rare Species category with a beautiful picture of a red morph African Golden Cat. This stunning photograph perfectly fits in the rare species category since it is extremely difficult to get even a camera trap picture of this cat. After nine weeks trying to get a high resolution picture of this species, I was only able to photograph two individuals. Laila has hundreds of pictures and videos of this cat! You deserved this recognition, nice job Laila, I am really happy for you!

I had the honor of sharing an award in this same category of Rare Species with Laila, as the picture of the Marbled Cat got runner up (behind an Iranian Cheetah so, I mean, that’s a given first place!). This picture was a total team effort, to read more check out both of these past blog posts. (Borneo Bay Cat and Thank you for 2013).

Marbled Cat (Pardofelis marmorata marmorata) in lowland rainforest, Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Rare Species Catergory Runner Up: Marbled Cat (Pardofelis marmorata marmorata) in lowland rainforest, Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

The magazine’s editors always do a separate selection from the winners of the category, in their Editor’s Choice Gallery. This too is another great collection of images (I love the tiger coming out of the darkness), and I was again truly honored to have one of my images associated with such great pictures, photographers, and biologists. It is of a Malay Civet, captured as it is crossing over a buttress root in the dense rainforest of Malaysian Borneo (my friend Andy Hearn and I were trying to get a Sunda Clouded Leopard here, but we’ll take what we can get).

Malayan Civet (Viverra tangalunga) in lowland rainforest at night, Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Malayan Civet (Viverra tangalunga) in lowland rainforest at night, Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

There are a few things I am really excited about in regards to the results (I am of course happy that two entries placed, but that’s not important). One, is that the competition winners are filled with cats — in fact nine out of the 39 winning photographs depict one of our feline friends. Better yet, it highlights some of the least known and endangered species in the cat family. This contest allows a lot more people to be exposed to these amazing amazing animals, hopefully converting a few people out there into cat conservationists, or at the very least into more environmentally aware people (how can one not be excited about that?!?!).

I am so very glad BBC has started this competition and it is truly blooming into a great project that is not only entertaining, but also will drive environmental change.

*If you are interested in purchasing any of the pictures displayed in this post, please check out my fine prints page for pricing.*

Thank you for 2013!

As a follow up post to the Reviewing the 2013 Photographic Year post, I’d like to dedicate this post to the people and organizations who made it possible for 2013 to be such a great year.

People

The first adventure was a six week trip to Borneo to photograph the wild cats found on the island. Enter Mr. Bornean Wildcats, Andrew Hearn, who has been studying these animals for seven years and is the leading expert on Sunda Clouded Leopards and the Borneo Bay Cat. He is currently conducting his field research for his PhD there, studying multiple aspects of the ecology of the felids including population size, density, habitat preference, habitat use,prey base, among many many others!

The Marbled Cat, Sunda Clouded Leopard, and Bay Cat picture are only possible because of him. Thank you Andy, I am honored to not only know you, but call you a friend.

Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi borneensis) researcher Andrew Hearn radio tracking in secondary lowland rainforest, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi borneensis) researcher Andrew Hearn radio tracking in secondary lowland rainforest, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

The same goes for Gilmoore Bolongon, who used to be Andy’s field assistant and is now doing his own masters research on Sunda Clouded Leopards. Thank you Gil for always being willing to help, including carrying gear, arranging logistics, and determining camera trap locations!

Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi borneensis) researcher Gilmoore Bolongon, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi borneensis) researcher Gilmoore Bolongon, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Thank you to Nuh Engoh, Rizam Bakiri, and Hildey Baas for helping with carrying equipment, giving me rides, and just being nice guys!

Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi borneensis) researchers Nuh Engoh, Rizam Bakiri, and Hildey Baas making food at campsite, Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi borneensis) researchers Nuh Engoh, Rizam Bakiri, and Hildey Baas making food at campsite, Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Also a thank you to Roshan Guharajan who is a masters student at Michigan for being an extremely willing, patient, and generous boat driver and wildlife spotter!

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) biologist Roshan Guharajan, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) biologist Roshan Guharajan, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia

And to Iago Bonnici for helping take down cameras from the jungle, just because he could. Thank you!

Iago Bonnici is the second guy from the left, ignore the rest of the crazy people.

Iago Bonnici is the second guy from the left, ignore the rest of the crazy people.

 

Next, came a four week trip to Lope National Park in Gabon where Laila Bahaa-el-din was concluding her PhD studies on African Golden Cats. She has been studying these animals for four years and too is the leading expert on the species. Her PhD will unearth many unknowns about this small felid including densities, habitat preference, diet, and their ecological relationship to the much larger African Leopards using the same areas. One of her PhD supervisors is Phillip Henschel who lives in Gabon and was nice enough to help me figure out where up and down is in the jungle. Not only does he feel truly at home in the tropical rainforests of central Africa, he is also an expert on African Leopards and conducting surveys for Lions across all of Africa. Both of them are amazing biologists,  know their way around the forest, and most importantly to me, are truly generous, nice, and caring people. The African Leopard pictures only exist because of them. Thank you two for everything, it was a true honor!

African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata aurata) biologist Laila Bahaa-el-din reviewing camera trap images on computer, Lope National Park, Gabon

African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata aurata) biologist Laila Bahaa-el-din reviewing camera trap images on computer, Lope National Park, Gabon

African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) biologist Phillip Henschel armed with camera, Lope National Park, Gabon

African Leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) biologist Phillip Henschel armed with camera, Lope National Park, Gabon

Additional thanks to Laila’s field assistant Arthur for being patient with pictures and making sure Elephants were not going to trample us in the forest:

African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata aurata) biologist Arthur Dibambo, Lope National Park, Gabon

African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata aurata) biologist Arthur Dibambo, Lope National Park, Gabon

Thank you to Ulrich Bogendre and the field assistants at Lope National Park who are extremely friendly people and know their way around the forest:

Botanist Ulrich Bogendre and field assistants looking at trees in lowland rainforest for carbon study, Lope National Park, Gabon

Botanist Ulrich Bogendre and field assistants looking at trees in lowland rainforest for carbon study, Lope National Park, Gabon

Théophile Desarmeaux for being an impromptu french translator and helping clean my camera trap gear. Thank you buddy!

Théophile Desarmeaux looking bada** at roadblock for illegal wildlife, Lope National Park, Gabon

Théophile Desarmeaux looking bada** at roadblock for illegal wildlife, Lope National Park, Gabon

And last, but not least, to Vianet Mihindou for helping with all the logistics at the ANPN field center. Thank you for making it such a smooth ride!

Vianet Mihindou, Lope National Park, Gabon

Vianet Mihindou, Lope National Park, Gabon

Organizations

I would like extend my deepest gratitude towards the world’s leading wild cat conservation organization, Panthera, which does absolutely tremendous field and conservation work world wide not only for the Big Cats, but also many of the small felids. Working with them has been a true dream come true and their goals are ones to which I am honored to make small contributions. Their staff is not only professional, but also extremely personable, and they have amazing attitudes towards making conservation change possible. Keep up doing what you are doing and I am looking forward to working with you again! If you have any interest in helping cat conservation, please donate to them. 100% of your donation will go directly into the field!

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