‘Fluff-Up’ Runner-Up in 2012 international Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

I am honoured today to announce that my image, ‘Fluff-Up’, has placed as the sole Runner-Up in the Animal Portraits category of the 2012 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

“Fluff-Up” – Raven shot in Jasper National Park – Runner-up in the Animal Portraits category – Larger Version

This is the most prestigious wildlife and nature photography competition in the world (formerly known as the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year), with more than 48,000 entries from 95 different countries.  I feel very fortunate that one of my 20 entries was selected as one of the 100 prize winners and placed second in the most contested of the 11 Adult Categories, Animal Portraits.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year committee contacted me in August to notify me that my raven image had placed in this year’s competition, but because the official results were only announced last night at the award ceremonies in London, England (unfortunately the timing of my 2012 Spirit Bear Photography Tour prevented me from attending), I was forced to keep it secret from everyone but my wife and a few family members.

The secret started to leak out a bit when the Commended images (the lower two-thirds of the prize winners) were released as a sneak peak a month ago and several friends of mine emailed me to ask me why my raven image was the primary banner for those photos, yet wasn’t mentioned or shown with the Commended images.  I guess now you know why it’s on there!

‘Fluff-Up’ is the banner image for this year’s competition and is available on a number of products in the Shop

This is the second time I’ve entered this competition, which is widely viewed as the Super Bowl of wildlife photography, so it’s a huge honour to place in it this year. And I’m thrilled to share my success with two other Canadian photographers that also placed in the competition: Adam Gibb from Vancouver, British Columbia who had a Commended image in the Botanical Realms category, and my friend Paul Nicklen from Vancouver Island/Whitehorse, who was crowned the 2012 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year for winning two categories, finishing Runner-up in another, and having a Commended image in a third.

I guess there’s not really much else to say.  Thank you to everyone for all of your support over the years, and happy shooting!

John