2010: Nature in Black & White - Highly Commended
Esa Mälkönen (Finland)
Back in, front out
It made perfect sense to photograph the comings and goings of the chinstraps in black and white. During his time at the penguin rookery on Deception Island in South Shetland, Antarctica, Esa became more and more fascinated with the activities of the 100,000 or so penguins. Having paired up, a male and female will devise a rota: one sits on the eggs (for up to five days) while the other walks back to the sea to feed. 'Even from a distance it was easy to see who was doing what. Black backs told one story, white fronts another,' says Esa. The challenge was to get a shot showing both the backs and fronts of the penguins in an arrangement that worked aesthetically - 'not too few and not too many'.
Canon EOS 7D + 300mm f2.8 lens; 1/2000 sec at f11; ISO 1600.
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