2005: 15-17 Years - Winner
Matthew Burrard-Lucas (United Kingdom)
Chimpanzee meditation
On the fourth and final day of a family holiday in Tanzania, Matthew followed a troop of about 40 chimpanzees in the Mahale Mountains. He watched them eat termites using grass stalks as tools and witnessed numerous noisy disputes. But the poor light, together with the chimps' black coats confused the camera's autoexposure, and it was frustratingly difficult to get fast enough shutter speeds. 'To take the photograph,' explains Matthew, 'I edged closer on my stomach, trying to ignore the angry safari ants that were crawling all over me.' This image of the alpha male looking thoughtfully into space was more than Matthew had hoped for.
Canon EOS 300D with 55-200mm Sigma lens; 1/200 sec at f5; 800 ISO.
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