2005: 15-17 Years - Specially Commended
Mateusz Kowalski (Poland)
Owl landing
A big white sheet, a toy mouse and a piece of string - that was the tool kit Mateusz used to get his picture. The previous day, he and a friend had spent hours searching for great grey owls in Oulu, Finland. They knew where the owls hunted, but it wasn't until the boys were on their way home that they finally spotted one perched on a tree near a snow-covered field. That evening, the boys hatched an ingenious plan. 'We went back to the field next morning and lay under the sheet, ready with our cameras and wide-angle lenses,' Mateusz explains. 'The toy mouse was outside. We tugged the string to make the mouse twitch a few times, and the owl soon flew down to investigate. But it wasn't fooled and took off again almost immediately. Still, it gave me enough time to get some interesting shots.'
Canon EOS 1D mark II with Canon 16-35mm f2.8 lens; 1/1600 sec at f2.8; 400 ISO.
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Young awards White-winged tern parent and chick Mateusz Kowalski
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