Puffin pose - Adrien Imre - Wildlife Photographer of the Year2006

2006: 11-14 Years - Runner-up

Adrien Imre Enlarge image Puffin pose

Adrien Imre (Hungary)

Puffin pose

One lovely, long, light evening on Runde, an island off the southwest coast of Norway, Adrien sat watching a rock. She was on a photo workshop and had chosen the rock because of the 'gorgeously green' background and hoped a puffin would choose it, too. 'My rock-watching paid off', she says, 'when this character landed and turned to look at me'. A photogenic bird, an 'intimate ambience' and beautiful light gave her the photograph she was after. In summer, thousands and thousands of Atlantic puffins descend on Runde to breed on the rocky coast - sometimes up to 100,000. Throughout the rest of the year, regardless of the weather, they ride the ocean.

Canon EOS 20D with EF 300mm f2.8 IS USM lens and Sigma EX 2x teleconverter; 1/640 sec at f5.6; 400 ISO; tripod.