2010: Animals in their Environment - Highly Commended
Andrew Parkinson (United Kingdom)
The drop
With his legs dangling over the edge, Andrew tried to avoid any foreground showing in the picture by leaning right into the gale-force westerly blowing off the Atlantic. 'Like so many people with a fear of heights, I am almost hypnotically drawn to drops, and I was determined to show the fulmar as part of this spectacularly precipitous landscape - though if the wind had stopped, I might have had a problem.' The fulmar is such an aerodynamic bird that the splayed tail feathers and legs seem comically incongruous. But the bird was, in fact, coping perfectly well with the winds surging up the cliff face. Indeed, it seemed to be just enjoying riding the swells.
Nikon D300 + 18-70mm lens; 1/100 sec at f6.3; ISO 400.
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