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Once a year, it is great to go down to London for a weekend and sample some of what it has to offer. This year, the weekend consisted of the Tower of London (fantastic history lesson); Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre (excellent show, superbly staged); the welcome chance to catch up with some friends; and the really superb Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
We caught this at the same time last year and it is full of absolutely superb photographs from around the world. There are some really talented entrants who have spent days and weeks getting these photos in adverse conditions. But there are also fantastic photos from the UK, for me a highlight being of a bird nesting in a traffic light in Glasgow. There is also the really annoying younger age groups where ten year olds get fantastic photos of game on safari with their E0S-1D cameras, but I shall skip over this...
The inner geek in me is also delighted that most photos have the camera, lens and settings stated next to the photo, which helps to explain how the photo was obtained. But most importantly, there is a little paragraph explaining the situation in which the photo was taken. I really enjoy looking at photographs, but to me, the context in which the photo was taken is also important and can add greatly to the enjoyment of the photo: a picture of a beautiful mountain landscape is one thing, but if it is also explained that it was at the end of a tiring 3 day walk, then that adds context as to what you see.
Anyway, for me the best context was for this photo by Paul Nicklen of a seal underwater with a penguin in it's mouth. The context reads:
'From the first time I got in the water with this massive female leopard seal in Antarctica, it seemed to attempt to communicate with me. Every day, it would offer me penguins, dead and alive, like this chinstrap. When I kept refusing to eat the offerings, it looked agitated before going to get me another penguin.’
It is a weird and wonderful world out there...
