Wildlife photography exhibition to come to Eden Project
November 3, 2011
The Eden Project will be hosting an exhibition of pictures from the world-renowned Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The exhibition, which will span two floors of Eden’s Core building from November 19 until January 14, showcases a huge variety of stunning photographs capturing nature’s rich diversity. It combines pictures from aspiring amateurs and established professional photographers from around the world.
More than 40,000 entries were received from 95 different countries and feature a wide variety of subjects, including gorillas, cheetahs, penguins and sharks.
From these, around a hundred pictures have been selected as finalists, with the winners, runners-up and commended photographers being named at an awards ceremony – considered to be the Oscars of wildlife photography – on Wednesday (October 19). The exhibition will comprise all winning and commended photographs.
An image of eight pelicans covered in oil at a bird-rescue facility in Louisiana was the overall winner. The picture was taken by Spanish photographer Daniel Beltra in the aftermath of last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year was won by Mateusz Piesiak from Poland who snapped foraging American oystercatchers on a beach on Long Island, New York.
Other categories in which winners were named include the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife, The Underwater World and Urban Wildlife.
Martin Williams, Eden’s Marketing Director, said: “The exhibition is staged every year at London's Natural History Museum, and is hugely popular. Eden is proud to be able to bring it to Cornwall in 2011, and to include it in our normal admission price, adding even greater value for our visitors. Combined with the delights of the Eden Bakery and our magical new skating experience, this winter season at Eden will be our best ever.”
The exhibition will be situated in Eden’s Core building and entry is included in the standard admission price.
Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. The competition celebrates the beauty and magnificence of the world in which we live, as well as acting as a stark reminder of the fragility of nature.
