kaberett | Wildlife Photographer of the Year

I have now been twice, with

me_and and

swaldman on the 31st, and on the 5th of January with an uncle (to whom I was handing over, appropriately, some of Papa's photography misc.).

Things learned this year: whales exfoliate and clownfish have horrifying parasites.

Pictures I particularly enjoyed: astonishingly characterful seagulls, beautiful choreography of seals, a resplendent quetzal coordinating beautifully with epiphytes, a turtle (with interesting photographic technique, more turtles (blue & glowy), an astonishing shot of a frog failing to eat a weevil, beautifully set off by the lantern it's on, a lobster larvae surfing on a dead jellyfish, a seahorse surfing on a q-tip (gorgeous colours), a handful of iguanas, and some excellent teasels that get to be my next desktop wallpaper.

As ever, it is great fun going around this exibition with walkers: there are startlingly different perspectives from different heights, and most walking adults don't think to crouch down to see what I do. It's great fun encouraging them to.

Also as ever, Simon & I (and indeed my uncle) remain somewhat perplexed by the winners of most categories: broadly, finalists seem to be picked based on a combination of "technical excellence", "interesting story", and "sheer bloody-mindedness", but somehow the winners are very rarely the ones I (we!) would pick.

It's also always a little baffling how many of the non-award-winning photographs (from the People's Choice Award, go vote) end up being sold in the shop & used on publicity; particular shout-outs from me this year to the sloth, the dragonfly, and especially the lilac-breasted roller riding a zebra.