It has been a couple of years since I submitted any of my work to the North American Nature Photography Association's Annual Showcase and after visiting Antarctica in late 2021/2022 felt I had a few images worthy of submission. I was very happy to recently learn that one of these made the top 100 of all the final images selected. This is from thousands of entries!
It is an image I captured while in the Beagle Channel returning from Antarctica en route to the port of Ushuaia, Argentina. We had phenomenal weather and the waters of the channel were like glass when a small pod of Peale's Dolphins made an appearance alongside the ship. I quickly made my way down to the lowest level so I could potentially capture some close up shots. This required paying very close attention to their movements and awaiting those moments when they briefly broke the surface of the water.
Using my trusty Nikon D500 with the fabulous lightweight Nikon 300mm f/4 PF lens, I fired off short bursts of several images over a period of about 15 minutes or so, before they decided they had had enough fun and vanished below the depths. I was so very happy to have captured this particular image with both the reflection and the eye!
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| 1/2500s, f/7.1 @ ISO 1000 |
As more and more photographers submit their images and the standard each year seems to be getting higher and higher, having any image selected is a personal achievement. It reaffirms and makes the time, work and effort involved in being a professional wildlife photographer all the more worthwhile.
My advice for getting your images selected and published are to not only submit your best images, but of subjects not typically seen, unusual behavioral or compositional shots and of course, technically sound.
The beautiful NANPA Expressions publication will be available with all the winning images in 2023 and I will post more information on that when all the winners are announced.
