Natural Environment Blog

The Nature Conservancy have announced the finalists of their 4th Annual Digital Photo Contest. In an email to members, the Nature Conservancy said:

Thank you to everyone who submitted an image for consideration. Your love of nature has inspired us and continues to remind us of the magnificent lands, waters and wondrous species we work to protect and preserve, every day.

The support of members like you has allowed us to protect and restore over 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of river and is the reason that we are the leading conservation organization working around the world today.

There are 15 finalists in total, and it’s now up to you to vote for your favorite. Voting is open until Monday, February 8, 2010 at 10am EST. The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on February 15, 2009.

The winning photo will be featured on The Nature Conservancy’s website, which is visited by more than 3 million people annually.

So, place your vote now.

You can also check out all submitted photos at the Nature Conservancy’s Flickr page.

Just a reminder for anyone interested in submitting photos for The Nature Conservancy’s photo challenge that I mentioned a few weeks ago.

The deadline is 11:59 p.m. PST on December 11, 2008.

The challenge is “Oceans & Seas”.

So, if you’ve been meaning to enter this challenge, you’d better hurry up!

If you entered the previous photo competition from The Nature Conservancy you’ll probably be interested in the next challenge. 

The next/(current) challenge is: Oceans & Seas

If you don’t know what this photo competition is about, here’s how The Nature Conservancy explains it:

Do you have a favorite photo of the natural world? We’d love to see it. Every quarter we’ll provide a topic to inspire you. If you’re up for the challenge, gear up and head out to capture the perfect photograph — or simply search your archives for a suitable submission.

Each quarter, the editors’ top picks will be published in the magazine and featured in an online slideshow at nature.org/magazine.

The deadline for the current challenge is 11 December. All you need to do is upload your photo/s to The Nature Conservancy’s Flickr page.

To learn more, check out The Nature Conservancy’s photo competition page or go straight to their Flickr page.

Sample e-card with flowers and a caterpillar. Photo: Flickr User: foramjava (in orbit)

If you’re looking for greener ways to celebrate the holiday season, here’s one. 

The Nature Conservancy is inviting us to check out its recently  updated collection of free nature e-cards. 

Each e-card features a photo that was submitted by members to the Conservancy’s annual photo competition that I mentioned last month.

There are cards for all sorts of occassions too. Here are the categories:

Holiday E-cards

• Valentine’s E-cards
• Earth Day E-cards
• Mother’s Day E-cards
• Father’s Day E-cards
• Halloween E-cards
• Any Occasion

Best of Nature E-cards

• Bird E-cards
• Butterfly E-cards
• Explore E-cards
• Plants and Flowers E-cards
• Wild Animals E-cards

Special Occasion E-cards

• Best Wishes E-cards
• Birthday E-cards
• Friendship E-cards
• Get Well E-cards
• Inspirational E-cards
• Sympathy E-cards
• Wedding E-cards

Seasonal E-cards

• Spring E-cards
• Summer E-cards
• Autumn E-cards
• Winter E-cards

Oh… and did I mention that all e-cards are free?

About The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization that addresses threats to conservation involving climate change, fire, fresh water, forests, invasive species, and marine ecosystems.

By sending an e-card from The Nature Conservancy, not only will you be cutting down on paper, you’ll also be spreading the word about an important conservation organization dedicated to protecting ecologically important lands and waters.

If you’d like to support The Nature Conservancy and help nature, send a free e-card now!

The shorlist has been announced for the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year. 

Shortlisted photographs (as displayed on the New Scientist website) include:

• Bat house, by Christian Ziegle - a photo of a bat in mid flight
• Starling genie, by Baris Koca - an unusual shot of a flock of starlings in mid flight
• Colourful business, by Noam Kortler - a photo of a small cleaner fish picking the parasites off a colorful reef fish
• Sandpiper congregation, by Arthur Morris - a close up of a flock of sandpipers snuggled together sleeping
• Bottle in the wind, by Koos van der Lende - an interesting shot of a lone bottle tree on a vast plain 

The competition is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.

If you’re like me and you appreciate a good photo of the natural environment, and (unlike me) you really know how to take a good shot, then this may be for you.

Entries are open for the Nature Conservatory’s 2008 Photo Contest. In its third year, this is a competition that invites you to send in your stunning nature photos.

What are they looking for?

“…beautiful nature photography representing the diversity of life on Earth”

The winning photograph will be published in the 2010 Nature Conservatory calendar, which reaches almost 2 million households.

Entries close on 15 October.

So, if you’ve got what it takes, submit your photo via the Nature Conservatory’s Flickr page.

I recently wrote about Peter Lik’s amazing photos of the natural environment. After writing that article, I realized that I couldn’t write about Peter Lik without writing about Craig Potton!

So here goes…

Craig Potton is a well known New Zealand photographer and conservationist.

I first came across his photos when doing a Google image search for New Zealand nature photos. Every now and then I would see an absolutely stunning photo and click through to see who took the photo. It seemed that every time this happened, the photographer was Craig Potton!

Since then, I’ve explored the Craig Potton Gallery website and seen some amazing photos. I encourage you to take a look too.

Here’s what Craig once said about photography and nature:

A good photo can sometimes be an arrow to the heart of things, alluding to or eliciting an immediate encounter. It is the nature of art and the way of nature to push us beyond the narrow realities we often become trapped in, to new or forgotten realms of pleasure.

Craig is co-founder and co-owner of Craig Potton Publishing. He has written and published a range of books featuring his own photography. He has also done photography work on movies such as Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Having been born in New Zealand myself, I know how beautiful the scenery can be. It’s certainly a great environment to get a wide range of different landscape shots. It’s always a pleasure to see photos of that environment taken by a master such as Craig.

To see more of Craig’s photos, check out the Craig Potton Gallery.

If you’re like me, you’ll love photos of the natural environment. In fact, the reason I started this website was because of my love for the natural environment.

When I first visited Cairns (Australia) at the end of 2006, I came across the Peter Lik photo gallery near the esplanade. I was blown away by Peter’s photography! His photos are amazing. Since then, I’ve moved to Cairns and have visited the gallery several more times. His photos never cease to amaze me!

Peter’s philosophy is to try and get people to slow down and see the world that they might have missed. Many of us get so caught up in day to day living that it’s easy to miss the natural beauty around us. I certainly think that Peter’s photography has the power to inspire people to take time out and look at the world around them.

Peter’s landscape photos typically feature dramatic lighting and angles.

To view more of Peter Lik’s photos, check out his website - PeterLik.com.