J. Dykinga in Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year!

[Michal Makowski]

News from London:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2315&category=8&group=1

[walter23]

Shell (the oil company) sponsored a wildlife photography exhibit? Hah.

[Ted Harris]

Around the world both Shell and BP have often been in the forefront of environmental and wildlife protection.

[Kirk Gittings]

BP at least, has also been in the forefront of habitat destruction. Notably in Brazil and Columbia of late.

See:http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/sbeder/bp.html

It seems that (as they have historically) been at the forefront of insincere PR.

[Joseph Kayne]

BP has been trying to get more lenient standards for discharge into Lake Michigan.

Thanks.

Joe.

[Frank Petronio]

The Bob Shell Award? OMG

[JPlomley]

Why would you use a 110XL for this image. Would a 120 Macro not have been a better choice at this magnification? Just curious.

[Kirk Gittings]

Using a wide lens as a macro is not optimal, but works in a pinch. Fred Picker used to advocate it.

[Ted Harris]

Frank, LOL.

I may be totally out -of-date. My experience with BP was in the mid and late 1980's Africa and in Ukraine about 10 years ago where they were doing some good things. Who knows today?

[Kirk Gittings]

When I was in Canada from 1978-83 in graduate school they were notorious.

[walter23]

Shell is seeking to drill in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I don't care how you spin it, trucks and drilling platforms in a piece of unspoiled wilderness, well, is turning it into something less wild with trucks and platforms and pollution.

There are also some prominent issues with the delta in Nigeria where Shell is very active.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

O.K., everyone, who put the gas in your tank for your drive to work this morning? I suppose you all ride bicycles to work...

[Michal Makowski]

This competition it used to be called BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, so British Natural History Museum have changed the main sponsor. Anyway this is the biggest nature photography competition all over the world. Few years ago Adam Gibbs from Canada had a picture made with his Toho in this competition.

[Duane Polcou]

Using a wide lens as a macro is not optimal, but works in a pinch. Fred Picker used to advocate it.

I seem to remember Fred Picker advocating carrying a hacksaw to cut down branches to "unobstruct" a view. But I'm sure a chainsaw would work in a pinch. :o)

[Dave Jeffery]

They are using us to provide them pictures of beautiful areas to exploit and rare species to eat.

[Mark Sawyer]

The Bob Shell Award? OMG

I suppose winning the Shell Oil Company Award for Wildlife Photography would be like winning the Bob Shell Award for Family Values Photography...

[Kirk Gittings]

I suppose winning the Shell Oil Company Award for Wildlife Photography would be like winning the Bob Shell Award for Family Values Photography...

Dude that is tooo something...........

I think the award is great. I congratulate Jack, he deserves it, but the sponsorship of the award is the question. They are not the same thing, though one certainly taints the other a bit.

Congratulate Jack, but realize that the sponsorship is just PR nonsense.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Jack deserves to receive the award. Shell does not deserve to give it.

[walter23]

Dude that is tooo something...........

I think the award is great. I congratulate Jack, he deserves it, but the sponsorship of the award is the question. They are not the same thing, though one certainly taints the other a bit.

Congratulate Jack, but realize that the sponsorship is just PR nonsense.

Oh yeah, absolutely. It's a great accomplishment and the sponsorship has nothing to do with that. Good on Jack and sincere congratulations.

I brought it up not to diminish the award but to explicitly note Shell's PR act. (Oh, and I got it wrong; Shell isn't seeking to drill in the reserve, Shell is seeking to resume drilling after a court order to stop in August or so).

[Sanjay Sen]

O.K., everyone, who put the gas in your tank for your drive to work this morning? I suppose you all ride bicycles to work...

Wouldn't that be great? Riding bicycles to work. But I don't think the question here is the need for oil (quite another matter), but how companies like Shell are going about procuring it - exploitation, destruction, not to mention trampling over local and indigenous people's rights.

[Peter Lewin]

Wouldn't that be great? Riding bicycles to work. But I don't think the question here is the need for oil (quite another matter), but how companies like Shell are going about procuring it - exploitation, destruction, not to mention trampling over local and indigenous people's rights.
And the oil company which isn't exploiting, destructing, and trampling local and indigenous people's rights is ... ? (Unless there is a real answer to this question, you cannot decouple the need for oil and the behavior of the oil companies. Then we're back to the "who is a bigger geek" thread which was primarily about bicycles ... :)

[Mark Sawyer]

Dude that is tooo something...........

I think the award is great. I congratulate Jack, he deserves it, but the sponsorship of the award is the question. They are not the same thing, though one certainly taints the other a bit.

Congratulate Jack, but realize that the sponsorship is just PR nonsense.

I congratulate Mr. Dykinga on his accomplishments, but have at best mixed emotions about seeing such accomplishments used to make Shell Oil appear more environmentally friendly than they actually are. I have no idea what Mr. Dykinga's thoughts or statements about that might be.

Sorry if what I said was "tooo something", but given the state of the world these days, it seems people tend to speak up not "something" enough...

[Sanjay Sen]

And the oil company which isn't exploiting, destructing, and trampling local and indigenous people's rights is ... ? (Unless there is a real answer to this question, you cannot decouple the need for oil and the behavior of the oil companies. Then we're back to the "who is a bigger geek" thread which was primarily about bicycles ... :)You know the answer to that as well as I do (I hope), but the point here is that those "other" companies are not the ones pretending to care about the environment and sponsoring wildlife photography awards.

BTW, I believe congratulations are due to Mr. Dykinga for his photography. I admire his work (whatever little I have seen of it). I am also currently looking for his LF book, which unfortunately seems to be out of print.


Bets wishes,
Sanjay

[tim atherton]

BTW, I believe congratulations are due to Mr. Dykinga for his photography. I admire his work (whatever little I have seen of it). I am also currently looking for his LF book, which unfortunately seems to be out of print.

Bets wishes,
Sanjay

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Dykinga&sts=t&tn=large+format&x=0&y=0

?

[Sanjay Sen]

Thanks Tim, I didn't know of that website.