By  

Jon Jayes

Secretary Photographic Committee

 To view the images click Here

            The 2^nd Open International Photographic competition closed at the end of October with most of the entries arriving in the last three or four weeks and although the number of entries was considerably lower than those in 2003,  the quality of the received images was consistently high.

            There was around 200 images to judge and these were entered in most of the advertised categories.

            Winner of the Open category and overall winner of the event was Graeme Purdy of London who took the title British Deer Photographer of the Year with an image entitled 'Red stag - Red mist'.  This was described by one of the judges,  Scottish wildlife and landscape photographer Neil McIntyre, as being a  'wonderful, moody and evocative image'.

Graeme has been a consistent competitor in BDS competitions for a couple of years and was the winner of the Canon camera in last year's event.  This year he walks away with a raft of prizes worth, in total,  around £2,000 including a pair of Swarovski binoculars, a stay in the MacDonald Aviemore Centre, Glen Moray whisky, visits to the Cairngorm Reindeer herd and the  Highland Wildlife Park courtesy of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and a magnificent deer sculpture - the Highland Chase - by Border Fine Arts. 

Graeme said he was 'truly delighted' to have won and he looks forward to spending some time in the Cairngorms.

Second place in the open category went to Philip Dean with a superb head and shoulder shot of a stag and third place was taken by Ron Perkins who produced a 'heavy breathing' shot of a stag.  Philip also wins a pair of Swarovski binoculars worth £500 and Ron receives a £400 voucher from the London Camera Exchange.

In the Members' category, regular competitor George Trebinski took the first place with his steamy 'Sika Dawn' picture and he too wins Swarovski binoculars, 6 bottles of Glen Moray whisky and a Dalvey flask together valued at £560.

Second place was taken by another familiar name,  Matthew Peaster,  who won a personal tour of Woburn Deer park, a Wildlife Watching Supplies bag hide and a bottle of Glen Moray whisky valued at £375.  Matthew was also awarded the prize for the best picture of a British Species as decided by BDS judges and this attracted the package prize of a  1 night stay at the SAS Radisson hotel on Edinburgh's Royal Mile,  a bottle of Glen Moray Mountain Oak whisky with visits to Edinburgh Zoo and the Dynamic Earth exhibition and also a clothing voucher from Barbour together valued at £460.

Third prize was won by member Robert Moon who receives a personal tour of Chatsworth Deer Park and tickets for 4 people to the house and meals in the restaurant.

The other main category of the competition was very generously sponsored by Bushwear who supported 4 categories for pictures of deer in unusual situations,  breeding behaviour in deer, deer on the move and deer and attractors.

First, second and third in each of these categories received Bushwear vouchers for £250,  £150 & £100 respectively and everyone who entered the Bushwear categories received a 'credit' of £10 which is  recorded by Bushwear against any future purchase.

Winners were as follows :-

Deer in unusual situations

1.      George Trebinski

2.      Robert Moon

3.      Steve Bristow

Breeding behaviour in Deer

1.      Kenneth Charles

2.      Matthew Peaster

3.      Alastair Flood

Deer On The Move

1.      Craig Churchill

2.      Graeme Purdy

3.      Julie Chalmers

Deer at Attractors

1.      Philip Dean

2.      Stan Kemish

3.      Kenneth Charles

There were a number of Highly Commended photographs too and those were:-

Open Category

David J Poole, Prof Brian A Cooke LRPS., Ron Perkins, Matthew Peaster, Craig Churchill, Graeme Purdy, David Joicey,

Warwick de Winter.

Members Category

Simon Houle, James Jackson

Bushwear Breeding behaviour

Craig Churchill

Bushwear On the Move

Philip Dean,  Matthew Peaster, George Trebinski, Robert Moon.

As is always the case,  it was hard work organising the event but it was a great pleasure to see all of the pictures and that made all the difficulties worthwhile.  

A photographic exhibition of the winner's images is being organised and will be on show at limited venues throughout the rest of the year.   Those venues have - at the time of writing - to be confirmed but will be announced in a later edition of DEER and / or on this web site.

All that remains now is for me to thank each and everyone of the competitors who took so much time and trouble to enter and to give my congratulations to those who won a prize and commiserations to those who didn't.  The quality of the images was high and there is no disgrace in not  having  won.

I must also thank the judges,  Neil McIntyre and Amateur Photographer editor,  Damien Demolder,  for their valuable time and consideration in deciding winners.  I didn't envy them their task.

We are also deeply grateful to all the sponsors who supported us and whose prizes have been very much appreciated by the competitors.