We’ve just got back from a fantastic and hugely inspiring photography-led weekend at the GDT European Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 festival and photo awards, held annually in Lünen, Germany, where Ann’s photograph ‘Meerkats on the Move’ was awarded runner-up in the mammals section of this prestigious and world-renowned wildlife photography competition.

Meerkats on the move, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

The image was taken at the start of this year on our visit to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, straddling the borders of Botswana and South Africa, where we spent many hours shadowing a colony of suricates, aka meerkats, that had established occasional sleeping burrows in a quiet corner of one of the reserve’s rest camps. This meant these engaging and popular subjects could be accessed easily on foot for long periods and could be photographed at ground level, and at close quarters.

And because these wild animals regularly spent a chunk of their lives in and among humans they quickly became accustomed to having us on their tails a lot of the time – so much so that we sometimes felt they almost saw us as part of their group.

‘They’re hyperactive, social, co-operative creatures so the challenge was to try and find a way of photographing them in order to convey those defining characteristics in a single, still image,’ Ann says. ‘Using a slow shutter speed helped recreate that feeling I had of them all dashing by at high speed – as if all the individuals in the group were flowing as one.’

For those interested the photograph was taken at 1/25sec on a Canon EOS 5D MkIV at f/25 and ISO 1000 with an EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens at a focal length of 114mm.

Ann’s meerkat image and Ingo Arndt’s winning puma shot

Congratulations to Ingo Arndt who won the mammals category this year with a stunningly powerful shot of a puma attempting to bring down a guanaco. Ingo told us at the awards ceremony that at the end of the tussle the guanaco survived the attack. It’s certainly a gripping moment and image.

Thanks to the GDT for organising such a powerful and thought-provoking programme of speakers for the event and a big ‘congrats’ to all the other competition winners. You can view all the winning images from the GDT European Nature Photographer of the Year 2019 at: https://www.gdtfoto.de/seiten/gdt-european-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-results-2019.html

All the winners on stage at the GDT festival
Ann celebrating her success in time-honoured fashion