2012’s TOP 30 PICKS: Sunday Times Lifestyle/Green Life Photographer of the Year

OVERALL WINNER: BETWEEN THE LINES by Scott Ormerod – Ormerod, 26, is a freelance graphic designer from George who loves to stroll through his aunt’s garden and study the miniature life among her vibrant assortment of orchids, clivias, lilies, hydrangeas and hibiscuses. “I love using macro photography to see the little things on the flowers, such as the webbing in frogs’ feet,” says Ormerod. ** As the photographer of the year, Ormerod bags a stunning set of photographic equipment worth R50 998 from Canon: an EOS 5D Mark II DSLR and two top-of-the-range Canon lenses – an EF 24-105mm F4.0 L IS USM and EF 70-300mm F4.0-5.6 L IS USM. Congratulations!
RUNNER-UP: WELL-SPOTTED by Massimo da Silva – "Great photography is about new ways of seeing, and this shot is a fantastically original take on a predator all wildlife enthusiasts regard as one of the greatest challenges to photograph," the judges said. Voted November’s most popular image by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife.
RUNNER-UP: COMPASS IN THE DARK by Peet J van Eeden – According to the judges, "Underwater photography is notoriously difficult and this picture is technically superb and artistically breathtaking." Van Eeden, 65, photographed this jellyfish using two strobe lights at “virgin reef” off Miller’s Point, False Bay. “It’s total virgin reef in the sense that the fishermen don’t know about it. They pass over it on their way to the more southern fishing fields. Called Atlantis Reef, it was discovered (in 2011) by a diving charter company while using an echo sounder.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED: TINY AND THE TITANS by Michael Price – "The close family bond between the gentle giants of Addo National Park is highlighted in this carefully composed shot," said the judges. This image was the July Readers’ Choice as voted by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: DUST BUSTER by Isak Pretorius – "What's not to love about this gorgeous gecko?" the judges commented. The image, which was voted June’s Readers’ Choice by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife, was taken near Swakopmund, Namibia.
TENDER KILLER – Taken in Timbavati by Jill Fearon from Bergvliet in Cape Town, this striking image caught the judges’ eye for granting the viewer a privileged glimpse into the famously elusive leopard’s world. Jill not only captured tenderness in an animal often typecast as a brutal killing machine, she also used great skill to evoke the leopard’s arresting beauty. Fearon was the April Green Life Photographer of the Month, as voted by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife.
FRANTIC FISH – “Huge shoals of sardines had become trapped inside Hout Bay by cold water and Cape fur seals,” says marine photographer Steve Benjamin. “As the fish became panicked they bubbled to the surface to escape the marauding seals. This was when I was able to get right inside the shoal and take a split-level shot of the fish in their environment.”
FLYING FEATHERS – Appropriately titled “Not now darling, I have a headache”, this shot by Frank Haymann depicts two feuding white-throated swallows in the Rondebult Nature Reserve near Alberton.
AMBUSH – A herd of hundreds of springbok walk into an ambush by a female cheetah and her three sub-adult cubs. Taken by Mike Walsh in March near Mata-Mata Rest Camp, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Walsh was the May Green Life Photographer of the Month, as voted by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife
OWL PLAY – The judges were so impressed by May winner Mike Walsh’s entries that they felt compelled to also commend his image of a pearl-spotted owlet feasting on a hapless gecko. “This owl perched above our roof rack every morning. On this occasion it was killing and eating a newly captured gecko,” says Walsh, who captured this shot in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park.
MANTID PROJECT – This image of an eyed-flower mantid had Green Life readers abuzz and was voted as the most popular image for April on the Green Life Facebook page, www.facebook.com/stgreenlife. “When creating a sci-fi movie, you don't have to look any further than God's awesome creation,” says Warren Keith Dick. He took the shot in his Durban garden. “These are really common in gardens, however seldom seen due to their camouflage.”
EYE TO EYE – “While watching birds dive for fish, this pied kingfisher landed fairly close to me. The bird proceeded to soften its fish by repeatedly hitting it against a branch,” says Jay van Rensburg, giving him the opportunity to snap this portrait at exactly the right moment and angle — just before the hungry kingfisher swallowed its catch. Van Rensburg was the June Green Life Photographer of the Month, as voted by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife.
EBONY AND IVORY – Chad Cocking says he spent almost 30 years visiting Timbavati without ever laying eyes on the reserve’s famous white lions. “But in 2009 two white lionesses were born to a resident pride. They became the first white lions to survive to adulthood in almost 20 years,” the photographer says. It was a dream come true for Cocking in 2010 when he finally stumbled across this white lioness next to her tawny cousin at a Timbavati waterhole.
DOUBLE VISION – “It's easy to see why lions get confused by the graphic mayhem of zebra stripes. Even with the hindsight of a stills image and long tele it's tricky focusing on which head belongs to which body,” says ‘Double Vision’ photographer Neil Bradfield.
WALKING THE SHORES – Isak Pretorius managed to capture these lesser flamingos at Kenya’s Lake Bogoria upclose by disguising his camera with a blanket, sand and wet flamingo feathers, and setting off the shutter with a remote trigger.
STORMY COVE – Steven Morrow from Cape Town was the August Green Life Photographer of the Month. He says he picked an unlucky autumn weekend for his camping trip to Arniston in the Western Cape because it rained almost constantly. It did, however, net him this brooding image of the area’s coast.
FAST FOOD – In pursuit of a fast meal, a jackal grabs at a pigeon. Captured by Jack Weinberg in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
GIANT STEPS – Below, left, an elephant foot heaves through the water in Savuti, Botswana. By Greg Lederle.
OCEAN JEWEL – A basket star at a depth of 15 to 20m at Miller’s Point near Simon’s Town, by Peet J van Eeden.
GOLD DUST – As voted by Green Life’s fans on Facebook, August’s favourite reader photograph shows a buffalo and calf caught in the dust of a stampeding herd, by Russell Maclaughlin.
LONE RANGER – Small mammals represent rich pickings for raptors and other predators when they venture close to water. Here a squirrel stands frozen — trying not to attract attention — as it approaches a waterhole in Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana. By Dylan Kotze from Cape Town.
LURE OF THE PURPLE – When Kerryann Collier from Durbanville saw this bee on a lavender bush in her garden, she photographed it. “It was quite an achievement for me,” she says.
STILL WATERS – Stanford’s Klein River by Quintin Gilman was voted September’s most popular reader image by Green Life’s Facebook fans on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife.
THE LOVELY BONES – October’s Green Life Photographer of the Month was Allen D Walker, who won the month's top spot for this surrealistic capture of a kudu skull in the Okavango Delta.
FEAST FIGHT – Spotted hyenas and vultures in Limpopo’s Thornybush Game Reserve battled for several days over the carcass of one hippo, killed by another. By Tom Coetzee.
IN A FLAP – A lesser masked weaver in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens. By Ernest Porter.
HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU – An inquisitive grey crowned crane, Treehaven Waterfowl Trust, near Vereeniging. By Fiona Fourie. This image was our September reader favourite, as voted by Green Life’s Facebook followers on www.facebook.com/stgreenlife.
MY, WHAT BIG EARS YOU HAVE – Black-backed jackals are well adapted to living in the Kalahari, where the environment can be harsh. “These two were extremely curious about what I was doing with my big lens,” says the November Green Life Photographer of the Month, Dale Morris.
FIGHT CLUB – White-throated swallows, Woodhill Golf Course, Pretoria. By Steve Macomber.
NOT TODAY, JOSEPHINE – If hippos yawn in a display of threat, we’re guessing this animal was in a particularly argumentative mood. Chobe National Park, Botswana, by Brendan Bromfield.