Wild Wonders of Europe, the biggest nature photography conservation initiative in the world, recently awarded two aspiring young amateurs the opportunity to hone their skills during a six-day adventure to the Cairngorms National Park and Alladale Wilderness Reserve in the Scottish Highlands, followed by a day at a special Epson print academy.
Photo: Marcus Valeur / www.wild-wonders.com
Peter Cairns, the Wild Wonders of Europe Business Director and himself a former winner of some of the most prestigious nature photography competitions, helped winners Janne Heimonen (28, Finland), and Marcus Valeur (18, Norway), to track and photograph amazing wildlife such as wild boar, ptarmigan, red squirrels and mountain hares using equipment donated by Nikon.
Janne and Marcus were given this fantastic opportunity by winning Wild Wonders of Europe’s 2009 Photography Competition. Their winning images were selected from almost 11,000 images submitted to the competition by hobbyists, semi-pros and pro photographers from 23 countries.
Photo: Marcus Valeur / www.wild-wonders.com
Marcus Valeur: “The day with Epson was fantastic! They taught me a lot about printing, colour management, ICC-profiles and processing. They even gave us both an Epson P-7000 Multimedia Photo Viewer. An Epson printer is officially on my shopping list after seeing the amazing results you can get with them.”
Marcus Valeur: “Alladale is very beautiful. Even if you’re not a wildlife photographer, there are so many amazing animals at Alladale that you don't want to make the mistake of leaving your camera at home – I would recommend it to all wildlife photographers.”
Photo: Janne Heimonen / www.wild-wonders.com
The 2010 competition is set to launch in May – entries for which can be submitted by visiting: http://www.wild-wonders.com. In addition to the Grand Prizes for ‘Young Crew’ and ‘Adult’ winners, worth more than 3,500 EURO (Approximately Rs 1,55,574) each, monthly prizes worth more than 30,000 EURO (Approximately Rs 13,33,498) were donated last year by Wild Wonders of Europe partners Apple, Epson, Gitzo, Nokia and Nikon, making this competition one of the biggest and most prestigious of its kind in nature photography.
Photo: Janne Heimonen / www.wild-wonders.com
About Janne and Marcus’s day at the Epson print academy:
Epson are the official print partners for the amazing Wild Wonders of Europe exhibitions that will tour Europe from May this year. Just like their professional colleagues, Janne and Marcus were given the opportunity to maximise the beauty of their images during a day at Epson’s specialist printing labs in Hemel Hempstead, England. They worked alongside one of Epson’s expert consumer training managers, learning how to produce fantastic prints of all their work. They used the Epson Stylus Pro 3800, experiencing first-hand the superior results personalised printing can achieve. They also learned about Epson’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Epson’s Environmental Vision 2050 commits them to reducing company carbon emissions by 90% by 2050. Much progress has already been made by reengineering their products to significantly reduce energy usage throughout the product lifecycle.
