WildArt Young POTY and Conservation — WildArt Photographer of the Year

Another of WildArt Photographer of the Year’s aims is to encourage the younger generation, both in terms of exploring photography and for the benefits that nature brings to our lives generally, for our mental and physical wellbeing.

Above: Encouraging the next generation through photography and conservation is one of the aims of the WildArt Young POTY competition. ©Rob Read.

Photography competitions can be a positive way to encourage these interests. Many a career has been launched on the back of success in one of the major competitions and it is fabulous to see young talent emerge. It never ceases to amaze me the way that youngsters have no fear of breaking with the rules of convention, and photography is no exception to this. I’ve seen so many images from talented young photographers that would give the adults more than a run for their money. Young people seem to create with such a refreshing freedom - they can certainly teach those of us longer in the tooth a thing or two.

We all know how difficult it is to carve out a successful career in wildlife photography. The age of digital, while being positive in many ways, has all but destroyed the ability for professional photographers to earn a living from image sales alone. Those that survive in the industry do so by diversifying into guiding, workshops and the like. But there are also opportunities to work with wildlife in other ways too, including through conservation.

When I created the WildArt POTY competition, I wanted to make sure that it not only celebrated wildlife and the many fabulous photographers that capture such compelling and artistic images, but also did some measurable good for conservation too. What better way to encourage and assist young talent and to help conservation causes, than by combining the two ambitions.

Therefore, all the money received from the entry fees for the Young WildArt POTY entrants (less bank handling fees) will be placed into a separate conservation fund. This fund will be donated to the conservation choice of our overall WildArt Young Photographer of the Year winner. Not only this, but we will invite the winning young photographer to produce a photo-journalistic story on the conservation project over the following year – a story that we can share with the WildArt audience and to the broader world through our website, social media channels and media contacts.

Now, I’m going to be honest here and say that encouraging large numbers of young photographers to enter competitions is a struggle that WildArt is not alone in having. I have experienced the same thing with another competition I was involved with. Why this should be, I’m not really sure. But I see amazing examples of work from talented young photographers every day on Instagram, so I know its out there. Perhaps, as the vast majority of interaction is positive on Instagram, there is less risk of rejection and it is this fear that holds our young talent back from entering competitions regularly.

However, I would argue that it is not the amount of likes one receives on Instagram that improves our creativity and photographic skills, but it is the rejection which teaches us the larger and more valuable lesson. Understanding why images were overlooked in favour of others should make us all look at our own work and ask ourselves how we can improve, how we can do something differently, how we can produce something with some originality. I know that being involved with competitions over the last few years has improved my own photography immeasurably. One is never too old to learn.

So, if you know a talented young photographer who has a passion for the art and for wildlife, then let them know about WildArt and encourage them to have a go at entering the competition – why not gift an entry as a present? Who knows, they may well be the next big thing and this could be just the springboard they need to get started.

Rob Read. February 2021.

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