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Behind the scenes, BBC Countryfile 2010 photo comp [video]

I’ve been on the TV again! It’s 9am, I’m sat in a large room in Birmingham with six other people, at a table with a selection of photos spread out before me. At the side of the room is a stack of boxes containing another sixty five THOUSAND images that need to be cut down to 3,000 before the end of the day! Welcome to the long list judging for the 2010 BBC Countryfile photography competition (technically, we were short list judging but 3000 isn’t a very short list!).

A small selection of the 65,000 entries

Advanced warning…I was typing this up whilst the programme was on tv, to get it posted at the end of the show. So apologies if there any mistakes…lol

Yep, that was 65 THOUSAND images
It seems there has been an explosion of interest in the Countryfile photography competition, 2009 saw a record 31,000 entries so you can imagine how jaws dropped when this years final figure for entries came in at just over 65,000. That’s quite some achievement to get more than twice the amount of entries in just one year, I think you’ll agree! So, armed with my iPhone I took a few photos and shot some video, when I had a spare few seconds, to give you an idea of what it was like behind the scenes on the day. Below is short video of behind the scenes clips taken on the day by me. It’s brief, because I was too busy judging to get creative, but might be fun to watch. You’ll have to excuse the quality, it’s all iPhone 4 footage and the lighting quiet often didn’t agree with the sensor!

Double the entries, almost double the judges.
Because of the amount of photos to be sorted through this year in just a single day, the amount of previous winners and runners up needed for judging was raised from 4 to 7. So as well as seeing the familiar faces of Richard Steel, Claudia Wass and Rosie, I also had the pleasure of meeting last years winner, Cheryl Surry and runners up Tony Lovell and Geoff Hill. And because we all have such a keen interest in photography, we kept our spirits high all day by not only discussing the images at hand but also exchanging stories from our own photographic encounters.

Boxes of entries to look through

How to spot a moment of magic
A Moment of Magic was the theme for this years competition, and as with last years judging, the theme had a wide range of interpretations ranging from a beautiful shot of a back-lit roe deer caught mid air, jumping across a ditch. To a shot of three cars sticking out the ground. To my personal favourite, a full frontal shot of a couple walking through what looked like a nice landscaped garden…oh, and by the way they were completely nude! So like I said, a vast range of images from the beautiful to the bizarre and everything in between. The trouble is, as with last year, with so many images coming in there is bound to be some repetition amongst them, so we all saw our far share of kingfishers, mating damselflies, puffins and oddly, this year a lot of dolphins – with my favourite being a dolphin jumping ahead of the bow of a ship. Absolutely beautiful! This all makes picking that much harder as although many of the images are beautiful stand alone images, when put in to the context of the competition with 20 or 30 shots almost identical, they really have to have that special ingredient to make them stand out from the crowd. But on the flip side of that, when that special shot does come along that has that extra special something about it, it really is a pleasure to see. A good judge of an image for me is, do I wish I’d taken it. If I do, it’s a definite pick for the long list.

countryfile 2010

Hard at work picking the 3000 images

Smile, you’re on camera
Filming this years long list judging was a lot more involved than last years. I expect double the entries and judges required it, but whatever the reason, filming lasted for most of the afternoon this time round compared to just an hour or two last year. Everything from walking reservoir dogs style down the street (which thankfully wasn’t used), to putting images in the yes/no pile, to conversations about the photos were filmed. Plus, we all had a one on one short interview each as well. The end result of course was only a couple of minutes total air time during the show, but if you ever wondered how much time goes in to such a small segment, the answer is quite a lot! You know, it’s funny. I can talk about photography and what I think makes a good photo all day long, but when that camera is in front of me, I find myself with a blank memory – much like writers block I guess.

countryfile 2010 filming

Filming behind the scenes

Bag full of gadgets, lovely!

It was a very long day indeed, and other than half an hour for lunch and another half an hour or so doing the outside filming we pretty much looked at images constantly from 9:30am till 7pm when we finally finished. And by that time, there were images everywhere with boxes and boxes full of entries that unfortunately didn’t get picked. However, in the corner of the room in four neatly packed boxes were the 3000 images we long listed down from those 65,000.

Wiring up for sound

Thank you
Two last points, firstly, check out the websites of all the talented photographers I spent the day with. Lovely people every one of them!

Photographer Richard Steel looking busy!

Secondly, a big thank you to everyone behind the scenes on the day, from the producers to camera man to Gordon the sound guy (who I felt I had to warn when I was going to the toilet, as I was wearing a radio mic). It was a great day with great people and great photography to look at, you really can’t ask for more!

countryfile photo comp 2010

Puffins were popular this year

Gordon (top man) getting my mic on

And the final 12 are…
As with last years article, the real attention here should be put on the fantastic short list final 12 images – you can check them out here. And the very best of luck to all twelve finalists. Who knows, maybe I’ll be seeing one of you at 9am in a large room in Birmingham about this time next year…
Click here to visit and vote on the final 12 images

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About the author

Richard Peters is a Surrey based professional wildlife photographer, Nikon Ambassador, and one of the few British photographers to receive the accolade of European Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He is known for a style that often favours dramatic use of light, runs wildlife photography workshops and, from camera clubs to big industry events, holds talks about his work.

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