TJ Watt Photography Blog — TJ Watt Photography

Bronze in 'Trees' - Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Px3) 2014

My photo of an old-growth Douglas-fir tree in the Avatar Grove has been awarded Bronze in the professional 'Trees' category of Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Px3) 2014, "Europe's biggest and most prestigious photography competition". The effect of the photo was achieved by zooming the lens out during a slow exposure in order to capture, what I feel, is the magic of being in these ancient forests.

Honorable Mention in the Big Picture: Natural World Photography Competition

I am quite honored to learn that my image of woman sitting within a giant western redcedar stump in the Klanawa Valley has received an Honorable Mention in the 'Conservation Imagery' category of the 2014 Big Picture: Natural World Photography Competition hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. The contest, which saw 6,300 submissions and included judges from the iLCP, will spotlight the work of professional conservation photographers from 12 countries around the globe. The exhibition runs from August 1 - ­ November 2, 2014 at the California Academy of Sciences in San Fransisco, one of the largest natural history museums in the world. It's truly exciting for me every time an image from a remote area gets the chance to reach such a large audience. I love the old-growth forests of the Klanawa, where this stump was found, but they're disappearing at an alarming rate each year. Hopefully with this we move another inch closer to seeing them saved. For those curious, below is map showing the exact location of the stump on southwestern Vancouver Island.