This shows that, unfortunately, wildlife photography judges have no clue about herps, much less herp photography.
In this case, they picked a shot as a winner that on this forum is judged by most to be sort of average, in some important ways even below average.
But I have also seen the opposite happen, which is even worse. Nicholas has entered some truly unique, difficult to get shots of rarely seen and/or difficult-to-approach species into different photo contests, but the judges just don't seem to get it. If they short-list or award a shot of his, it's entirely based on aesthetics, their personal aesthetics. They seem to actually prefer posed shots, having no clue, of course, what is posed and what is not.
At this point, Nicholas doesn't even bother anymore entering what in his own mind are his best herp shots. Instead he enters what he thinks the judges will like - and it's working. Two of his herp shots just got shortlisted in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest sponsored by the Natural History Museum of London. Both shots are posed and on the artistic end of the spectrum:
San Diego Banded Gecko (Coleonyx variegatus abbotti) by
NicholasHess, on Flickr
San Diego Nightsnake (Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha klauberi) by
NicholasHess, on Flickr
Yes, in a way, both shots are kind of cool and "different" (the SD banded gecko is posed for a double exposure and the night snake is posed on the weathered board under which it was found). But they don't really communicate anything important about the animal, i.e., where it lives, what it does, how it moves, what it eats, etc. Nothing. Yet, at least to us, this is what a WILDLIFE photography contest SHOULD look for. Otherwise it's not really a wildlife photography contest at all, but rather a who-can-make-wild-animals-look-the-weirdest contest.
Given these realities, Nicholas, for one, feels rather ambivalent about getting short-listed or winning when he does. To him, it feels a bit like he is tricking the system. And in a way he is.
Robert