Wildlife Photographer of the Year - Natural artistry
Audio description
Transcript
This is ‘The Artful Crow’ by Jirí Hrebícek from the Czech Republic. This photograph was taken in a park in Basel, Switzerland and is a 2024 category winner of natural artistry. This photograph looks like a painting. There is a silhouette of a crow just off centre. Its head is turned to the right, and you can make out the silhouette of its beak. The bird is sitting on a branch which again is in silhouette. As it's a silhouette, there aren't any details of the eyes or feathers. They get the impression it is the back of the bird because you can see the roundness of the body and the shape of its folded wings either side, but the head is turned to the right. The trunk of the tree holding up the branches it's sitting in seems like it would be on the left of the image, although it is not visible in the photograph. The branches, though, stretch out from the left of the photograph. They're not very thick branches. The one at the top of the photograph, though, is a bit thicker than the others. It looks like there are leaves on the branches, but it is not full of leaves. It has an awesome feel to it because of the colours in the photograph, blue greys, greens and brown. The leaves look like there are little pods attached to them. Some are coming off the branches, others are dropping down. The image looks blurry, it's not in focus. Everything has very soft edges to it. It looks like a veil has been put over the image. It's dark on the left-hand side and seems to be lighter on the right. There is a gradient of light. It reminds you of moonlight, and perhaps it was taken during twilight hours. It's quite haunting. It has the effect of a light box, as if the light is coming from the back of the image. The tree is blocking the lights on the left-hand side, but the light comes through on the left. It looks more like a painting than a photograph, perhaps a watercolour. It is very soft and has the feel of watery paints or tones, almost a marbling effect. A bit like when you drop paint onto water and blow on it with a straw to create patterns. In places it looks like several images have been laid on each other to create this blurred effect. It is difficult to describe the colours. Sometimes it looks like the tree on the left and the branches are a dark brown, and the lighter areas to the right are silvery, with some yellow. Sometimes the image has a green hue to it. It feels magical, and fairy tale like. When looking at the overall image you don't really know what time of day it was taken at. It is difficult to know if it's real.