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| © Thomas Mangelsen |
| WINNER: Mangelsen's shot of King Penguins at St. Andrews Bay, South Georgia Island, 2006. Click photo for more images from the competition. |
It was still dark when Thomas Mangelsen set foot on the South Georgia Island beach in the southern Atlantic Ocean. The local penguin population that he wanted to shoot was still at sea, fishing, but by 5:30 a.m. the day dawned cold and clear. The penguins began emerging from the water, and, as they shook themselves dry, Mangelsen angled himself so the warm morning sun backlit the birds. He shot with a Nikon D2Xs with an 18-200mm f/3.5-4.5 VR DX Zoom-Nikkor set to 130mm. The exposure was 1/125 second at f/13.
When he returned to his home in Jackson, Wyoming, Mangelsen saw that he had an image that's not only beautiful but also dramatically different in the way it portrays penguins. Most still images show them standing as stiffly erect as statues; in this shot, which Mangelsen calls "Morning Showers," they are dynamically alive in their habitat.
One of the nation's premier wildlife photographers, Mangelsen is known for makingimages that are compelling and reliably authentic. He has vocally opposed the practice of photographing in game farms. "You can get photos of animals in those places," he says, "but I wouldn't call captive animals wild in any sense." As this image shows, Mangelsen instead relies on a schedule of heavy travel, a habit of hard work, and an eye that always searches for memorable composition and color.
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