2010/2011 Veolia Wildlife Photographer Of The Year... If you go down to the woods today you're sure to be... blown away quite frankly. If this is anything to go by. Sensational.

I cannot recommend this annual exhibition enough. It is just visually stunning, impactful, thought provoking and not only genuinely warms the heart from such a momentary exposure of environment, sometimes quirky, but always rendering the viewer in awe, staggering the impact throughout like a beat and achieving astonishing inner reactions, drawing out our personal emotions or what can only be described as 'identifying with', distinguishing between, such solitary photographs and seemingly unconsciously. You can not perhaps preempt what moves you. As individual a response to each visitor as taste buds.

For natural yet reputably hyper real scenes beyond the brink of your imagination or any preconceptions you thought you had about the capabilities of our environment, i can only say 'misplace these at the door'. Allow yourself to be elevated and sincerely confounded. Polaroid moments this truly is.

Every year i go i find a myself particularly moved by a different category. Or there is an, often many, images i just can't, quite, yet, walk away from. My feet become set in stone and i linger. Which makes it exciting and unexpected. The level of the photography entries are both highly advanced and technically skilled. Exceptionally talented artists in their field are found to submit for this original showcase, but also many amateurs, lucky enough to capture a moment or persistent enough with faith that they have something special before them for the world to see.

I find myself uncomfortable at some photo's. They pull on the heart strings undesirably because they are honest. They are a fact, an unjust, inhumane act we have put upon nature and/or other species. It is all through the faults of man the environment and everything in it suffers, this you cannot question, justify anymore or ignore when it is immediately and uneasily put in front of you. Many plights have been brought to my attention through this exhibition, which is important. It is respectfully portrayed with the aim to make an impact, that one should hope would make a difference to you at least as an individual, at least as a compassionate human being.

Staring at an over sized photo, a canvas of light and depth contrasting, taking up your full horizon, that of a Blue Whale floating enormously a few feet above the bottom of a clear sea level with a diver so inconsequential and insignificant in size in comparison to this heavyweight, the juxtaposition so exaggerated but truly real is humbling. A baby penguin staring intently and curiously at a set of human footprints in the sand is beyond delightfully charming. A silhouette of a species nesting, living, eating, functioning through the intense chlorophyll green of a leaf, outstanding. It is nature at its best, it's most dynamic, graceful and honest.

I am in awe of this yes, but for good reason i assure you,. Currently on at The Natural History Museum until April 2011.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/index.jsp