New Brunswick photographer snaps final spot in prestigious contest

A photograph taken on a beach in Costa Rica landed a New Brunswick photographer a finalist position in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest and a trip to London, England for the finals.

Nick Hawkins titled his photograph Dinner Party. It captures black vultures feasting on the carcass of a large green turtle on a beach in Whale Bay in Costa Rica.

"It is a little bit different from maybe what people would think of as a typical wildlife image," said Hawkins.

The 26-year-old works in the summer as a naturalist with a whale-watching operation in St. Andrews. During the winter, he takes trips to Costa Rica and that was where he took the photograph.

"This is really just a discovery that I made when I was out just looking for things to photograph," he said.

"When I saw the scene, I noticed that there was all the elements to make a powerful image. The sky had a particular look to it that lent itself to the scene and just the look of this dead turtle that was half-decomposed with kinds of parts of the skull showing through.

"Then once these black vultures …[started] coming in one at a time to begin feeding, that's when I know all right, I've got to go get some equipment."

Hawkins used a Nikon camera with a wide angle lens and single flash. He used a remote trigger to take photographs from about 50 metres behind the camera.

"I wasn't able to be directly behind the camera because the black vultures, in order for them to come and feed normally, I would need to be a little bit further back."

Hawkins didn't win the competition, but being named one of the 100 finalists out of 42,000 entries, was an honour.

"It was certainly a huge surprise to be honoured in a competition like this," said Hawkins.

The competition is co-owned by the Natural History Museum in Britain and BBC Worldwide.