Submit wildlife photography to Born Free's #ShootToThrill competition to raise awareness against trophy hunting
(Image credit: Born Free / iStock)
Are you a budding wildlife photographer? Do you roil with rage at the idea of canned or trophy hunting? Then you might want to dig out your telephoto, as international charity Born Free is challenging photographers to submit their best wildlife photos to its new #ShootToThrill wildlife photography competition.
No matter whether you're trekking through the plains of Africa or simply spending a sunny Sunday at your local nature reserve, any photo will be accepted so long as it portrays the beauty of freedom.
The lucky winner of the #ShootToThrill competition will receive an amazing prize pack, including a professional lesson with Born Free's in-house photography team, a copy of their image presented on canvas and signed by Born Free's founder and actress Virginia McKenna, and a whole host of goodies from the Born Free shop.
Get snapping and submitting your wildlife photographs to Born Free's #ShootToThrill contest (Image credit: Born Free / iStock)
Trophy hunters kill wild animals for sport using rifles, bows and other weapons, severely affecting animal populations. Just recently, it's come to light that British trophy hunters are paying up to £3,000 to go hunting for puffins in Iceland, where they can kill up to 100 of these endangered birds at a time.
Meanwhile, big cats are intensively bred in South African farms, often being hand-reared and bottle-fed to habituate them to humans. They're then transferred to canned hunting facilities to be shot by paying hunters.
Howard Jones, CEO of Born Free, said:
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"Hundreds of thousands of innocent animals have been murdered by trophy hunters in the last decade alone. Most hunters claim that the money they pay to the hunting outfitters helps wildlife conservation and local economy, but it's all a myth - in fact, research shows that alternative activities such as photographic tourism can generate far more revenue from wildlife than trophy hunting.
"Animals belong in the wild, not on a wall. If it has the be the latter, then photography is surely the answer, hence we are launching this competition."
If you're interested in taking part, all you need to do is submit your photo to shoottothrill@bornfree.org.uk by 30 September confirming the location where the image was taken, along with the photographer's name, age and contact details. Terms and conditions apply.
Alternatively, if you'd like to help the cause even further, you can sign Born Free's petition against trophy hunting here.
With over a decade of photographic experience, Louise arms Digital Camera World with a wealth of knowledge on photographic technique and know-how – something at which she is so adept that she's delivered workshops for the likes of ITV and Sue Ryder. Louise also brings years of experience as both a web and print journalist, having served as features editor for Practical Photography magazine and contributing photography tutorials and camera analysis to titles including Digital Camera Magazine and Digital Photographer. Louise currently shoots with the Fujifilm X-T200 and the Nikon D800, capturing self-portraits and still life images, and is DCW's ecommerce editor, meaning that she knows good camera, lens and laptop deals when she sees them.
