Top photographic award for Anna-Louise
An image taken while braving temperatures as low as -60°c during an expedition to Siberia has been rewarded with The Wildlife Art Society International’s top award for photography. Wildlife Photographer and Conservationist Anna-Louise Pickering is honoured to have won The Lady Scott Award for her portrait of a wild AmurTiger.
The winning photograph was taken during Anna-Louise’s expedition to the Russian Far East searching for the rare Siberian Tiger, alongside her late mother, the internationally acclaimed Derbyshire wildlife artist Pollyanna Pickering. Pollyanna was renowned for only painting animals which she had seen and studied in their natural habitats. The duo flew to Vladivostok, then drove north to literally the end of the road – and the edge of the tiger’s habitat.
Perhaps unsurprisingly there aren’t any hotels in this remote region so Pollyanna and Anna-Louise stayed with a beekeeper in his shack in the woods where the temperatures dropped to an overnight low of -60°. The shack had no indoor plumbing - they had to fetch all of their water from a hole in the frozen river – and no indoor loo. Recalling the expedition in her acceptance speech Anna-Louise said “Even if you never usually get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night I can guarantee you will wake up desperate for a trip to the smallest room at 2.00am when that entails getting dressed in all your padded clothing and boots and then walking 200 metres to the outhouse with a small torch – and the very real possibility of meeting a wild Siberian tiger en route!” Their host also brewed his own moonshine – which was 80% proof – and which he brought out at every meal – including breakfast…… But Anna-Louise confirms that it was worth all the life threatening trips to the loo, the moonshine hangovers, and even the risk of frostbite to be able to photograph Siberian tigers in the wild.
In the 1940s, Amur Tigers were on the brink of extinction with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild – numbers have now recovered to approximately 500 – but they remain highly endangered. “I really hope that this photograph is also a call to action” Anna-Louise commented “a reminder that our responsibility to protect and preserve the environment has never been more urgent”.
Bestowed to recognise the best Photographic image in the annual exhibition, this award was inaugurated in 2010 in memory of Lady Philippa Scott, a former Patron and supporter of the Society. Lady Scott was probably best known for her work with The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust alongside her husband, the late Sir Peter Scott. The judges commented “The expression and colours are exceptional and stand out – we felt we could almost touch the tiger”
President of the Pollyanna Pickering Foundation which raises funds for conservation and animal welfare worldwide, Anna-Louise gives talks to societies all round the country about her unique expeditions alongside Pollyanna.
Anna-Louise is pleased to have been invited to include her photograph in the Exhibition of Award Winners at the prestigious Nature in Art Gallery in Gloucester in October, and it will be exhibited in her private gallery near Matlock in November. Visit www.pollyannapickering.co.uk for further details.