PHOTOGRAPHY

ADORAMA TV INTERVIEW

I'm a bit behind with my latest posts as I've been taking some time for paternity leave. It's been a roller coaster but tons of fun and I'm really enjoying being a dad for the first time. I've been working on some local projects in the background, so will catch up with things on here when they are published in the coming weeks. For now, here's an interview about my work that I did for Adorama TV at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum.

nb. The black-headed gull image at 1:34 is not mine - I was showing the interviewer some techniques after the interview and I set up the camera, but she took the picture!

OBSERVER FEATURE - WHEN ANIMALS GO WILD IN THE CITY

My urban wildlife pictures have just been used to illustrate a feature in the Observer's monthly technology, science and ideas supplement. It's great to see urban wildlife getting some decent coverage in a national newspaper with such a varied readership and it always feels good to reach new people with my work when it has the potential to spark an interest in wildlife in the city.

The feature by Adam Vaughn can be read on the Guardian / Observer site here: "When Animals Go Wild in The City"

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR BLOG CONTRIBUTION

The "Urban" category is making a comeback in the 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. To celebrate this, the organisers asked myself and two awesome wildlife photographers - Alex Badyaev and Pål Hermansen, to share our thoughts about urban wildlife. I am a big believer that wildlife should not be seen as something that exists outside of the city and that urban wildlife photography plays a big part in helping people realise that humans and wildlife must coexist. The piece can be found on the Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year site here..

 

URBAN WILDLIFE - THE QUIET SPECTACLE OF THE COMMONPLACE

ROOTS MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

Dutch nature magazine Roots has used one of my urban fox images for their February cover. Inside there is a cool feature on urban wildlife with some more of my pictures, including 2 double page spreads of the same fox and an urban peregrine falcon. I've long been a fan of Roots - it's the biggest independent wildlife and nature mag in the Netherlands and always contains great photography, so it's great to make the cover and exciting to see my local wildlife getting international attention!

BBC WILDLIFE FEB 2015 - HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH URBAN WILDLIFE

If you want to know how to photograph urban wildlife, check out the new Feb 2015 issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine. My best tips and advice about photographing UK wildlife in the city are condensed into a double page "how to" tutorial - Available today http://www.discoverwildlife.com/magazine/current-issue

NATURE'S IMAGES AWARDS 2014

The results of the 2014 Melvita Nature's Images Awards have just been announced this morning and my recently published Berlin goshawk story and one of my urban fox pictures have both been awarded. The goshawk set (12 images) was a runner-up in the Man and Nature category and my fox in the Nature in the City category. A nice way to finish off 2014 and my best year so far in the major wildlife photography competitions with a total of 21 awarded images.

You can see all of the winners and runners-up on the competition website: www.natureimagesawards.com/palmares-2014

In unrelated news, my parakeet image has been included in the Daily Mail's "Most Amazing Photographs of 2014". View the full selection here.

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BBC WILDLIFE MAGAZINE - URBAN GOSHAWK FEATURE PUBLISHED

The latest issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine (January 2015) hits the shelves on Monday and I'm excited to share that it's running my Berlin goshawk story. I've been working on this for some time now and it's been a bit of a journey from my first trip out to find them at the beginning of 2013. I've met lots of people working with goshawks and raptors along the way and some have become close friends. I took Ben Hoare, the features editor of Wildlife Mag out to Berlin with me this Summer to meet some of them, so that he could find out a bit more about the project and interview the people working with and monitoring the goshawks before writing the feature. 2015 is the "year of the Goshawk" in Germany, so it's a great time for it to be published and Ben has done a great job in telling the full story. Subscribers to the mag should have their copies already, but it officially goes on sale on Monday 22nd December so please go and check it out.

You can see more of my pictures from this project on my site: www.samhobson.co.uk/urban-goshawk

A web gallery is also being featured on the BBC Discover Wildlife Site: www.discoverwildlife.com/gallery/goshawks-berlin

The behind the scenes video on the Wildlife Mag Youtube Channel is here: http://youtu.be/d2tboE0fePw

Massive thanks to Norbert, Bea, Rainer, Olly, Manuela, Lutz, Felix and all the guys who helped me get the pictures and made it so much fun and big thanks to everyone at Wildlife Mag for making it happen!

BBC WILDLIFE MAG EDITOR NAMES PARAKEETS PICTURE OF THE YEAR

A feature in the current "Christmas Special" issue of Amateur Photographer Magazine asks 10 magazine, agency and website editors to select their favourite image from 2014. Matt Swaine, editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine has picked my WPY and GDT EWPY awarded image of parakeets as his favourite of the year and here's what he says about it.. Thanks Matt!

Matt Swaine - Editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine

Rose-ringed Parakeets Flying Over a London Cemetery by Sam Hobson

I would like to nominate Sam Hobson’s picture, which was a finalist in the 2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Sam specialises in urban wildlife and works hard to understand animal behaviour to get the right image. I believe this shot was taken in a graveyard in South London and it shows rose-ringed parakeets – an alien species that is now becoming quite commonplace on garden feeders in this part of the UK. Invasive species are a serious issue, and this photo shows these birds in a clearly British setting, bringing home just how commonplace they have become.

UPDATE - 20th December 2014 - Parakeets also included in Daily Mail Most Amazing Pictures of 2014

Amateur Photographer Magazine - 20-27 December 2014 - Images of the Year

PEREGRINE AND URBAN WILDLIFE PICTURES IN THE NEWS

My urban peregrines are featured on the BBC England site today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29381032

A nice mention for Ed's urban peregrine book which can be ordered here: http://www.pelagicpublishing.com/urban-peregrines.html

I also recently had a gallery in The Guardian dedicated to my photography: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2014/sep/12/urban-wildlife-in-pictures

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UPCOMING TALK AT WILDSCREEN PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

The Wildscreen Photography Festival (fka Wildphotos) speakers have been announced and I'm pretty excited to share that I'll be joining them this year to talk about urban wildlife photography. It's the biggest Wildlife Photography event of the year, which I've been going to regularly for the past 4 or 5 years, so I feel pretty honoured to be amongst the speakers this time. This year, it will be held over 3 days and there'll be loads of cool wildlife photography related workshops and talks. It's a great opportunity for chatting to others already working in the industry too so hope to see you there in October!

www.wildphotos.org.uk/speakers/