Judge: Jari Peltomaki

This year our visiting judge was Jari Peltomaki (pictured below), one of Finland's leading wildlife photographers. Jari is a professional wildlife photographer (born in 1965), living in Liminka Finland. There he runs his own bird tour and wildlife photography business Finnature Ltd.  He has travelled extensively for his photography, leading bird watching and photography tours to Japan, Mongolia, India, Russia, Israel, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Spain, Iceland, USA, Canada

Jari  has been taking photographs since he was a small boy, and turned professional thirteen years ago. His main interest lies in bird photography, but his photo material is quite extensive, including shots of mammals and landscapes as well, both from Finland and abroad. His personal favorites are the Great Grey Owls resident in his home area,

Jari was elected as chairman of professional Nature Photographers of Finland in 2007. His images have been used in magazines and books worldwide, and his photographs have won awarded in numerous international competitions, including the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition by BBC a couple of times.  Jari’s photograph of Red-throated Diver won him the title of the International Wildbird Photographer 2004.

Jari´s photos can be seen e.g. at www.jaripeltomaki.com

Karl Martin - Winning Image Junior

Sally Leung - Winning Image Beginner