2024 Awards Recap: Success with The BIPP, The Societies and the World Photographic Cup
Having completed two arduous (but oh-so-worth-it) 20-image strong print qualification panels in 2023, I wasn’t sure what my self-inflicted project for 2024 was going to be. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it’s potentially a dangerous thing to set goals related to winning things, as I never want my self-worth to be tied to the potential to win (or more likely not win) a trophy. Consequently, I started 2024 without any clear goal for my photography - the first time I’d let that happen since first starting to learn back in 2020.
The BIPP Monthly Image Competition
The BIPP, one of the most respected professional photography institutions globally, recognises photographers who demonstrate the highest level of skill and artistry over an extended period of time with their Monthly Image Competition, first introduced in January 2024. In previous years, I had enjoyed success in The BIPP’s annual International Print Competition, so with being granted 1 free digital entry to this new competition every month (with the option to pay for additional entries) I thought why not make this a bit of a project.
To cut a longer story short, I ended 2024 with two trophies from The BIPP: my best-performing image was in the Domesticated Animals Category. Captured in Hong Kong, A Weather Eye is a striking portrait of my client’s Shetland Sheepdog named Bambi, and was awarded Highest Scoring Image of the Year. The photograph was taken on-location in a safe disused structure on a quiet hiking trail in Hong Kong, far removed from the typical urban environment the city is known for. Bambi, looking toward the light through an open doorway, exudes a sense of quiet contemplation and hope. The image earned one of only two Gold Awards across the entire 2024 competition, highlighting the immense standard of the competition entries.
Every image I create tells a story about the animal and the environment. For A Weather Eye, I wanted to incorporate the unique location — one of Hong Kong’s lesser-seen historical corners — into the portrait. The open doorway and light streaming through reflected the sense of calm and serenity I wanted to convey. Whether photographing pets or wildlife, I always seek to blend the subject with its environment in a way that feels authentic and timeless.
I was also awarded International Natural World Photographer of the Year 2024-25 after consistently excellent performance in this category. Starting the year on an incredible high, receiving Silver for a monochromatic image Oloti the Cheetah in the Masai Mara, my Natural World images went on to receive 5 Silver Awards and 7 Bronzes by the end of 2024. Scroll through the awarded images here:
The Society of Photographers
As late as the end of November, I rejoined The Society of Photographers and popped in some images into their final month of their 2024 Monthly Image Competition. Upon hearing the news that I’d received 3 Highly Commended results, I was really proud of myself and my images.
However, at the end of every year, all of the Highly Commended Images get rejudged again and the image you see on the right hand side ‘Kiss of Death’ received an upgrade to Gold. The amazing news did not stop there as just a few days later I received an email to inform me that ‘Kiss of Death’ had gone on to be shortlisted for Photographer of the Year 2024 in ‘The Natural World - Wild Animals’ category.
The awards ceremony will take place in London on Friday January 17th 2025 as part of The Societies Convention & Trade Show week - watch this space for any further updates!
The World Photographic Cup 2025
Having one of the most talented wildlife photographers champion my work so passionately was undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of 2024 for me. The incomparable Tracey Lund - captain of Team United Kingdom - saw something special in my hyena image ‘Kiss of Death’ which could contribute to our nation’s efforts in this international competition.
The World Photographic Cup is a team-based competition for photographers of different genres representing their home countries and includes participants from all over the world. On December 17th 2024, the Best of Nation winners and Finalists for each country were announced in a YouTube video. Due to some hilarious mix-up involving timezones and my own exhaustion, I completely missed the fact that my image ‘Kiss of Death’ was awarded Best of Nation (tied with a killer shot of a Jackal by Edwin Godinho), and is also a Finalist (International Top 10 in the Nature/Wildlife Category) in the competition. Taking place in Quito, Ecuador in March 2025, the grand finals will announce the Overall Category and Nation winners. At this point, there are a number of hurdles between me and a trip to Quito in less than 3 months, but let’s never say never!
All-in-all, beginning the year with no photography goals didn’t prove to be all too detrimental, especially given the majority of what I was shooting was wildlife which means very limited control or planning beyond being in the right place and simply being ‘ready’. That being said, I definitely have a whole handful of photography goals ready to go in 2025, check back here for more on that another time.