Grant Falvey Environmental Photographer finalist.

One if our photographers, Grant has become a finalist at the Environmental Photographer of the year awards, which we featured on a previous posting here. This is what Grant has to say and his images...good luck!

                                                                  "the fox and the banana"

It was a very cold and snowy December in 2010 and I was on assignment to photograph Bluewater in the snow from the cliff tops around the complex. After taking a few frames from my usual spot, I moved onto a housing estate to try and get access from a block of flats for a higher position, but as I was driving into the estate I could  not believe what was looking straight at me from a hedge.   

It was a very glossy and healthy fox just standing watching me drive past. It did not move and did not seem to be afraid of the car, it just stood there.  So knowing that I had my 300mm on board I pulled over, set up and took a few quick frames before he ran off!  

But he did not run, in fact he came closer.  He must be hungry I thought.  So being a quick thinking photographer I ran back to my car and grabbed the first piece of food from my lunch that came to hand, which on this day happened to be a banana. 

Thinking to myself, do Fox's eat banana's, I just threw the fruit into the snow and got ready to shoot just incase they did! To my amazement this cool fury brown character walked over picked up the banana and legged it into the hedge.   Wow, they do eat Banana's! I laughed to myself.

Checking my image's on the pre-view screen I could not believe it. If you had told me before I left the house that day that I  would have pictures of a fox holding a banana in the snow by midday  I would have laughed in your face.

Even more crazy was the fact that not only did this brave fox take my banana he had come back for more. So I gave him two more, that's three banana's in 10 minutes, my sandwich and a few biscuits. 

The fox had cleaned me out! So feeling hungry myself and needing a Christmas picture  I popped to the local shops to  buy a pack of mince pies and went back armed with them  to try my luck again.It worked, the chap ate the lot, and  six mince pie's later I had one very nice frame of a fox holding onein his mouth.

A great morning and one that was topped of for me 9 months later with a shortlisting in an international photographic competition with one of these pics.  " The Fox and the Banana" has been shortlisted in CIWEN Environmental Photographer of the Year 2010  to the last 377 out of 10.000 images from photographers in 105 countries . 

Fingers crossed you never know!  

Grant Falvey