Photographers go ‘Wild’ in Land Rover-backed competition

Once again, the Land Rover-backed category in the international Travel Photographer of the Year competition has attracted some outstanding images, with the 2006 winning shots presenting a variety of definitions of the category theme – ‘Wild’.

‘Wild’ was won by André Lichtenberg, a Brazilian-born photographer now based in Hove. His stark black and white images of Brazilian beaches caught the judges’ eye, winning him – ironically - a trip back to his homeland. His prize is an adventurous journey for two to Brazil, courtesy of Land Rover and Audley Travel, plus a custom-built website from Iridius, and Adobe Photoshop CS2 software.

North American based Swiss photographer Peter Dettling came second in this category, with a beautiful group of wildlife and landscapes images, while amateur photographer Amber Maitland from Poole in Dorset was Highly Commended for her black and white portfolio of Antarctica. Christian Aslund (Sweden) was Commended for his energetic portfolio of ski jumpers.

Peter Dettling won a Hewlett Packard Photosmart Pro B9180 A3+ Photo Printer, designed specifically for professional photographers, plus a superb Intuos3 A5 Wide graphics tablet, ideal for use with widescreen displays, HDTV monitors or multi-monitor set-ups. Amber Maitland receives a Lee Filters Starter Kit plus Fujifilm Multijet Inkjet paper, while Christian Aslund wins a hardback copy of Travel Photographer of the Year - Journey Two - plus Fujifilm Multijet Inkjet Paper.

The winning images appear on tpoty.com. In addition, all the winning and other highly-placed images from TPOTY 2006, plus those from the 2005 competition, are also showcased in Journey Two, the second portfolio book from TPOTY. Priced at £27.50 (plus P&P), this beautiful 164-page hardback book is available now from tpoty.com. Featuring over 230 glorious photographs, it would make a perfect present for a photographer or travel lover.

The winning images will be on display at Focus on Imaging, Europe’s largest imaging show, at the NEC, Birmingham, from February 25th-28th.