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John MacTavish’s striking pheasant photograph ‘Highland Fling’ |
A BENDERLOCH gamekeeper with a lifelong passion for photography has received national recognition from the popular BBC television wildlife and environment programme Countryfile.
John MacTavish, who lives and works at Lochnell Estate, near Benderloch was persuaded by his young daughter Kirsty to send a selection of his wildlife photographs to the BBC after she watched a call for competition entries to the charity fundraising Countryfile Calendar 2009 on the weekly television programme.
John was delighted when one of his entries, the dancing pheasant titled by John as Highland Fling, was selected from more than 11,000 entries for the calendar’s final 12 images by the panel of judges including comedian and keen amateur photographer Jo Brand, wildlife presenter and photographer Chris Packham and Countryfile’s regular host presenter John Craven.
The two top photographs, voted by a telephone poll to be the best overall from the 12 already selected, will earn their photographers the right to choose from a range of the latest digital photographic equipment.
In addition, a special judges’ prize offers a weekend break for two in a cottage in the UK countryside.
Television show presenter John Craven said: ‘The calendar really does showcase the British countryside and coastline at its very best, so we’re extremely grateful to everyone who sent photographs.’
Gamekeeper John MacTavish, who regularly takes a variety of sport photographs for The Oban Times, said: ‘I was delighted when one of my pictures was selected to be one of the 12 images on the 2009 Countryfile calendar because the standard of entries in this year’s competition was exceptionally high.
John, who now uses the latest digital technology to print and process his images, added: ‘I started taking photographs of people more than 30 years ago, then my interest in wildlife sort of took over.
‘Unfortunately, I lost much of my extensive portfolio of wildlife pictures when my computer crashed and I hadn’t backed-up any of the files.
‘I learned a very hard lesson that day and now regularly back-up my digital files.
‘My photographic focus then moved onto sport, with first karting and now shinty, accounting for the majority of my pictures.
‘But my outdoor life and work takes me into daily contact with wildlife and the wonderful local environment and it has a major influence on how I view the world around me.’
The best pictures from this year’s competition entry were selected after weeks of sifting through a huge mailbag to take pride of place in the calendar which is sold annually in aid of the charity Children In Need.
Last year’s calendar raised almost £270,000.
