Crocodile snap took photographer Brian Matthews 25 hours
Nov 1 2008 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
WILDLIFE photographer Brian Matthews admits what is one of his greatest shots will never cut it as a Christmas card.
Brian, 30, who grew up in Chester-le-Street in County Durham, spent a month in the massive Pantanal wetlands of Brazil.
He was working his way along the Cuiaba River, looking for jaguars, when he spotted vultures circling.
Brian found the object of their interest a dead caiman, which is a member of the crocodile family.
I lay down and waited. The caiman has a tough hide and I knew the only way the vultures would be able to get into the carcass was through soft areas like the eyes, said Brian.
His image of a vulture doing just that was placed in the top 15 of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition at the Natural History Museum in London.
With 32,351 entries from 82 countries this year, it is the worlds biggest and most hotly contested wildlife photography competition and is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.
Last year, the exhibition at the Natural History Museum attracted nearly 134,000 visitors, and more than a million others saw the winning photographs at regional and international venues.
Brians vulture shot was runner-up in the animal behaviour: birds category.
He said: Lying on the muddy bank, I was eye to eye with the scavengers. The early morning light was beautifully soft but the smell was truly terrible.
A black vulture would never attack a caiman but on finding a dead one happily tuck in. They go for the eyes first, digging down through the sockets to the meat inside.
Its the sort of behaviour which happens every day.
It took Brian 25 hours and five flights to reach the Pantanal.
Its a fantastic place for wildlife photography and I was able to photograph animals like jaguars, giant river otters and hundreds of different species of birds.
Brians Brazil trip was in August-September last year and he has just returned from a month in Borneo, where orangutans were the main attraction.
Brian, who attended Red Rose Primary School in Chester-le-Street, has so far visited more than 30 countries, including Madagascar, Namibia, Gambia, Ecuador, Japan, India, Finland, New Zealand and most of South-East Asia.
But he is just as happy photographing creatures in his native North-East.
Brian works as quality management group head at Hartlepool nuclear power station and his parents, Brian and Linda, live near Berwick.
He has a library of more than 30,000 studies and finances his travels by selling wildlife, landscape and tourism work.
To contact Brian email brian@bwmphoto.com or go to www.bwmphoto.com
