OnTheTown Nature in all her splendour took centre stage at a prize-giving ceremony in Dublin's Helix this week. Five-year old Eoin Pinaqui from Castlebridge, Co Wexford, was the youngest winner recorded in the competition's eight-year history with his photograph of mushrooms.
He came first in the junior category and won €550 and a trophy. The shortlisted entries, along with the winners in five different categories in the ESB Environmental Photography Awards 2004, were choosen from more than 5,000 entries.
Dr Hermann Brehm, a retired vet from Rottenburg in Germany, who was there with his wife, Edda, was presented with €3,000 and a trophy for first prize in the international category. His photograph was of a green snake wrapped around the head of a heron, which he took in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. The snake with its head caught tightly in the heron's beak, finally wore itself out and the patient heron was able to eat it, said Brehm. Being a good photographer is about "being ready when something happens which you don't expect - you have to see it, you have to be quick, realise your chance and take it".
Colman Culhane, a retired vice-principal from Millstreet, Co Cork, came first in the amateur category for his picture, Incoming Tide, also winning €3,000 and a trophy.
"I've spent hours down on the seashore taking dozens of rolls of pictures," he said. "I wanted to capture the moving water."
Tony Maxwell, of Maxwell's Picture Agency, took first prize in the professional category for his picture, Frosty Morning Deer, which was taken in the Phoenix Park at about 9.30 a.m. last year during a cold spell.
Naoise Culhane came first in the youth section, winning €700 and a trophy for his picture of seagulls, Evolution.
All the winning entries will remain on view at the Helix, Dublin, until Monday, February 7th, after which the exhibition will be on view at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin's Temple Bar