Wimbledon based photographer Paul Goldstein, who normally photographs in the polar regions, Africa and India has picked up two major awards in the British Wildlife Photography Awards (from a field of 13,000) with his two images from a pond in Mitcham and a spring woodland in Kent. He says: "I try to photograph throughout the year and although the UK can be more challenging, it still offers huge, if hard fought for, awards. Standing in a muddy South London pond focusing on an aggressive cob swan as it protected its cygnets was difficult enough but combining it with a London bus and employing a slow shutter speed made it even more tricky, but also strangely satisfying. This image: 'Bus Pass' was the only one I kept that day".

For 'On the Monet' it was all about research. "I knew there would be bluebells in the wood near Westerham. It was a walk my dear mother adored, but only rarely was there rape flowering at the same time. Beech trees have very straight trunks so again a slow speed gave an impressionist effect and not one that is ever the same. It is not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm indifferent to that. It is just a photograph of a part of my childhood".

On the Monet

https://www.bwpawards.org/2025-winners

The Impossible Photograph, a talk by Paul Goldstein at Tonbridge School on Wednesday 25 June. Find out more and sign up here.