JCU Grad wins top photo competition

James Cook University science graduate Matthew McIntosh has been named Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the year.

He said he was on a wildlife-orientated road trip from Townsville to Cooktown when the group stopped to investigate a chorus of male orange-thighed tree frogs in lowland rainforest north of the Daintree.

“Uranotaenia mosquitos were feeding on a number of the frogs, something that’s not uncommon,” said Mr McIntosh.

He said the picture almost didn’t happen, with the set-up plagued by equipment failures.

“I crept up to both the frog and mosquitos and held my breath, fearing any air disturbance would cause the mosquitos to fly away.  

“My dual-macro flash-bracket was broken so I steadied my camera in one hand, with one speedlight attached to the bracket, and held a second speedlight with my other hand.  

“The battery on my headlamp was nearly empty and the autofocus failed in the fading light. I had to quickly manually focus on the subject before my headlamp diminished completely. 

“I managed to capture one photo of the scene before my light went out, however one speedlight failed to fire leading me to believe I had missed my only opportunity.  Luckily, all was not lost and I had managed to capture the image more or less as I intended.”

Mr McIntosh now works as an ecologist at a local environmental consultancy.

Link to pic: http://bit.ly/2fB1nVn

Picture is for single use only with this press release, with attribution to Matthew McIntosh. It is not available for re-use or archiving. All rights remain with Mr McIntosh.