Bird video wins top prize
Swarovski Optik’s Digiscoper of the Year competition has been won by Jürgen Bergmann from Germany for the second time. A wide variety of bird species star in his superb digiscoping video, which won over the jury of international experts and members of the public. These pictures and videos, all captured using digiscoping (the combination of camera and spotting scope or binoculars), were submitted via the digiscoperoftheyear. com website in four categories, which were: Movement & Action, Portrait & Macro, Mammals, and Video. An expert jury selected the winners of each based on criteria including artistic approach, relevance to the theme, and aesthetics. Jürgen Bergmann’s video, called Magic Moments, impressed the judges so much that it came first in both the Video category and the overall competition. His prize for winning the competition is a set of SWAROVSKI OPTIK digiscoping equipment comprising an ATX/STX spotting scope, digiscoping adapter, spotting scope rail, tripod, and tripod head. The winner of the Movement & Action category was Gabriel Ozon from Germany with an image of Wood Sandpipers (Tringa glareola). The Mammals category was won by Peter Nilsson from Sweden with his portrait of a Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) entitled Too close. Last year’s overall winner, Jonathan C.V. Soon from Malaysia, landed first place in the Portrait & Macro category. His image, So GREEN, shows a Whitehead’s Broadbill (Calyptomena whiteheadi). All three category winners will each receive a pair of EL 32 binoculars from SWAROVSKI OPTIK as their prize.