Farming Photographer Wins Volunteer of the Year

Stunning photographs of landscapes and wildlife from photographer and Welsh upland farmer Richard Becker have long drawn the admiration of the Woodland Trust. But now, they have gained him the recognition of the Woodland Trust’s ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award.

The nomination for Richard (45) from near Llanidloes in Powys came from the Woodland Trust’s photo library team. They said: “He sends in his amazing images regularly, and we use them frequently!’.

Richard has been giving his photographs to the Woodland Trust for the past four years. His catalogue includes fascinating close-up shots of insects such as dragonflies, damselflies, several species of butterfly, beetles and wasps.

The Woodland Trust Photo Library is a huge collection of photographs, used by the Trust in its publications, and by the nation’s media – websites, newspapers and magazines – to illustrate news stories about nature, wildlife and woodland conservation.

“The quality of Richard’s fantastic photographs and the regular supply of new images, which are always accurately captioned using the Latin names, makes him a very valuable volunteer contributor to the Woodland Trust Photo Library,” said the Trust’s photo library manager, Deborah Morris.

Richard explained: “I started taking photographs when I was about 15. I’ve always been interested in wildlife and wanted other people to be as excited about it as I was. I found that taking photographs was one way to show them what’s out there.”

A Canon 5D digital SLR camera together with a selection of lenses and a trusty tripod is Richard’s kit. Close-ups are his speciality, and he has been known to bring caterpillar eggs home and incubate them in an improvised vivarium to get his disturbingly close-up and vivid photographs of insects and butterflies. Others are taken outdoors in situ, and Richard has become skilled at getting the shots before his live subjects take fright and fly away.

But the appeal of photographing wildlife isn’t just in those subjects that walk and fly. Richard walks the paths through the farm near Llanidloes in Powys almost daily to find the scenes that would be missed on a brief visit. His beautiful images have captured changing seasons, winter landscapes and studies of snow-covered trees, bluebells, catkins and fungi as well as the first leaf bud to burst in spring, the reddest leaves of autumn, opening blossoms, sunrises and sunsets, foggy mornings and snowy wooded hillsides.

“Richard is a well-deserving winner of our Volunteer of the Year Award for the Woodland Trust Photo Library,” said Deborah Morris. “He has made a huge contribution to the way the Woodland Trust looks in its website, its literature and in magazines and other publications.”

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/pressimages/winterphoto

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