A spectacular portfolio of photographs dramatically capturing millions of fruit bats on an annual mass migration across Zambia has earned a University of Aberdeen zoology graduate a top accolade.
Twenty-five-year-old Kieran Dodds was awarded a key prize at the most prestigious press photography competitions - the 2006 World Press Photo Awards. His collection of images of fruit bats at the Kasanka National Park won First Prize in the Nature Stories category.
The award comes just months after Kieran was named Diageo Young Photographer of the Year for the UK and Ireland, just three years after he became a press photographer.
In fact, Kieran was using some of his prize money from that contest to fund his trip to Zambia to photograph the ecological phenomenon of about eight million straw coloured fruit bats through the Kasanka National Park.
Kieran was an honours student of Paul Racey, who is Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen, and one of the world’s acknowledged bat experts. He consulted Professor Racey about the trip to Kasanka as the academic is heavily involved in a major research project at Kasanka, which is financed by the Darwin Initiative.
Professor Racey, who was out in Kasanka when Kieran was on his photo assignment last November, said: “Kieran would get up before it was light to get into his hide ready to photograph the astonishing sight of these millions of fruit bats, roosting on top of one another, when the sun came up. Even more spectacular was the dispersal of the bats to feed at dusk , when the whole sky was filled with them.
“Kieran was totally dedicated and thanks to the wonders of digital technology we were able to see his striking images at the end of each day.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Kieran has won First Prize in his section of the 2006 World Press Photo Awards – it’s certainly very well deserved.
Kieran, who is a staff photographer for the Evening Times in Glasgow, has used his Zoology degree as a springboard into a very successful career.
Kieran added: “Winning a World Press award is unprecedented. Appearing on the list of winners may only happen once in a career, if at all, so to achieve this early only is remarkable.
“Without the support and encouragement of Professor Racey in Aberdeen and Dr Mike Kennedy in Zambia this could not have happened.”
· Kieran, a past editor of the University’s student newspaper The Gaudie, graduated from Aberdeen in 2002. He had short spells at the Press and Journal, Scotland on Sunday and Northscot press agency before he joined the Evening Times. He has also been nominated for the 2006 Scottish Press Photo award for the Sports portfolio, Features portfolio and Photographer of the Year categories. He travels to Amsterdam to collect his prize on April 23.