It took him 3,000 clicks and countless hours to “capture” the perfect image of a bird flying that earned him his first photography prize in global competition.

35-year old Nikos Fokas is the big winner of the Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) World Bird Photo Contest, organized for the second year by Lynx Edicions.

In the stunning photograph we see a fast moving swift captured diving to the surface of the water, bill wide open to capture floating insects.

“During my research for the specific bird I noticed that it would come very close to the water to eat small insects. I found a good spot at Spata and followed a special pre-focusing technique. Then the waiting game begun. The winning photo came after 3,000 failed clicks in over two years,” explained Mr. Fokas, who works as an environmental scientist in the Department of Environment of the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”.

He also stressed that a good bird photograph is not a matter of chance, as some believe, but requires countless hours of work and research.

“It should be stressed that photo contests do not accept images that are heavily processed. You also have to send the original photo to the jury so that they can see the processing involved. So the photo itself must be good”, said the 35 year-old photographer.

Mr. Fokas interest in photography started 5-6 years ago, when he began to observe birds at the airport. He is determined to continue his outings in Attica and in the wetlands of Greece to take photographs of his beloved birds.