A picture of an elusive snow leopard on a night-time prowl has won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 award. The image was taken by Steve Winter, a photographer for National Geographic magazine, during a 13-month quest to capture a perfect image of the endangered species in its unforgiving habitat high in the mountains of central Asia – the image was captured at an altitude of more than 13,000ft in India’s Ladak’s Hemis High Altitude National Park.

Speaking about his winning snap, Mr Winter said: “I was thrilled to have finally captured the shot I had dreamed of – a wild snow leopard in its true element.” “I try to do stories that have never been done before,“.

“They do involve an incredible amount of work with scientists and local people. We were lucky in this instance that we got incredible pictures.

“It was collaboration between myself, the team and the snow leopard,” he joked.

The project involved 14 remote cameras in roughly 45 locations. It was a case of trial and error – one camera only delivered a picture of half of a leopard in five-and-a-half months.

Working in such harsh conditions, where temperatures plummeted to -40C (-40F), he asked the manufacturers for their advice on the performance of the cameras in extreme temperatures.

“They told me: ‘We don’t know, tell us when you get back’,” he recalled.

Commenting on the use of trigger cameras rather than being sat behind the lens, Mr Winter said: “They are something that needs to be used to get intimate portraits of elusive animals.

“I used to hate these cameras because they just gave you a record of an animal.

“Images are all about composition and light. If I cannot control that as if I would as I put the camera up to my face, then essentially I have failed.

“So I asked myself that if I did not like these cameras, how can I like them more.

“It turns out that snow leopards are the perfect species on which to use these cameras. They always come to specific locations to mark their territory.

“So I viewed the locations as movie sets. I put the cameras there, I put the lights there.

“I knew the animal would come; it was just waiting for the actor to walk on stage and break the beam.”