Wildlife Phototographer of the Year 2022 Winners: An Exhibition of Wildlife Photographers at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, Europe, and New Zealand
“Wildlife photographers offer us unforgettable glimpses into the lives of wild species, sharing unseen details, fascinating behaviors and front-line reporting on the climate and biodiversity crises,” said Dr. Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum. These images show their awe and appreciation for the natural world and also their need to take action to protect it.
The winning images will be on display in an exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum, which opens on Friday. It’ll tour across the UK, Europe, and other places, as well as North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
According to a release from the museum, an international panel of experts selected the 19 finalist out of over four3,000 entries from nearly 100 countries. Then, they awarded two of those winners — one in each age category — the top prize.
American photographer Karine Aigner was named wildlife photographer of the year for a close-up shot of a “buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning over the hot sand on a Texas ranch” that she calls “The Big Buzz.”
All but one are males intent on mating with the single female bee at the center, the museum explains, adding that the bees are threatened by pesticides, climate change, habitat loss and disruptive farming practices.
Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/10/13/1128370495/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2022-winners
The Cambodian Whale Museum of Baleen (CWA): Winners of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award at the KamLAND Wildlife Photogrammetry Awards
The award of young wildlife photographer of the year went to 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, of Thailand, who captured an almost abstract snapshot of a Bryde’s whale surfacing near his boat to feed on small anchovies. It is called “The Beauty of Baleen.”
Wuttichaitanakorn was moved by the contrasting colors and textures of the whale’s “dark skin, pink gum and the brush-like mass of baleen hanging down from its top jaw,” the museum says, referring to the plates of baleen that certain types of whales use when lunge-feeding, in order to filter small prey from the ocean.
Entry for the next year’s contest will be accepted between October 17 and December 8. In the meantime, check out some of this year’s champions:
From a salmon punching a bear in the face to a penguin that seems to have no head, the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards announced its winners this year.
The organization fields thousands of submissions for each of its photo categories: creatures of the land, creatures of the air, creatures of the sea, a junior award for photographers 18 years old or under, an internet portfolio award, and a people’s choice award.
The overall winner for the photo of a 3-month-old lioncub tumbling out of a tree in the Serengeti region ofTanzania was, in fact, a photograph taken by one of the contestants, from Texas.
“What you can anticipate is potentially something happening so you want to position yourself in a way that will affect the speed of your camera,” he said.
Hadley will receive a handmade trophy from the Wonder Workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, two photography bags, and a one-week safari in Kenya. There, she hopes to capture the great migration when wildebeests and zebras migrate in search of fresh grass and water during the dry season.
Despite taking home the top prize, Hadley had only recently begun to pursue photography full time. In 2021 she left her job to pursue wildlife photography. She called it a leap of faith.
“It was a little bit scary, because I had a good job, well paid, and it’s what I’ve done my whole career. She said it felt “nerve-wracking” to try something completely different because she wasn’t sure if she could do it on a professional level. “But I just thought, if not now, when?”
John Chaney, a 50-year Alaskan salmon photographer, who was photographed at the foot of Brooks Falls, Alaska, in August 2021
John Chaney, a businessman and photographer of over 50 years, was one of the 10 “highly commended winners,” recognized for his August 2021 photo of a salmon seemingly punching a bear in the face at the foot of Alaska’s Brooks Falls.
Salmon make a long journey upriver from the ocean to their birth beds in the gravel beds every two to three years. 200,000 to 400,000 salmon jump the waterfalls each year according to the National Park Service.
“Wherever wildlife is occurring, you attempt to stake out a good spot and you take pictures for hours trying to get the best picture, whether it is a unique facial expression or an animal doing something unique to make the picture special,” he told NPR.