Nature Photographer of the Year is a Nature Photography contest that celebrates the beauty of nature photography.
A group of polar bears exploring an abandoned Soviet village in the Arctic has won Nature Photographer of the Year 2022.
Sascha Fonseca won the Mammals category with a fabulous photo of the endangered snow leopard.
From bees hunting for a mate to a giant sea star procreating, these incredible images are some of the winners in the prestigious wildlife photography competition.
We spoke to three photographers, who tell the stories behind their award-winning images at this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year photographic competition, and why biodiversity and climate change are top of the agenda. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.
June–July 2022 – The Fresh Water Issue: Saving The Stuff Of Life
On the cover: Surrounded by the waters of Lake Superior, Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park is a roadless haven for wildlife. Photo by Viktor Posnov
Animal photographer, Tim Flach’s latest project is a testament to the diversity of birds. “I’m celebrating this extraordinary wonderment out there”, he says. Shooting birds like a fashion photographer might photograph human subjects, Flach’s images are purposefully anthropomorphic. “There is a role for an anthropomorphic approach,” he says, “I want to grab people’s attention to think about the wonderment, beauty, character and maybe their stories”. Which, he hopes, will elicit in the viewer empathy for birds “We became who we are because of this rich biodervisity if you took that away we would be lesser”.
THE KINGFISHER HAS the poise of an Olympic diver. It catches food by plunging head-first into water, wings outstretched and beak pointed keenly at an unsuspecting minnow or stickleback swimming below. The bird dives in the blink of an eye, snatching its prey and flying away in a blur.
Alan McFadyen recently captured a kingfisher’s riveting dive in a gorgeous photo that shows the bird the moment before it nabs a fish, its body reflected as a mirror image in the water’s surface. The birds, which tend to be small, with large heads and dagger-like beaks, can dive at speeds up to 25 mph, making McFadyen’s photo a difficult shot. “The [kingfisher’s] speed is incredible and fascinating to watch,” he says. “Even at 10 frames per second, sometimes you get nothing in the [photograph]. It’s that fast.”
Boomers Daily 