The animal kingdom is a wild and beautiful place. Having spent a great deal of time glueing my eyes to nature documentaries as they are soothingly narrated by David Attenborough, I’ve come to the conclusion that capturing the perfect wildlife shot is hard. I mean, I can barely take a decent picture of my food, writes Cape {town} Etc‘s Lynn Cupido.
So, when the Nature Talks Online Photo Festival recently revealed their picks for their much-anticipated selection of incredible nature photographers through its “Nature Photographer of the Year Awards 2022,” you can imagine how I had to pick my jaw up from the floor. The annual event invites professional and non-professional photographers to showcase their skills and share the beauty of the natural world.
There is a range of categories for photographers to participate in, with each image more beautiful than the next. Here are a few of the winners:
Birds and overall winner: Terje Kolaas captured a flock of pink-footed geese escaping the cold in “Winter Migration.”
Black and White winner: Photographer Roie Galitz titled this image of polar bears mating “White Wedding.”
Mammals winner: A beautiful shot of a gorilla running through the forest in “Silverbach Chimanuka” by Josef Friedhuber.
Human and Nature winner: Taken by Francisco Javier Murcia Requena, a swordfish swims through the sea in “The King of the Ocean.”
Underwater winner: Georg Nies took this mesmerising shot of a red pygmy seahorse, titled “Red In Red.”
Nature Art winner: Photographer Gheorghe Popa’s breathtaking aerial image of a frozen lake resembles an “Ice Cell.”
Plants and Fungi winner: A winter wonderland. Sunbeams break through trees covered with hoar frost in “Heat of Hoar” by Rupert Kogler.
Nature of “De Lage Landen” winner: Andius Teijgeler titled this photo “Fox Crossing the Bridge.”
Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award winner: a rather dramatic image found in Lea Lee Inoue’s series “Emotional Range” which captures the moods of ground squirrels.
Animal Portrait winner: William Burrard-Lucas’ “Black Leopard” provides a gorgeous peek of this elusive cat in the wild.
Youth winner: An alpine ibex meanders through the fields in “Beautiful World” by Levi Fitze.
Landscape winner: “Dragon’s Lair” by Denis Budkov shows a volcano mid-eruption.
Other Animals winner: Ruben Perez Novo captured a caterpillar on a branch in “Walking Among Fennels.”
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Picture/s: Nature Photographer of the Year
