An Explosive Underwater Scene The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition got over 50,000 entries from 95 countries.
The winners of the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were announced Tuesday, with the top award going to Laurent Ballesta, a French and scientist, for his “amazing” shot of camouflage grouper mating ritual.
Vidyun R Hebbar of Bengaluru won first place in the ’10 Years and Under’ category for his beautiful shot of a tent spider.
The Natural History Museum in London is responsible for the development and production of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The tournament attracted entries from 95 nations this year.
Mr. Ballesta’s winning photograph, chosen by more than 50,000 entrants from around the world, shows the uncommon sight of “camouflage groupers exiting their milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia,” according to the competition.
Laurent Ballesta and his colleagues returned to a lagoon every year for five years to take the shot, named Creation, diving day and night to avoid missing the yearly spawning.
Only around the full moon in July does the mating ritual take place.
According to the Chair of the judging panel, Rosamund Kidman Cox, “The image works on so many levels. It is surprising, energetic, and intriguing and has an otherworldly beauty. It also captures a magical moment – a truly explosive creation of life – leaving the tail-end of the exodus of eggs hanging for a moment like a symbolic question mark.”
Vidyun R Hebbar, a Bengaluru-based 10-year-old, was named Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 for his photograph Dome home.
The image depicts a tent spider that the young photographer noticed in his local amusement park, with a colorful backdrop supplied by a passing autorickshaw.
As stated by Mr. Hebbar, “Tent spiders build the most amazing and detailed webs, it’s a real treat watching them. I love macro photography because you don’t need to go on a safari to find subjects, you find your subjects in your back yard!”
According to the researcher with the Natural History Museum and jury member, Dr Natalie Cooper, “The jury loved this photo from the beginning of the judging process. It is a great reminder to look more closely at the small animals we live with every day, and to take your camera with you everywhere.”
The winner of the ‘Animals in their Environment’ category was Zack Clothier’s Grizzly leftovers.
For his photograph of an elephant performing underwater for zoo visitors in Thailand, Adam Oswell receives the Photojournalism prize.
Alex Mustard’s Bedazzled took first place in the Natural Artistry category. A ghost pipefish may be seen lurking within the arms of a feather star in this picture.
Brent Stirton received the Photojournalist Story Award. His photograph depicts the director of a South African rehabilitation centre sitting with a rescued chimp and introducing it to other chimpanzees.
Photographer Majed Ali traveled for nearly four hours to get this image of a mountain gorilla closing its eyes in the rain. The photograph took first place in the Animal Portraits category.
The winner of ‘Behaviour: Animals’ was Stefano Unterthiner’s Head to Head. Two Svalbard reindeer fight for control of a harem in this picture.
Gil Wizen’s the spider chamber won the Urban Wildlife Award. Gil discovered a deadly spider under his bed. He used forced perspective to make the human-hand-sized Brazilian wandering spider look even larger.
Joao Rodrigues’ gigantic newts took first place in the Behavior: Amphibians and Reptiles category.
These and other winning pictures will be on show at the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, which opens on Friday, October 15 at London’s Natural History Museum.
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