Nature
Photography
#animals
#contests
January 30, 2024
Grace Ebert
Amit Eshel, “Life on the edge,” Israel. All images © the artists, courtesy of the Natural History Museum, shared with permission
From the cliffs of the Zin Desert to the shallow waters of South Africa’s Kosi Bay, the 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest traverses the globe documenting the most striking moments of life on Earth. Laurent Ballesta, whose luminous underwater images we’ve featured previously, won the competition for the second time. Titled “The golden horseshoe,” the photo peers in on a tri-spine horseshoe crab crawling over the mud with a trio of small golden trevallies trailing behind with the hope that the crab will rustle up some food as it moves.
In its 59th year, the contest garnered nearly 50,000 entries from 95 countries. The winning photos— which include an electrifying shot of fireflies from Sriram Murali and Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar’s devastating documentation of deforestation in Mexico—are on view through June 30 at the Natural History Museum in London.
Agorastos Papatsanis, “Last breath of autumn,” Greece
Laurent Ballesta, “The ancient mariner,” France
Sriram Murali, “Lights fantastic,” India
Rachel Bigsby, “The art of courtship,” U.K.
Mike Korostelev, “Hippo nursery,” Russia
Hadrien Lalagüe, “Silence for the snake show,” France
Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar, “The tourism bulldozer,” Mexico
Bertie Gregory, “Whales making waves,” U.K.
#animals
#contests
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