A buzzing ball of cactus bees has been awarded first prize in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The winners of the Natural History Museum’s prestigious Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year festival were announced today at an awards rite in London.
American photographer Karine Aigner was named Wildlife Photographer of the Year this year for her remarkable symbol of a buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning in the hot sand of a Texas ranch (symbol above).
In their close-up of bees, all but one are male and intend to mate with the female in the center. Like maximum bees, they are threatened by habitat loss, insecticides and climate change, as well as agricultural practices that disturb their nesting. gardens.
Karine is only the fifth woman in the competition’s 58-year history to win the Grand Title award. Rosamund ‘Roz’ Kidman Cox OBE, chair of the jury and former editor-in-chief of BBC Wildlife, said: in the ball of buzzing bees rolling straight into the picture. The sense of movement and intensity are amplified at the point of the bee and transforms what are small cactus bees into a giant competition for a single woman. “
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced through NHM, London. The exhibition opens on Friday 15 October 2022 at the museum, before embarking on a UK tour.
Ekaterina Bee watches as two alpine mountain goats fight for supremacy. Towards the end of a spring excursion with her circle of relatives, Ekaterina saw the fight. The two mountain goats collided their horns and continued to exchange blows on their hind legs like boxers in a fight. ring. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, after centuries of hunting, less than a hundred mountain goats survived in the mountains of the French-Italian border. Successful conservation measures mean that today there are more than 50,000.
Location: Pian della Mussa, Piedmont, Italy
From the fog through Ismael Domínguez Gutiérrez, Spain
Ismael Domínguez Gutiérrez shows a monochromatic scene in which an osprey perches on a dead tree, waiting for the fog to lift. the grebes he was looking to photograph.
But when the fog began to dissipate, it revealed the timeliness of this amazing composition. Ospreys are winter visitors to the province of Andalusia. Here, the numerous reservoirs supply those birds of prey that feed on fish with shallow waters that are clearer than many rivers and lakes. .
Location: Los Hurones Reservoir, Cadiz, Spain
The good looks of beards through Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, Thailand
Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn is intrigued by the contrasting colors and textures of a Bryde whale, emerging nearby. According to government tourism guidelines, the tour boat Katanyou was riding on turned off the engine when the whale gave the impression of being nearby.
This meant that Katanyou had to stabilize his hands to capture this close-up composition as the boat swayed in the surf. Bryde’s whales have up to 370 pairs of gray-colored baleen growing on their upper jaw. The plates are made of keratin, a protein that also bureaucratizes human hair and nails, and are used to remove small prey from the ocean.
Location: Upper Gulf of Thailand, Phetchaburi, Thailand
The thinness of glasses through Daniel Mideros
Daniel Mideros paints a poignant portrait of an endangered habitat and its inhabitant. Daniel installed camera traps along a corridor that is used to succeed on high-altitude plateaus. He positioned the cameras to show the landscape of endangered grasses with the framed bear in the center of the image.
These bears, discovered from western Venezuela to Bolivia, have suffered large declines due to fragmentation and habitat loss. Around the world, as humans continue to build and farm, the area for wildlife is very limited.
Location: Peñas Blancas, Quito, Ecuador
Very better puff through José Juan Hernández Martinez, Spain
José Juan Hernández Martínez attends the vertiginous procession of a Canarian hubara.
Joseph arrived at the courtship site of the hubara in the night. Under the moonlight, he dug a low skin. From this perspective, he captured the bird’s swollen profile as it took a short break from its frantic exit. A male hubara from the Canary Islands returns every year to its courtship site for impressive exhibitions.
Lifting the feathers from the front of his neck and throwing his head back, he will run forward before backing up, resting for a few seconds before returning.
Location: La Oliva, Fuerteventura, Spain
The hum of Karine Aigner
Karine Aigner approaches the action when an organization of bees competes to mate. Using a macro lens, Karine captured the wave of activity as a ball of cactus bees buzzed swirling in the hot sand. After a few minutes, the pair in the middle – a male clinging to the only female in the fray – flew away to mate. The world’s bees are threatened by habitat loss, insecticides and climate change. With 70% of bee species nesting underground, it is vital that herbal soil spaces are not disturbed.
Location: South Texas, United States
The Bird Listening Through Nick Kanakis, USAU. S.
Nick Kanakis takes a look at the secret life of troglodytes. Nick saw the gray-breasted troglodyte young man feeding. Knowing that he would disappear into the forest if he approached, he discovered a transparent domain of fallen leaves and waited. The little bird jumped into the frame, pressing its opposite ear to the ground to pay attention to the small insects. This prey detection strategy is used through other birds, adding the blackbird. . They emit loud, melodious chants and calls hoarse while hidden in the undergrowth.
Location: Tatamá National Park, Risaralda, Colombia
The Great Persecution of Anand Nambiar, India
Anand Nambiar captures the attitude of a snow leopard carrying a herd of Himalayan mountain goats to a steep edge. From a vantage point on the other side of the ravine, Anand watched the snow leopard maneuver upstream of the herd. It adapted perfectly to the environment: unlike Anand, who followed a physical nutrition in preparation for maximum height and low temperatures. Snow leopards live in some of the highest habitats in the world. They are now classified as vulnerable. The threats come with climate change, mining and hunting of snow leopards and their prey.
Location: Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh, India
New Life for Tohorā through Richard Robinson, New Zealand
Richard Robinson captures a moment of hope for a whale population that has survived against all odds. Embarrassed by the poor visibility, Richard used a polecam to photograph the whales gradually moving towards his boat. Pushing his camera to the limit in the dark water, he relieved to locate the very sharp symbol and moment of copulation crystallized in time.
When in mating position, the female southern right whale rolls on its back, forcing the male to achieve his penis through the female’s body. Known to Maori as tohorā, New Zealand’s population was on the brink of extinction in the nineteenth century, so a new calf gives new hope
Location: Deas Head, Auckland Islands, New Zealand
The magic morels of Agorastos Papatsanis, Greece
Agorastos Papatsanis composes a fairytale scene in the forests of Mount Olympus. Enjoying the interaction between mushrooms and fairy tales, Agorastos sought to create a magical scene. He waited for the sun to clear through the trees and remove the darkness from the water in the background, then used a wide-angle lens and flashes to highlight the labyrinthine shapes of the morels. Morels are gastronomic treasures in many parts of the world because they are difficult to grow, but in some forests they bloom naturally.
Location: Mount Olympus, Pieria, Greece
Celestial flamingos through Junji Takasago, Japan
Junji Takasago crosses altitude sickness to produce a dream scene. Junji slipped into organizing Chilean flamingos by smoothing others. Framing his choreography in the reflected clouds, he battled altitude sickness to capture this dreamlike scene. High in the Andes, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt mine in the world. It is also one of the largest lithium mines in Bolivia, threatening the long career of those flamingos.
Lithium is used in phone and laptop batteries. Together, we can reduce demand by recycling old electronic devices.
Location: Salar de Uyuni, Daniel Campos Province, Bolivia
The Bat Thief through Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar, Mexico
Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar waits in the dark while a Yucatan rat snake catches a bat. Using a red light to which bats and snakes are less sensitive, Fernando was on the lookout for this Yucatan rat snake coming out of a crevice. Just a few seconds to shoot when the evaluator snake retreated to its crevice with its bat prey. Every evening at sunset in the Hanging Snake Cave, thousands of bats pass by to feed at night. It is also when hungry dark snakes emerge, swaying from the ceiling. to seize their prey in the air.
Location: Kantemo, Quintana Roo, winner of Mexico
Shooting Star via Tony Wu, USA/Japan
Tony Wu watches the electrifying reproductive dance of a giant starfish. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from breeding starfish, Tony faced several challenges. Trapped in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he stepped back to squeeze the rippling starfish into his frame of vision, in this galaxy-like scene. The “dancing” posture of emerging and swinging starfish can release eggs and sperm, or it can drag eggs and sperm into streams where they are fertilized in combination in the water.
Location: Kinko Bay, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Bear House via Dmitry Kokh, Russia
Dmitry Kokh presents this haunting scene of polar bears shrouded in mist in the long-deserted Kolyuchin agreement. On a yacht, sheltered from a storm, Dmitry saw polar bears wandering among the buildings of the deserted colony for a long time.
While exploring each and every window and door, Dmitry used a low-noise drone to snap a photo that evokes a post-apocalyptic future. Sea ice they have to hunt seals, their main food. If the loose sea ice remains near the coast of this rocky island, the bears investigate.
Location: Kolyuchin Island, Chukotka, Russia
Daniel Núñez’s Moribundo Lake, Guetamala
Daniel Núñez uses a drone to capture the contrast between the forest and the expansion of algae in Lake Amatitlán. Daniel took this photo to raise awareness about the effect of pollution on Lake Amatitlán, which absorbs around 75,000 tons of waste from
Guatemala City each and every year. “It’s a sunny day with the best conditions,” he says, “but it’s an unhappy and shocking time. “to repair the Amatitlán wetland are underway, but have been hampered by a lack of investment and allegations of political corruption.
Location: Lake Amatitlán, Villa Canales, Guatemala
Death of Ndakasi through Brent Stirton, South Africa
Brent Stirton stores the ultimate bankruptcy in the story of a much-loved mountain gorilla. Brent photographed Ndakasi’s rescue at the age of two months after his troop was brutally murdered by a tough coal mafia as a risk to park rangers. Here he commemorated his death while in the arms of his 13-year-old lifeguard and caretaker, Ranger Andre Bauma. As a result of incessant conservation efforts aimed at the daily coverage of individual gorillas, the number of mountain gorillas has quadrupled to more than 1000 in the last 40 years.
Location: Senkwekwe Centre, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Cuban connection through Karine Aigner
A Cuban camachuelo is located along a road to get you used to the hustle and bustle of street life and is therefore less likely to be distracted by a competition. These birds are highly prized for their soft voice and fiery spirit. Karine Aigner explores the dating between Cuban culture and songbirds, and the long journey of a deep-rooted tradition. For many years, some Cubans captured and kept songbirds and held bird-making contests.
Throughout a turbulent era of economic sanctions and political unrest, those lovely little birds provided companionship, entertainment, and a friendly festival within the community. Today, with normalcy and emigration between Cuba and North America, songbird pageant culture has crossed an ocean. As songbird populations plummet, U. S. law enforcement is in the process of scorching the world’ s ability to do so. The U. S. government is cracking down on the capture, trade, and festival of those birds.
Location: United States and Cuba
A theatre in Mateusz Piesiak, Poland
By tapping his camera remotely into the dust of the reed bed, Mateusz took the opportunity to capture the moment when a passing peregrine falcon flew over some of the variable sandpipers. Mateusz studied camera angles to produce a series of intimate photographs that explore bird behavior.
Winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award at the age of 14, Mateusz explored his locality during the Covid-19 lockdown. “Even a small pond or park in the center of town turned out to be a very clever position to photograph wildlife. “Throughout this portfolio, Mateusz focuses on local birds, researching and preparing photographs that were in their brains “for days, months or even years” before despite everything managing to make them.
Location: Poland
Under the ice of Antarctica via Laurent Ballesta, France
Laurent Ballesta endures sub-zero dives to reveal the diversity of life on Antarctica’s ice. Laurent, a biologist and aquatic photographer, has led a number of major expeditions, all involving clinical mysteries and diving challenges, and all resulted in unprecedented images. won several Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards, and added the Grand Prize for name in 2021. His expedition to Antarctica, exploring its vast aquatic biodiversity, took two years to plan, a team of expert divers and a specially developed team. Its 32 dives at water temperatures down to -1. 7°C (29°F), included the innermost and longest dive ever undertaken in Antarctica.
Location: Adélie Land, Antarctica
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