50th Annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The 50th annual edition of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition is back in Cape Town after the 49th edition's exhibition last year in Pretoria. Hosted by Iziko Museums of South Africa at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, and owned by the Natural History Museum of London and BBC Worldwide, the exhibition is sponsored in South Africa by National Geographic Channel and features 100 breathtaking images of nature in its most astonishing forms.  

From humble beginnings in 1965 with just 361 entries, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition has grown into a global phenomenon with almost 42 000 entries from 96 countries around the world. The grainy analogue film photos of yesteryear have transformed into incredible high resolution digital colour images and technological advancement has allowed wildlife photographers to explore further, higher and deeper into the natural world than ever before.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Grand Title Winner, Michael Nicols (USA)

Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014, Grand Title Winner, Carlos Perez Naval (Spain)

The 50th anniversary of the exhibition is is a visual feast of epic proportions, with 17 categories including an exciting new category, the Special Award for TIMElapse photography. Other categories in the exhibition include Mammals, Birds, Amphibians and Reptiles, Plants and Fungi, Underwater Species, Earth’s Environments, Black and White, Natural Design, World in Our Hands, Wildlife Photojournalist, Rising Star Portfolio Award, Portfolio Award, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the Overall Winner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The images are displayed on specialized transparency prints that are backlit, making them even more striking.

Last year the Wildlife Photographer of the Year was South African. This year he is American Michael Nicols! Here are the Winners in each category. In some cases I thought some of the Finalists were even better so I posted those as well.  It must have been tough to choose just one winner in each category!

Winner, Mammals, Alexander Badyaev (Russia/USA)

Winner, Birds, Bence Mate (Hungary)

Finalist, Birds, Sam Hobsom (UK)

Winner, Amphibians and Reptiles, Raviprakash SS (India)

Finalist, Amphibians and Reptiles, Ingo Arndt (Germany)

Winner, Invertebrates, Ary Bassous (Brazil)

Finalist, Invertebrates, Herfried Marek (Austria)

I just loved these pond skaters!

Winner, Plants and Fungi, Christian Vizl (Mexico)

Finalist, Plants and Fungi, Minghui Yuan (China)

Winner, Underwater Species, Indra Swari Wonowidjojo (Indonesia)

Finalist, Underwater Species, Adriano Morettin (Italy)

Winner, Earth's Environments, Francisco Negroni (Chile)

Finalist, Earth's Environments, David Clapp (UK)

Finalist, Earth's Environments, Dana Allen (USA)

Finalist, Black and White, Juan Jesus Gonzalez Ahumada (Spain)

I took many photos of this exact tree and dune in Namibia!










Grand Prize Winner Michael Nichols photo of the lions in Tanzania was the overall Winner in the Black and White category but I thought all of the Black and White photographs were winners. This photo of the spider on the leaf skeleton was really cool ...

Winner, Natural Design, Patrik Bartuska (Czech Republic)

There was a New Special Award given for TIMElapse photography. This category was represented in the exhibition as a video as time-lapse photography is a combination of many consecutive still images taken over the course of a specific timeframe and ‘sewn’ together for viewing.  The photographer requires a lot of skill to artfully extract the best time-lapse sequence as the light and condition changes over time.

Finalist, New Special Award: TIMElapse, Will and Burrard Lucas (UK)

The Winner in this category was Paul Klaver of the Netherlands for his decomposing birds, but I liked Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas TIMElapse of wildebeests crossing the Serengeti River.

Winner, World in Our Hands, Bruno D'Amicis (Italy)

Finalist, World in Our Hands, Ian Johnson (South Africa)

This silverback was photographed in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. It could be Mr. Special!

Special Award: Photojournalist of the Year, Brent Stirton (South Africa)

Special Award: Rising Star Portfolio, Michel d'Oultremont (Belgium)

From Tim's portfolio, "Heart-stopping Show"

Special Award: Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year was given to Brent Stirton for his stunning photographs depicting the plight of the lions bred to be killed.

Winner, New Special Award: People's Choice, Marsel van Oosten, The Netherlands

Special Award: Rising Star Portfolio was given for emerging photographers aged 18-25, in homage to pioneering photographer Eric Hosking.

Finalist, New Special Award: People's Choice, Hilary O'Leary, Zimbabwe

  
Another New Special Award, this one for a Portfolio of work, was given to Tim Lamn of the USA. Tim photographed the courtship displays of all 39 species of the birds-of-paradise of New Guinea, Australia and the nearby islands. His project lasted 10 years!!! 







One of my favorite categories was the New Special Award: People's Choice. They were all awesome ...









Of course I would have chosen the rhino picture!