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Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 - Winners |
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The winners of this year’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition were announced Thursday (15Oct15) at an awards ceremony held at London’s Natural History Museum. Canadian amateur photographer Don Gutoski was named Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 by a panel of international judges for his image Tale of two foxes, a beautiful but haunting portrait of the struggle for life in the subarctic climes of Cape Churchill, Canada.
Beating more than 42,000 entries submitted from across 96 countries, Don’s image will take centre stage at the fifty-first Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, opening at the Natural History Museum on 16 October (15). The acclaimed show celebrates the rich array of life on our planet, reflecting its beauty and highlighting its fragility. After its London premiere, the exhibition embarks on a UK and international tour, to inspire millions of people across the world to appreciate and conserve the natural world.
Cape Churchill is the point where the range of the red fox and the more northern Arctic fox overlap. "The Churchill guides had heard that the two species will occasionally fight, but no one we talked to had ever seen this behaviour," says Gutoski. "I first noticed the red fox hunting and interacting with some prey and on closer approach realised that prey was a white Arctic fox. By the time I got close enough to capture the event, the fight was over and the victor was feeding. I took a number of pictures of the event, until the red fox had eaten its fill, and picked up the remains to find a hiding spot for a later meal."
Jury member and National Geographic magazine’s senior editor for natural history projects, Kathy Moran says, "The immediate impact of this photograph is that it appears as if the red fox is slipping out of its winter coat. What might simply be a straightforward interaction between predator and prey struck the jury as a stark example of climate change, with red foxes encroaching on Arctic fox territory. The bottom line is, this image works on multiple levels. It is graphic, it captures behaviour and it is one of the strongest single storytelling photographs I have seen."
Fourteen-year-old Ondrej Pelánek from the Czech Republic won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 title for his image Fighting ruffs. The two images were selected from 18 individual category winners, depicting nature at its finest, from displays of extraordinary animal behaviour to sublime landscapes. The competition, owned by the Natural History Museum, is judged by a panel of industry-recognised professionals. Images, submitted by both professional and amateur photographers are selected for their creativity, artistry and technical complexity.
WINNER AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES: 'Still Life' - Edwin Giesbers
THE NETHERLANDS
A great crested newt hangs motionless near the surface of the stream. Also motionless in the water in Gelderland in the Netherlands was Edwin in a wetsuit. He had very slowly moved his compact camera right under the newt and though he knew the shot he wanted he had to guess at the framing and literally point and shoot. The male had just taken a breath and was possibly warming up at the surface. It was a cold April morning and the trees were not yet in leaf but it was mating time for these large newts and the males were already on the lookout for females. Edwin took this shot as part of a major story on the threat facing amphibians throughout the Netherlands and Belgium: an Asian skin fungus similar to the one that has annihilated frogs and toads worldwide and has all but wiped out fire salamanders in the Netherlands. Scientists are bracing themselves for a collapse of European amphibian populations unless some way is found to stop the fungus from spreading.
Canon G15 + 28-140mm f1.8-2.8 lens at 28mm
1/500 sec at f6.3
ISO 200
Canon housing |
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'Still Life' - Edwin Giesbers |
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