The winners of the explanation Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were revealed Tuesday, with the highest prize visiting French underwater photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta for his “extraordinary” photo of the mating ritual of camouflage groupers. within the ’10 Years and Under’ category, the highest prize visited Vidyun R Hebbar of Bengaluru for his stunning photo of a tent spider.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the explanation Museum, London. This year, the competition received entries from 95 countries. Selected from over 50,000 entries from round the world, the winning image by Mr Ballesta captures the rare sight of “camouflage groupers exiting their milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia”, the competition said in a very statement.
To capture the image, titled Creation, Laurent Ballesta and his team returned to a lagoon per annum for five years, diving day and night so as to not miss the annual spawning. The mating ritual occurs only round the full-of-the-moon in July.
“The image works on numerous levels. it’s surprising, energetic, and intriguing and has an otherworldly beauty. It also captures a magical moment – a very explosive creation of life – leaving the tail-end of the exodus of eggs hanging for a flash sort of a symbolic interrogation point,” said Chair of the judging panel, Rosamund Kidman Cox.
Vidyun R Hebbar, a 10-year-old from Bengaluru, was awarded the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 for his image, Dome home. The image features a tent spider that the young photographer spotted in his local pleasure ground, where a passing autorickshaw provided a vibrant backdrop.
“Tent spiders build the foremost amazing and detailed webs, it is a real treat watching them. i really like macro photography, because you do not must last a safari to search out subjects, you discover your subjects in your back yard!” Mr Hebbar said.
“The jury loved this photo from the start of the judging process. it’s an excellent reminder to seem more closely at the tiny animals we support on a daily basis, and to require your camera with you everywhere,” said Dr Natalie Cooper, a researcher with the explanation Museum and jury member.
In the ‘Animals in their Environment’ category, the prize visited Grizzly leftovers by Zack Clothier.
A Gorilla gorilla closes its eyes within the rain during this picture that photographer Majed Ali trekked for over four hours. The image won within the Animal Portraits category.
Head to go by Stefano Unterthiner was the winner in ‘Behaviour: Animals’. The image shows two Svalbard reindeer battle for control of a harem
These and other winning photographs are going to be displayed at the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at London’s explanation Museum, which opens on Friday, October 15.
