From the BBC Nature page comes a slideshow of some of the best images from the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. There were 48,000 entries, and 100 were chosen to go on exhibit at London’s Museum of Natural History in October. I’m showing only five here, but go watch the slideshow for more (don’t miss “Midnight Snack”!). Click all photos to enlarge:
Several cormorants try to steal fish from a gannet:
Rays underwater—a lovely image:
A fruit bat drinking from a river:
A gander defending his nest from a fox:
A bear with his dinner:
h/t: pyers
I am puzzled why the last one was selected. It is only my subjective judgment of course, but I think it looks very generic. The other 4 truly captures wildlife moments in beautiful ways.
There isn’t much information about the photographer, but we do know this:-
Breuc Graillet Denaix (France)/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 15-17 years – specially commended
I think it’s a fine picture especially given the age group & the potential risk involved ~ the bear seems aware of the photographer & I presume a long lens is involved [& sitting in a truck]
When I look at the photo I note that the ‘kill’ is on a gravelled road & immediately it sets up narrative possibilities…
The bear is benefiting from road kill?
Bear/human territory overlapping
I was thinking that the photographer should have waited a bit more, the unlikely event looks even more like a setup if it catches the bear starting in on a road kill.
Amazing how so much of the drama in nature revolves around who eats whom. We’re quite removed from that in our modern lives.
That’s some good photography, too. The on-camera flash on the rays is well-balanced. I’d have liked the flash to have been off-camera, but I can certainly appreciate how challenging that would have been, and I doubt any photographer in the real world would have been able to do better with the scene.
Cheers,
b&
My favorite — and I’m surprised you didn’t include it above, Jerry — was the mirrored infrared cheetahs.
It’s definitely worth playing the slideshow at the link.
b&
I have to agree, that’s a really stunning picture.
And it has cheetahs 😉
my first thought when I saw the cheetah picture was that it could be the winning entry from the newest Mars rover…
HERE is an auto-slideshow preview of 50 images from the NHM [Natural History Museum] site:-
Nice — thanks! I just wish it wasn’t one of those really crappy Flash slideshows.
And I still like the cheetahs the best….
b&
The British fox at around frame #43 & the pouncing cat in the long grass at around #46 ~ what cat is that anyone?
Bobcat
cheers
Beautiful!
I do agree the last one doesn’t seem to fit as it does not seem as striking and unique as the previous images.