17.10.13

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013


From a monkey blasted with snowflakes to elephants socialising around a pool of water: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 reveals incredible insights into life in the animal kingdom.

A South African photographer who got up close to African elephants to capture the moment they congregated around a still body of water while a baby ran past, won the overall competition.
Fourteen-year-old photographer Udayan Rao Pawar has also been recognised as Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 for his image of crocodiles called Mother’s little headful.
The photographs will go on show to the public at the Natural Hoistory Museum, London, from October 18 before a national tour.

From polar bears lurking in icy waters, to crowns made of baby crocodiles, the winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 captured nature at its most surprising.

But this year's over-all winner is a South African photographer who got up close and personal with African elephants to capture the moment they congregated around a still body of water that caught their reflections, while one of the baby mammals ran past.

A 14-year-old photographer won Young Wildlife Photographer of the year 2013 for his image of gharial crocodiles that sees a mother croc wearing her brood on her head, which looks a little like a crown made of crocodiles.

Essence of elephants: South African photographer Greg du Toit beat almost 43,000 entries from 96 countries to be crowned this year's winner with his enigmatic portrait of African elephants in the Northern Tuli Game reserve in Botswana. The image was taken from a hide at ground-level using a slow shutter speed to create an atmosphere and show the giant animals in a ghostly way

Mother's little headful

Mother's little headful: Udayan Rao Pawar's image shows gharial crocodiles on the banks of the Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh, India - an area increasingly under threat from illegal sand mining and fishing. The hatchlings swam onto a female's head, presumably because they felt safe there, said the young photographer

The winners of the competition were announced at a gala held at the Natural History Museum, where the photographs will go on show to the public from October 18.

South African photographer Greg du Toit beat almost 43,000 entries from 96 countries to be crowned this year's winner with his enigmatic portrait of African elephants in the Northern Tuli Game reserve in Botswana.

Called essence of elephants, the image was takn from a hide at ground-level using a slow shutter speed to create an atmosphere and show the giant animals in a ghostly way.

Mr du Toit used a wide-angle lens tilted up to emphasise the size of whatever elephant entered the foreground and chose a narrow aperture to create a large depth of field so that any elephants in the background would also be in focus, as well as using a polarising filter.

Snow moment: Jasper Doest Snow moment: Jasper Doest photographed the famous Japanese macaques around the hot springs of Jigokudani and was fascinated by the surreal effects created by the arrival of a cold wind. Occasionally, a blast would blow through the steam rising off the pools and if it was snowing, the result would be a mesmerising pattern of swirling steam and snowflakes, which would whirl around any macaques warming up in the pools. He waited in the snow until an adult appeared and jumped on a rock in the middle of the pool. 'When I started shaking off the snow, I knew this was the moment,' he said

The water bear

The fact that most images of polar bears show them on ice says more about the practical difficulties faced by humans than it does about the bears' behaviour. Mr Souders took his boat to Hudson Bay, Canada and spotted this bear 30 miles offshore. 'I approached her very slowly and then drifted. It was a cat-and-mouse game. I could hear her slow breathing as she watched me below the surface or the exhalation as she surfaced, increasingly curious. It was very special,' he said. The midnight sun was filtered through smoke from forest fires raging farther south, a symptom of the warming Arctic

However, while considerable skill was required to create the final picture, the photographer got lucky when a baby elephant raced past the hide so close that he could ahve touched her, allowing Mr du Toit to capture the movement seen in the final picture.

Ever since he first picked up a camera, Mr du Toit has photographed African elephants. He said: ‘For many years I’ve wanted to create an image that captures their special energy and the state of consciousness that I sense when I’m with them. This image comes closest to doing that.’ 

'My goal was to throw caution to the wind; to abandon conventional photographic practices in an attempt to capture a unique elephant portrait. This image hints at the special energy I feel when I am with elephants,' he added.

Mr du Toit's photo will take centre stage at the forthcoming exhibition that celebrates the rich array of life on our planet, reflecting its beauty and also highlighting its fragility. 

After its London premiere, the exhibition embarks on a UK and international tour, to be enjoyed by millions of people across the world.

The cauldron

The cauldron: Sergey Gorshko's photograph is the only one not to contain an animal. On November 29 2012 heard that Plosky Tolbachnik - one of the two volcanoes in the Tolbachnik volcanic plateau in Russia - had begun to erupt. He boarded a helicopter to get a photograph of the event and despite hot air buffeting the helicopter, Mr Gorshko strapped himself to the open door of the aircraft and kept taking photographs

Dive buddy

Dive buddy: The beaches of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico are traditional nesting sites for the endangered green turtle, which attract tourists. 'The turtles are so used to seeing people in the water that they think we're just part of the environment,' said Mr Sandoval. 'This metre-long female, grazing on seagrass, took no notice of me, apart from glancing up briefly'

Chair of the judging panel, accomplished wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg said: 'Greg’s image immediately catapults us to African plains. This image stood out for both its technical excellence and the unique moment it captures – it is truly a once in a lifetime shot.'

Fourteen-year-old photographer Udayan Rao Pawar has also been recognised as Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 for his image called Mother’s little headful. 

It shows an arresting scene of gharial crocodiles on the banks of the Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh, India - an area increasingly under threat from illegal sand mining and fishing.

To take the photograph, Mr Pawar camped near a nesting colony of gharials on the banks of the Chambal River – two groups of them, each with more than 100 hatchlings.

Joe McDonald

The spat: Brazil's Pantanal was the setting for a jaguar fight. A male appeared and approached a female, who was lying in what appeared to be a pose of enticement but she rose, growled and suddenly charged, slamming the male back as he reared up to avoid her outstretched claws. The pair then disappeared into the undergrowth to resume their courtship.

Isak Pretorius

Sticky situation: In May, the seafaring lesser noddies head for land to breed. Their arrival on the tiny island of Cousine in the Seychelles coincides with peak web size for the red-legged golden orb-web spiders. The female spiders, which can grow to the size of a hand, create colossal webs up to 1.5 metres in diameter in which the tiny males gather that can catch passing birds. Noddies regularly fly into the webs. This bird was exhausted, said Mr Pretorius said freed the bird to save it from its fate

Before daybreak, he crept down and hid behind rocks beside the babies. ‘I could hear them making little grunting sounds,’ he said.

‘Very soon a large female surfaced near the shore, checking on her charges. Some of the hatchlings swam to her and climbed onto her head. Perhaps it made them feel safe.’

It turned out that she was the chief female of the group, looking after all the hatchlings.

Gharials were once found in rivers all over the Indian subcontinent but today just 200 or so breeding adults remain in just two per cent of the former range.

Mr Pawar said: ‘The Chambal River is the gharial’s last stronghold but is threatened by illegal sand-mining and fishing.’

Other finalists captured a variety of animals from fighting jaguars and a to a monkey in Japan shaking snow from its coat to create a flurry of flakes.

They also got involved in the shots including interacting with a turtle underwater, freeing a bird from a sticky spiderweb and even risking life and limb to capture a volcanic eruption.

Connor Stefanison

Lucky pounce: Mr Stefanison spotted this fox in Yellostone National Park, USA. It quartered the grassland, back and forth, and then started staring intently at a patch of ground, giving the photographer just enough warning of the action to come. When it sprung up, Connor got his shot. And when it landed, the fox got his mouse

Sergey Gorshko's photograph is the only one not to contain an animal. On November 29 2012 he received a phone call he had been waiting for to tell him that Plosky Tolbachnik - one of the two volcanoes in the Tolbachnik volcanic plateau in Russia - had begun to erupt.

'I've gone to the area many times, but it had been 36 years since the last eruption, so I dropped everything and went,' he said.

He had to take a helicopter in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius and flew towards the cloud of ash, smoke and steam to wait until a strong wind parted the clouds and he had a fleeting glimpse of the crater.

In these moments he could see a 200-metre high fountain of lava and fast-flowing molten rivers of lave running down the volcano, sweeping away all nature in their path.

Despite hot air buffeting the helicopter, Mr Gorshko strapped himself to the open door of the aircraft and kept taking photographs.

'I just kept shooting, changing lenses and camera angles, knowing I had one chance, hoping that I'd take one image that might do justice to what I was witnessing,' he said.

Connor Stefanison

The flight path: This female barred owl had a territory in Burnaby, British Columbia. Mr Stefanison watched her for some time, familiarising himself with her flight paths until he knew her well enough to set up the shot. He set up his camera and put a dead mouse on a platform above the camera and waited for the swoop. 'She grabbed the mouse, flew back to her perch and began calling to her mate. It is one of the most exciting calls to hear in the wild,' he said