Photography

The struggle is over in the World Nature Photography Awards

The struggle is over in the World Nature Photography Awards
Prey: a praying mantis getting the best of a lizardShot in Miyagi, Japan - silver in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
Prey: a praying mantis getting the best of a lizard
Shot in Miyagi, Japan - silver in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
View 19 Images
Prey: a praying mantis getting the best of a lizardShot in Miyagi, Japan - silver in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
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Prey: a praying mantis getting the best of a lizard
Shot in Miyagi, Japan - silver in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
Seaweed Blenny: a seaweed blenny peeks out of its hidey holeTaken at Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida, USA – Bronze in the Animal Portraits category
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Seaweed Blenny: a seaweed blenny peeks out of its hidey hole
Taken at Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida, USA – Bronze in the Animal Portraits category
Foggy Morning: Mycenas fungi in gorgeous half-lightTaken in Recarei, Paredes, Portugal - Bronze in the Plants and Fungi category
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Foggy Morning: Mycenas fungi in gorgeous half-light
Taken in Recarei, Paredes, Portugal - Bronze in the Plants and Fungi category
I'm Coming For You: a male hooded merganser skims the surface. Taken in Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA, USA - Gold in the Behavior - Birds category
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I'm Coming For You: a male hooded merganser skims the surface.
Taken in Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA, USA - Gold in the Behavior - Birds category
Playgroup: Japanese macaques snuggle togetherShot in Awaji Island, Japan - Gold in the Behavior - Animals category
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Playgroup: Japanese macaques snuggle together
Shot in Awaji Island, Japan - Gold in the Behavior - Animals category
Danger in the Mud: the patient eye of a mud-caked predatorShot in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe - Gold in Animal Portraits and winner of this year's World Nature Photographer of the Year grand prize
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Danger in the Mud: the patient eye of a mud-caked predator
Shot in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe - Gold in Animal Portraits and winner of this year's World Nature Photographer of the Year grand prize
Ride on You: Japanese stream toads watching over a tangled mass of egg-stringsShot in the Owase Mountains, Mie, Japan - Gold in the Behavior - Amphibians and reptiles
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Ride on You: Japanese stream toads watching over a tangled mass of egg-strings
Shot in the Owase Mountains, Mie, Japan - Gold in the Behavior - Amphibians and reptiles
Harlequin Shrimps: A couple of Harlequin shrimps on a blue seastar Shot in Linkia laevigata in Lembeh strait, Indonesia – Gold in the underwater category
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Harlequin Shrimps: A couple of Harlequin shrimps on a blue seastar
Shot in Linkia laevigata in Lembeh strait, Indonesia – Gold in the underwater category
Thankfulness: an endangered lesser antilean iguana rubs its scaly bellyShot on Grenada Island, Caribbean.
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Thankfulness: an endangered lesser antilean iguana rubs its scaly belly
Shot on Grenada Island, Caribbean.
The Grand Tetons: a spectacular panorama starring the Milky WayShot in Wyoming, USA - Gold in the Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments category
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The Grand Tetons: a spectacular panorama starring the Milky Way
Shot in Wyoming, USA - Gold in the Planet Earth's Landscapes and Environments category
The Ghost of the Rocks: a red crab sits stoic as water washes over itShot on La Gomera Island, Spain. Gold in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
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The Ghost of the Rocks: a red crab sits stoic as water washes over it
Shot on La Gomera Island, Spain. Gold in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
Tree of Life: an uprooted eucalyptus tree looks surreal when viewed from aboveShot at Mt. Barker, Western Australia - Gold in the Plants and Fungi category
12/19
Tree of Life: an uprooted eucalyptus tree looks surreal when viewed from above
Shot at Mt. Barker, Western Australia - Gold in the Plants and Fungi category
Injured Fur Seal: an Australian sealion injured by a propellerTaken in Port Kembla, Australia - Gold in the Nature Photojournalism category
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Injured Fur Seal: an Australian sealion injured by a propeller
Taken in Port Kembla, Australia - Gold in the Nature Photojournalism category
The World is Mine: a rare snow leopard triggers a camera trap high up in the mountainsShot in the Indian Himalayas near Ladakh - Gold in the Animals in their Habitat category
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The World is Mine: a rare snow leopard triggers a camera trap high up in the mountains
Shot in the Indian Himalayas near Ladakh - Gold in the Animals in their Habitat category
Underwater Colorful Snowstorm: spawning coral offer a festival of purpleShot in the Red Sea, off Israel - Gold in the Nature Art category
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Underwater Colorful Snowstorm: spawning coral offer a festival of purple
Shot in the Red Sea, off Israel - Gold in the Nature Art category
The Guts: a climber captured from within a glacierShot in Solheimajokull, South Iceland - Gold in the People and Nature category
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The Guts: a climber captured from within a glacier
Shot in Solheimajokull, South Iceland - Gold in the People and Nature category
The Home of the Kestrel: a small bird finds shelter in a rusted-out streetlampShot in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria - Gold in the Urban Wildlife category
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The Home of the Kestrel: a small bird finds shelter in a rusted-out streetlamp
Shot in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria - Gold in the Urban Wildlife category
Caviar: a male Eastern gobbleguts with a gobful of eggsShot near Sydney, Australia – Silver in the Underwater category
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Caviar: a male Eastern gobbleguts with a gobful of eggs
Shot near Sydney, Australia – Silver in the Underwater category
Catch Me If You Can: a leopard scales a tree trunkShot in Kenya - Silver in the Animals in their Habitat category
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Catch Me If You Can: a leopard scales a tree trunk
Shot in Kenya - Silver in the Animals in their Habitat category
View gallery - 19 images

The winners have been announced in the third annual World Nature Photography Awards. A haunting glance from a mud-crusted crocodile lying in wait takes the top honors, but there's a visual feast to enjoy from the other winners and runners-up.

Based in London, this completely independent contest aims to encourage people all over the world to take in different perspectives, and change their own behavior and decisions for the good of the planet and its other inhabitants. To put its money where its mouth is, the World Nature Photography Awards team plants a tree for every one of the thousands of entries it receives.

The overall World Nature Photographer of the Year for 2023 is Germany's Jens Cullman, who shot the winning image below. Crocodiles are well known for their fast strike and savage power, but Danger in the Mud highlights their other key weapon: patience. This yellow-eyed fella has lain in wait long enough for the mud on his snout to bake into a cracked crust.

Danger in the Mud: the patient eye of a mud-caked predatorShot in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe - Gold in Animal Portraits and winner of this year's World Nature Photographer of the Year grand prize
Danger in the Mud: the patient eye of a mud-caked predator
Shot in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe - Gold in Animal Portraits and winner of this year's World Nature Photographer of the Year grand prize

Another that caught our eye was The Ghost of the Rocks, which took out the Gold prize in the Behavior-Invertebrates category. Spainiard Javier Herrantz uses a long exposure to turn a wave washing over a stationary red crab into a misty and atmospheric veil.

The Ghost of the Rocks: a red crab sits stoic as water washes over itShot on La Gomera Island, Spain. Gold in the Behavior - Invertebrates category
The Ghost of the Rocks: a red crab sits stoic as water washes over it
Shot on La Gomera Island, Spain. Gold in the Behavior - Invertebrates category

Then there's the extraordinary work of Japan's Norihiro Ikuma, whose shot Ride on You, below, takes us to an underwater landscape that may as well be an alien planet. A stacked pair of Japanese stream toads strike an imperious pose as they watch over an impossibly huge mass of loosely tangled egg strings stretching off into the distance.

Ride on You: Japanese stream toads watching over a tangled mass of egg-stringsShot in the Owase Mountains, Mie, Japan - Gold in the Behavior - Amphibians and reptiles
Ride on You: Japanese stream toads watching over a tangled mass of egg-strings
Shot in the Owase Mountains, Mie, Japan - Gold in the Behavior - Amphibians and reptiles

And it's not all about the category winners. Portugal's Antonio Coelho may only have taken out Bronze in the Plants and Fungi category, but his image Foggy Morning, below, is another example of how sometimes a different perspective on planet Earth can place the familiar in a spectacularly different light.

Foggy Morning: Mycenas fungi in gorgeous half-lightTaken in Recarei, Paredes, Portugal - Bronze in the Plants and Fungi category
Foggy Morning: Mycenas fungi in gorgeous half-light
Taken in Recarei, Paredes, Portugal - Bronze in the Plants and Fungi category

Check out the image gallery for the rest of the winners and a few of our favorite runners-up. Pop back and check out last year's winners if you need a little more of nature's beauty up your optical nerve today.

With the announcement of the 2023 winners, the World Nature Photography Awards has also opened up entries for next year's competition, with an entry fee of UK£30 (~US$36) getting you six entries – and six trees planted.

Source: World Nature Photography Awards

View gallery - 19 images
2 comments
2 comments
Nelson Hyde Chick
Enjoy the wildlife while you can, folks because by mid century as humanity has swelled by a couple billion more there will be little to none of it left. Go anthropocene! Humanity is a cancer for this planet!!!
ljaques
That gator truly shows patience with the cracked dried mud on its snout and head. Leave it to a Japanese photog to catch the tower and utility poles in the background of that scene, making the mantis and leezard look Godzilla-sized. I loved that. The photo of harlequin shrimp was good enough for a living room wall. Fascinating. Notice the last pic, the leopard doesn't even have its claws out yet as it hops up the tree. Gorgeous creatures.