Amazing Pictures

[mikechamp]

And finally, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards:

Wildlife Photographer of the Year: ghostly face or fish?

What do you see when you look at this photo?

The image appears to show an enormous, scary face suddenly emerging from the ocean. But what you're actually looking at is a stargazer fish which has buried itself in the sandy floor of the Mediterranean. The photo was taken by Pietro Formis from Italy and is among several to be highly commended in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

The overall winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition will be announced at an awards ceremony on 10 October. The annual Natural History Museum exhibition showcasing 100 photographs chosen from the thousands that entered the competition will open the following Friday, 13 October, and then as usual, will then go on tour around the world.

Scroll down this page, you'll be able to enjoy some of the other highly commended images in what is the 59th year of the contest.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66604630

[Radbird]

A video but an amazing one.

[mikechamp]

Happy Friday, everyone!! I really hope you enjoy these comedic photos. This might be my favorite annual photo contest. There's got to be some memes in here:

Bears, birds and kangaroos: Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards

The finalists in this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have been announced. Here is a selection of those that were whittled down from thousands of entries submitted from professional and amateur photographers from around the world, along with comment from the photographers. The winners will be announced on 23 November.

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-67004896

My 2 favorites (with my own captions):

[SHOW]

Photobomb!!!!




I can't... even...

[mikechamp]

You know what time of year it is. Oh yeah... it's time for the Mangrove Photography Awards.

These photos are seriously awesome.

Mangrove forests: Steely gaze of young tigress wins photo award

Run by the Mangrove Action Project, the competition - now in its ninth year - aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline.

Mr Bhattacharyya's winning image, called The Finest Flower of the Mangroves, shows a young Royal Bengal tigress in its natural mangrove habitat, peering at the photographer. "The solitary figure of the tiger, standing amidst the lush green mangrove forest vegetation, poignantly underscores the isolation it must endure in an ever-shrinking habitat," said competition judge Daisy Gilardini.

In 2021, West Bengal Forest Department estimated there were only 96 Royal Bengal tigers in the region.

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-67155632

[mikechamp]

The article is worth a read, too.

Northern Lights award for Welsh photographer Mathew Browne

Mathew Browne traveled to Iceland to see the Northern Lights - but it is his picture taken 10 minutes from his west Wales home that has won him an award.

Now his Paxton's Tower image has been named a winner in the 2023 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards. It is in a collection featuring 25 of the best photos of the Northern Lights taken around the world.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-67663096

[mikechamp]

Could have also put this in the Outer Space thread:

Amazing images from James Webb telescope, two years after launch

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched to orbit just two years ago, but already it's starting to redefine our view of the early Universe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/id ... 5df138b6f6

[mikechamp]

Here's a little Friday fun for you:

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award winner

A stunning image of a young polar bear drifting to sleep on an iceberg, by British amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani, has won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award.

Wildlife photography and nature fans from around the world were invited to vote from a short list of 25 images.

Four other outstanding finalists were "highly commended". The five images will be displayed online and at London's Natural History Museum until 30 June.

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-68215592

[Joe Shlabotnik]

.

[mikechamp]

This is in my top 5 favorite photo contests of the year:

A ball of barnacles wins wildlife photo award

An incredible image of a football covered in goose barnacles is the winner of this year's British Wildlife Photography Awards.

The picture was chosen from more than 14,000 entries by both amateur and professional photographers. The photograph, which also won the Coast and Marine category, was taken by Ryan Stalker. "Above the water is just a football. But below the waterline is a colony of creatures. The football was washed up in Dorset after making a huge ocean journey across the Atlantic," says Stalker. "More rubbish in the sea could increase the risk of more creatures making it to our shores and becoming invasive species."

Max Wood won the RSPB Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for his image of a coot running across a misty lake at sunrise. This award is supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to encourage young people to get involved with nature.

Photographers competed in different categories, here are the other winners.

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-68543633

[mikechamp]

The Mangrove photo contest is back again, sooner than I would have expected. There are some cool photos, along with captions that provide context:

Haunting portrait of young storm victim wins photo award

Run by the Mangrove Action Project, the competition - now in its 10th year - aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline.

Mr Bhattacharjee's winning image, called Sinking Sundarbans, shows Pallavi standing in front of her home and tea shop, which has been destroyed by the sea during a storm.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gd25gr0n3o