Every year the Natural History Museum in London holds a wildlife photography competition. Photographers from all over the world capture animal behavior and the beautiful diversity of life on Earth. The competition has several awards across categories. This year Marsel van Oosten, a Dutch photographer won the top award at the competition. He beat more than 45,000 entries from 95 countries to win the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY).
Marsel van Oosten/Wildlife Photographer of the Year
His extraordinary image captures two golden snub-nosed monkeys in the temperate forests in the Qin mountains in China. This endangered species is decreasing in numbers primarily because of deforestation. The photographer followed these monkeys for several weeks until he was able to capture this moment. He was able to highlight the contrast between the beautiful golden hair on the male snub-nosed monkey’s back and it’s blue face The judges felt that his image captured the raw beauty of nature and signaled how poor we are becoming as nature continues to lose some.
Younger photographers also took home prizes for their beautiful images. Sixteen-year-old Skye Meaker took the award for Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 with his beautiful portrait of a leopard waking from sleep in Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana. Skye has wanted to be a nature photographer since receiving his first pocket camera at the age of seven.
10 year old Arshdeep Singh from India won the 10 years and under category for capturing an image of a pair of spotted owls hiding in a pipe on his father’s camera!
The Natural History Museum in London will now exhibit the top 100 wildlife photos. This exhibit will travel to cities in America later in the year.
Are you a budding photographer? If you want to take part in the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year follow this link. Remember to submit your entries between October 22, 2018 to December 13, 2018.
Written By: Biyash Choksey
