The Nature TTL Photography Awards 2021 have concluded, showcasing stunning photographs selected from over 8,000 entries. Behind these images capturing the beauty of nature are messages about the environment and climate change.
The winning photo of the Nature TTL Photography Awards 2021 by Canadian photographer Thomas Vijayan.
Canadian photographer Thomas Vijayan took home the grand prize with a photograph of an orangutan in Borneo, Indonesia. The image astonished viewers, as it was difficult to determine whether the orangutan was climbing up or down. In fact, Thomas Vijayan revealed that the photo captures a reflection in the water.
To achieve this shot, he spent hours perched on a high branch near the water, waiting for the orangutan to arrive and capturing the reflection of the sky through the leaves. The water acted as a mirror, creating an upside-down image.
The orangutan population in Borneo, Indonesia, is rapidly declining due to habitat loss.
The runner-up was Johan Wandrag, a photographer from South Africa, with a photo capturing the last moment of a fish before being eaten by a crocodile. This photo won in the Animal Behavior category.
Nature TTL is one of the largest photography competitions in the world, held annually to find beautiful and inspiring works about nature and wildlife.
This year’s competition attracted over 8,000 entries from more than 100 countries. The eight categories of the competition celebrate the natural world, including animal behavior, camera traps, landscapes, the small world, night sky, underwater, urban wildlife, and wildlife portraits.
There is also a category for photographers under 16 years old.
The runner-up photo in the under 16 category.
The runner-up in the under 16 category was Raphael Schenker, with an image of a pair of goats fighting on a high mountain. Raphael captured this photo while hiking in Graubünden, Switzerland.
Raphael shared that this did not seem like a real fight but rather a lesson in combat that a larger goat was teaching a smaller one.
The winner in the “Wildlife Portrait” category is Dennis Stogsdill with a photo of a polar bear in Svalbard, Norway.
The clear and gentle afternoon sky created the perfect backdrop for a bear dozing on a snowy slope. However, this peaceful beauty does not conceal the truth that, due to climate change, melting snow, and diminishing habitats and food sources, the survival of polar bears is also under threat.
Jay Roode’s minimalist landscape photo titled Tree of Life won in the “Landscape” category.
This image was captured by Jay Roode at the dry Tsauchab River in central Namibia. The image evokes a sense of time standing still, as if nothing has happened in this valley for thousands of years.
Ivan Pedretti’s photo “The Mysterious Eye.”
In the “Night Sky” category, the photo The Mysterious Eye by photographer Ivan Pedretti won. The photo captures a rock formation at Uttakleiv Beach, Norway. Pedretti used a Sony A7R II with a Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, with a long exposure of 20 seconds to capture the surreal beauty of the gentle auroras reflecting on the rock.
Winning photo in the “Underwater” category.
The winning photo in the “Underwater” category by Grant Thomas, titled Manta Space Ship, was taken while the photographer lay still on the sandy bottom to observe one of the manta rays gliding around searching for plankton.
Grant explained that manta rays are “greedy creatures” as they consume large amounts of plankton and small crustaceans to sustain themselves.
The Maldives is one of the few places in the world where we can dive with these magnificent creatures at night.
The winner in the “Camera Trap” category is Silhouetted Wood Mouse by John Formstone, featuring a mouse foraging outside his home.
This year’s judging panel consisted of renowned photographers and experts in the natural world, including American actress Shannon Elizabeth, who runs a conservation charity in South Africa.
The winning entry will receive a cash prize of over $2,000. The youngest photographer will win a camera voucher worth $352.
