NANPA Showcase 2026 Options the World’s Best Nature Photography

The North American Nature Photography Association has revealed the profitable pictures for its 2026 Showcase, that includes beautiful panorama photographs, motion pictures of wildlife, eye-popping macro pictures, and highly effective conservation work.

Best in Show Winner Michelle Valberg Explains Her Winning Photo

This 12 months’s Best in Show Winner is Canadian photographer and Nikon Ambassador Michelle Valberg, who PetaPixel interviewed in 2023.

Valberg earned the NANPA Showcase 2026 “Best in Show” title for her unimaginable long-exposure black-and-white {photograph}, Wind & Stone. Valberg captured the beautiful panorama, which additionally took high honors within the competitors’s ‘Scapes (landscapes) category, in the iconic Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, Chile.

“I am honored to receive the NANPA Showcase 2026 Best in Category and Show award,” Valberg tells PetaPixel. “It means more than recognition for a single photograph. It reflects the values that guide my work in the field.”

“NANPA promotes nature photography as a way to communicate, to deepen appreciation for the natural world, and to encourage environmental protection. That mission echoes everything I strive for when I step into wild places with a camera. Their commitment to education, inspiration, and opportunity mirrors the path I’ve walked throughout my career,” Valberg continues.

Valberg says she captured this {photograph} after ending a week-long workshop in Patagonia that she co-led with National Geographic photographer and Canon Explorer of Light, Keith Ladzinski.

“Every day we watched the Torres del Paine breathe and shift,” Valberg recollects. “Every second reshaped this incredible scene. The wind carved its own rhythm across the sky and the clouds raced with a kind of wild grace. I was enamored by that constant change.”

When Ladzinski left after the workshop, he lent Valberg his NiSi filter equipment, saying, “Use the filters, you won’t regret it.”

Valberg admits she’s by no means been a lot of a filter individual and hesitated to simply accept them. She ultimately relented and stated she’d give them a attempt as she continued working in Patagonia.

“While creating a time lapse, I saw how quickly the clouds were moving so I grabbed the kit and used a polarizer and a 10-stop ND and gradient filter,” Valberg says. “The mountain stood firm while the sky streamed above it, around it… I wanted to reveal that feeling.”

The closing “Best in Show” picture was a 30-second publicity shot at ISO 40 and f/22 on Valberg’s Nikon Z8. She used her Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S lens.

It took her just a few tries to seize the precise move and movement she needed, however she nailed it and knew, whereas capturing, that this is able to finally be a black-and-white conversion.

“This scene belonged in black and white,” Valberg knew. “The language of tone and texture spoke more clearly [in black and white] than color.”

The expertise additionally sparked a brand new love for filters.

“When the image appeared on the back of my camera, I felt a shift in my own approach. It reminded me that stepping outside my comfort zone can open new creative paths. Wind & Stone became the photograph that really changed my mind about filters. I am now even a NiSi Ambassador!”

“Patagonia is a magical place. It holds a gravity that pulls you in and stays with you long after you leave. I am returning with my family in December for the holidays and I can’t wait to experience this amazing place with my husband and son,” Valberg says.

The photographer will even be returning to co-lead one other winter puma workshop subsequent July and one other workshop in February 2027.

“It keeps calling,” she says. “At first, I was consumed with the idea of seeing pumas.  It was my dream.  Within the first seconds of being in Patagonia, I felt something larger rise around me.”

Valberg loves the uncooked great thing about the landscapes and the way the wind shapes each second within the area. “It feels like a living canvas, always shifting, always surprising. Patagonia feeds creativity.”

For a wildlife and nature photographer like herself, Patagonia delivers a way of scale, texture, and spirit that’s usually so elusive.

Wind & Stone additionally displays Valberg’s broader dedication to nature.

“At the heart of my work is a desire to listen to the land and to the animals. Every photograph begins with presence, patience and respect. I try to move quietly, let the place speak, and follow the feeling rather than the expectation (not so easy to do). Wind & Stone reflects that intention. It represents the moment when nature reveals something honest and you rise to meet it with your own honesty.”

Valberg is an enormous believer in showcases just like the one NANPA does yearly, as “Photographs can educate, inspire and open doors into places many will never see in person.”

“Contests like NANPA help make that possible. They shine a light on the beauty and fragility of our natural world and invite people to step into these stories with understanding and curiosity,” Valberg explains.

“As nature photographers, we all want our images to help people feel more connected to the wild world that shapes us. I am always searching for the pulse that binds us to these places. If a photograph can stir wonder or spark a desire to protect the places we hold dear, it carries the purpose I care about most. Everyone who is part of NANPA holds that same belief and that shared commitment strengthens the work we all do,” Valberg concludes.

For photographers who would like to study images abilities immediately from Michelle Valberg, she presents wildlife photography tours and workshops. For those that can’t attend in-person workshops, Valberg additionally presents an online wildlife photography course alongside filmmaker Joel Haslam.

NANPA Showcase 2026 Category Winners

Alongside Valberg’s high honors, NANPA Showcase 2026 additionally options winners, runners-up, and judges’ alternative pictures throughout its eight classes. These 28 profitable pictures and two movies are featured under, organized by class.

Birds

Mammals

‘Scapes

Macro/Micro/All Other

Conservation

Altered Reality

Comedy/Humor

Video

First Place — ‘Bighorn Lambs, Badlands Nursery’ by David and Shiela Glatz, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA

Runner-Up — ‘The Lakeside Puma Nursery’ by David and Shiela Glatz, Lago Sarmiento, Patagonia, Chile

The NANPA Showcase 2026 competitors additionally consists of Top 100 and Top 250 Showcase Winners.

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Image credit: North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA). All photographers are credited within the particular person picture captions.