Gorgeous 2025 Nature Photographer of the Year Winners

“Sundance” by Åsmund Keilen. Overall Winner and Winner, Birds.
“The photo was taken just outside Oslo on a hot summer day. I was on my way to the store to buy food. I have a habit of leaving my coffee cup on the roof of my car when unlocking our old blue Mercedes, and more than once I’ve forgotten it there and driven away.
That day, when I backed out of the driveway, the cup tipped over but somehow stayed on the roof. A little discouraged, I reached to pick it up – and immediately saw what would become this photograph. Small orange birch seeds had fallen onto the blue roof during the night, and the summer sun reflected alongside dancing common swifts in the sky. Freedom seemed to take form in chaos.
With the help of in-camera multiple exposure, I was able to recreate what I saw and felt that day: an impression of a reflection – or perhaps a reflection of an impression.”

“Silent Scream” by Bence Máté. Winner, Other Animals.
“I am grateful for every moment my work allowed me to spend on Bird Island, part of the Seychelles, a tiny island of two kilometres in width made of coral sand. Its wildlife, atmosphere, and overall essence were so vastly different from what I was accustomed to back home that I felt as if I had stepped into a parallel world.
The island is privately owned, and thanks to the dedicated efforts of its caretakers, the last rat, introduced by humans, was eradicated in the 1980s. Combined with controlled vegetation management, this has allowed the island to become home to more than seven hundred thousand pairs of sooty terns today. However, I arrived outside their breeding season and saw only a handful of individuals, though other bird species were still nesting, even in November.
While waiting to photograph white terns, I suddenly heard a distress call. Not far from me, an adult brown noddy was tormenting a helpless chick of its own species for reasons I could not understand. Within moments, the struggling chick, now lying defenseless on the ground, was swarmed by crabs that began devouring it alive. It was heartbreaking to witness, but I chose not to interfere with the natural order.
In no time, nearly ten crabs had surrounded the chick, dragging it into the bushes, one of nature’s rawest moments, a silent scream lost in the vastness of the island.”

“Shared Wonder” by Mary Schrader. Winner, Animal Portraits.
“Beneath the lush canopy of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, I observed a young female mountain gorilla from the Binyindo family gently nestled against the protective bulk of a silverback. The atmosphere was serene, filled with the soft sounds of the forest, until a sudden burst of delicate color broke through the calm.
An unexpected visitor, a vibrant butterfly, appeared out of nowhere, fluttering through the air. Captivated, the young gorilla’s eyes widened, and a beautiful interaction began to unfold. I held my breath, waiting for the butterfly to drift closer, knowing the image would only hold its power if the two were captured together. Patiently, I tracked its graceful movements until, at last, it entered the same frame as the gorilla’s face. In that fleeting alignment, where wild strength met fragile beauty, I pressed the shutter. My heart raced quietly as I realized how rare and precious the moment was, an instant that united them in a shared world of curiosity.
As the butterfly circled the gorilla, it seemed to embody the delicate balance and fragile interconnectedness of our natural world. This photograph captures not just the gorilla’s gentle curiosity but also a brief moment where two creatures paused, noticing each other, bound by wonder and discovery.”

“Time For a Drop” by Alexander Hormann. Winner, Landscape.
“In the summer of 2023, my girlfriend Lisa and I went on a three-week hiking trip through northern Norway, mainly to cross the Lofoten Islands on foot. After enjoying two weeks of wonderful views of mountains, beaches, and the Atlantic Ocean, my girlfriend expressed the desire to visit a glacier, as she had never done so before.
One ferry, one train, and one ride-share later, we found ourselves at the Svarisvatnet campsite, from where a hiking trail led us to an outlier of Svartisen, Norway’s second-largest glacier. As we cautiously walked along the edge of the glacier, we discovered an entrance the size of a giant barn door. Drawn to the surreal blue hues of the ice like moths to a flame, we were about to enter the cave when falling chunks of frozen rock reminded us that it was not a good idea to challenge the melting giant. Nevertheless, I wanted to capture the scene with my camera.
Since I was denied access to the interior of the glacier, I had to photograph it from the outside. While searching for the right perspective, I noticed a small hole in the left wall of the cave entrance that served as the perfect frame and found a hollow right in front of it where I could sit down. The remarkable thing about the melon-sized opening in the ice wall was that a drop continuously fell from its upper left edge.”

“Cono de Arita” by Ignacio Palacios. Runner-up, Landscape.
“Anticrepuscular Rays is an image of the Cono de Arita that I captured with my Mavic 4 Pro in the remote region of La Puna, Argentina. The Cono de Arita is one of those surreal places that feels as if it were dropped straight out of a dream or a sci-fi film. Rising almost 200 metres from the middle of the vast Arizaro Salt Flat in north-western Argentina, this near-perfect cone stands completely alone in the landscape. It looks exactly like a volcano but surprisingly, it isn’t. It’s made of rock and salt, not lava. Its symmetry and isolation make it visually striking and a bit mysterious. Locals consider it a sacred site.”

“Polar Meal” by Pål Hermansen. Winner, Mammals.
“Polar bears face significant challenges due to climate change, one of the most critical being the loss of sea ice. Bears rely on ice to hunt seals, and when the ice disappears during the Arctic summer, many are stranded onshore and unable to hunt. This makes it crucial for them to accumulate enough food in the spring to survive the lean summer months.
This polar bear was observed far north on Svalbard in May, where it had been fortunate enough to catch a walrus. Preying on a walrus is rare and difficult for polar bears, but in this case, the walrus was likely sick or disabled. The bear appeared content and relaxed beside its prey.
Although the scene may seem slightly humorous, the image also highlights serious concerns for the future of polar bears and the Arctic ecosystem.”

“In The flow of Time” by Balázs Ravasz. Runner-up, Plants and Fungi.
“One summer evening, I was photographing water knotweed (Polygonum amphibium) at Lake Külső in Tihany, Hungary, when I noticed that the pollen on the water’s surface was drifting with the increasing wind. I captured this delicate scene using a long shutter speed.”

“Climate Protection Measurements” by Tobias Buettel. Runner-up, Human and Nature.
“For my photo project Melting Giants, I visited the Rhône Glacier in Switzerland in 2023. The glacier is known for its lower section being covered with geotextiles, intended to delay the melting of the ice and preserve the man-made ice cave that is carved into the glacier each year. Every year, thousands of tourists pay an entrance fee to visit the cave and marvel at the glacier’s beauty. To me, however, this place symbolised the inadequacy of our climate protection measures.”

“Jellyfish Watercolor” by Alex Varani. Runner-up, Underwater.
“While diving on the reef off Misool Island, Indonesia, I encountered a mass aggregation of jellyfish from the Pelagiidae family (cf. Pelagia noctiluca or Sanderia malayensis). Thousands of these creatures drifted with the gentle current just a few meters from the reef wall.
These dense swarms, known as “blooms,” happen when jellyfish collect close to the floor and coastal areas. Blooms are favored by particular environmental circumstances and will be accompanied by elevated replica, leading to a larger abundance of people. The phenomenon is putting, as these jellyfish have a notable sting and might trigger panic for individuals who encounter them.
Being naturally very curious, I approached the bloom as carefully as doable with out disturbing it and managed to seize the picture in one of many areas with the best focus. The ensuing picture resembles a fragile watercolor of jellyfish.”

“Blue Army” by Imre Potyó. Runner-up, Other Animals.
“After several decades of absence, the spectacular and endangered Danube mayfly (Ephoron virgo) returned to the River Danube in 2012, likely due to improving water quality. This species had disappeared from Central European rivers for decades as a result of water pollution.
The summer of 2024 will undoubtedly be remembered by enthusiasts, as this year’s season, likely prolonged by dry, hot weather and persistently low water levels, lasted nearly a month. On 25 occasions, we waded deep into the strong currents, surrounded and overwhelmed by the swarms.
One massive swarm of Danube mayflies approached the illuminated city of Szentendre, Hungary. Drawn by the city lights through their strong positive phototaxis, millions of insects swarmed toward the brightly lit promenade. Last summer, streetlamps along the Danube promenade in Szentendre were overwhelmed on multiple evenings.”

“Inferno” by Tobias Richter. Winner, Plants and Fungi.
“Blazing flames, glowing tree trunks, and illuminated plumes of smoke. In July 2022, the Elbe Sandstone Mountains experienced their largest documented forest fire. A natural disaster of this magnitude in the core area of my daily photographic work was hard to imagine, despite the known circumstances.
The dry, hot summers of recent years had allowed bark beetles to proliferate, and a significant portion of the spruce stands had fallen victim. High visitor pressure in the national park, along with the associated risk of fires, is unfortunately common in many areas. The landscape so familiar to me was about to change in ways I could not yet comprehend. I resolved to document this transformation continuously, capturing both the fire and its recovery over the following years.”

“Injured Guillemot” by Knut-Sverre Horn. Runner-up, Nature Art.
“I thought the guillemot was about to die when I found it lying still on the ground, partly covered in blood running from its right eye, on Hornøya, Varanger, Northern Norway. An hour earlier, I had been quite annoyed to realize that my brand-new macro lens was still in the camera bag, as I don’t like to haul around more gear than I’ll actually use. Now, the lens came in handy after all. The drops of blood made a striking contrast against the dark brown and white feathers.
I kneeled down and took a few photos with different framings and angles when the bird suddenly took flight. It was apparently able to see me with its left eye. I don’t know what caused the injury, but guillemots may fight fiercely, and I have also seen them collide mid-air when they circle the colony in huge swarms. Hornøya is one of my favourite places, and I take ninety-nine percent of my images close to my home in Varanger.”

“Moose in Snow” by Pål Hermansen. Winner, Nature Art.
“Over many years, I have set up several cameras with infrared sensors near my home in southern Norway. Usually, these are ordinary cameras placed in waterproof cases, but there are also a few trail cameras among them. One of the benefits of the trail cameras is that they feature an infrared flash, invisible to animals and especially useful during wintertime.
The cameras are positioned along more or less distinct trails where I expect animals to pass. Most of the time, there is nothing to see, or just false triggers, but once or twice a year, something truly interesting appears.
On this January night, a heavy snow blizzard swept through, and believe it or not, a moose passed by in the perfect pose at just that moment. Because of the wide angle lens and great depth of field, a highly unusual image was captured with the infrared flash. I feel the rough quality of the image suits the mood perfectly.”

“King Penguins by the Pond” by Renato Granieri. Runner-up, Birds.
“Molting penguins are a common sight in South Georgia. When king penguins undergo a molt, they shed and replace all their feathers at once over approximately four weeks. This process requires them to remain on land, as their old feathers are no longer waterproof, preventing them from hunting. During this time, they live off stored fat until their new, waterproof plumage is fully grown. To stay hydrated, they gather by freshwater ponds and molt nearby. In this image, you can clearly spot a number of chicks that have yet to develop waterproof feathers; chicks are covered in fluffy brown down.
During a landing, I spotted a pond surrounded by numerous adult and chick king penguins. I always look for patterns, and when I saw the pond’s vibrant pink color with all the penguins around it, I knew it would make a powerful image.”

“Night Swan Lake” by Mateusz Matysiak. Runner-up, Black and White.
“The fish ponds of the Barycz Valley, where I grew up, have always been one of the main breeding grounds for Mute Swans in Poland. During my school years, I spent most of my time in my valley counting water birds, especially swans, geese, and ducks.
For my master’s thesis, I naturally chose anseriformes, with swans at the forefront, the same species I had been studying throughout my youth on my ponds. I still have a great fondness for swans to this day. Nowadays, although I spend much of my time in the mountains and forests, I visit ponds with binoculars and a camera whenever I have the opportunity.
This was also the case one September evening when I went for a walk to the ponds in the Pisia Gągolina Valley in Mazovia. At one of the forest ponds, where a White-tailed Eagle had been hunting, I noticed a commotion among the birds. The startled ducks flew away, but the swans remained, swiftly swimming in unison to the safety of the pond. Dusk was falling, and the light was fading fast, especially as the pond lay on the edge of a dark forest. Yet the forest still shimmered faintly with the pale trunks of birch trees. The water was calm and perfectly smooth. I love minimalist shots, which I try to capture in the last remnants of daylight, especially in low-key photography. The strong contrast between the white birds, the dark surface of the water, and the forest wall created an opportunity to take new, intriguing shots, all the more so because the birch trunks were reflected in the smooth water as if in a mirror.”

“Featherhome” by Luis Arpa Toribio. Winner, Underwater.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the smallest creatures of the reef, those that most divers overlook. For a long time, I had imagined photographing these tiny critters from their own perspective, to show what their miniature world might look like if you were right there with them.
In Tulamben, Bali, while exploring feather stars, I came across a crinoid shrimp (Laomenes amboinensis). Perfectly camouflaged in both color and pattern, it clung tightly to its host, spending most of its time motionless and relying on the feather star for protection as well as for food drifting in the current. Normally, such shrimps disappear into their surroundings, but with the help of a “bug-eye” moist lens, I used to be capable of get very shut whereas nonetheless holding a lot of the crinoid in body.”

“Beast In Black” by Daniela Graf. Runner-up, Animal Portraits.
“The alpine longhorn beetle (Rosalia alpina) is one of my favourite animals to photograph. I’m completely in love with these very impressive blue beetles, especially their long antennae. On this day, a female beetle with beautifully curved antennae sat on a log in the shadows. I decided to underexpose the picture to emphasise the blue colour against a black background. The title of the image refers to a Finnish metal band.
I’m glad that there is a population of alpine longhorn beetles on the Swabian Alb. As a relict of the last Ice Age, it represents the only autochthonous population in Germany outside the Alps. To reproduce, they need the dead wood of European beeches. After mating, the females lay their eggs within the cracks of the timber. The larvae remain inside the wood and also pupate there. It takes about three or four years before the adult beetles emerge from the wood. These adults live only for about three weeks, as their only purpose is to ensure the continuation of the species. There are several projects to protect the beetles. Due to their life cycle, dead wood has to remain in the forest for years. Unfortunately, the beetles also deposit their eggs in dead wood that is used as firewood; as a result, those beetles have no chance to develop.”

“The Hidden Grail of Sumatra Island” by Vladimir Cech Jr.. Runner-up, Mammals.
“For many years, I had been drawn to the idea of capturing one of the few high resolution photos of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), a critically endangered subspecies native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the smallest of the tigers, with stripes closer together and a darker orange coat that blends seamlessly into the tropical rainforest habitat.
I began my work there in May 2021 and returned in March of the following year to collect the remains of my equipment, mostly due to discharged batteries. I decided to leave two camera trap sets in the border zone of Gunung Leuser National Park and move the remaining two to a different area. After 315 days from installation, news came from Sumatra, both good and bad. The good: the tiger had come. The bad: it had approached from the wrong direction.
To cut this long story short, it took me more than four years to capture the gaze of one of the most amazing creatures on our planet on the display of one of my homemade camera traps. The biggest challenges were the tiger itself and the island of Sumatra. Organization and complex fieldwork are extremely demanding; you must give your absolute best, and that is only the beginning. Moisture and other natural “traps” of the rainforest can destroy your probabilities even a couple of days after set up. Everything should match collectively: you might want to discover an awesome location, make sure the gear works lengthy sufficient, and hope the tiger seems. Above all, you want an enormous quantity of luck.”

“Bike Tides” by Sam Mannaerts. Winner, Nature of “De Lage landen”
“This image was taken last winter during one of the only two snow days in Belgium. I live in Steendorp, about 100 metres from a river inlet (the Scheldt), where you can easily observe the tides. When I saw the low tide and the snow-covered patterns in the sludge, I decided to briefly fly the drone.
The snow was coming down quite heavily, and I didn’t want my drone to fall into the mud. So, for about two minutes, I flew over the inlet and took some photos. That’s when I noticed the bike in the mud. I loved the outlines the snow had created on the bike and the surrounding mud patterns, two things the Lowlands are known for, captured in one picture.
It also serves as an indictment of a society where illegal dumping seems to have become more the rule than the exception.”

“The Way of The Ridge” by Sebastiaan van der Greef. Winner, Black and White.
“The fox walks where stone meets sky; in stillness, all paths unfold. This image was captured during a journey with my father and brother, as we travelled by boat through the Arctic waters surrounding Svalbard. On the final days of our voyage, we set foot on land in search of the elusive Arctic fox. One afternoon, we spotted a lone figure moving steadily toward the mountains. As it climbed a shallow ridge, the landscape seemed to arrange itself for a single fleeting moment, the sharp line of stone leading upward, the vast wall of shadow, and the fox, a solitary brushstroke of white against the dark.”

“Difficult Crossing” by Xingchao Zhu. Winner, Human and Nature.
“This image was taken in March last year in Dulan County, Qinghai Province, China. Located on the Tibetan Plateau, the high altitude and harsh weather make everything challenging, including photographing wildlife. Although the Eurasian lynx is not as rare as the Iberian lynx, encountering one still requires great patience and a good deal of luck. Between March and April, their mating season, a Eurasian lynx was seen crossing a wire fence in a pastoral area while searching for a mate. The fragmentation of its territory makes survival increasingly difficult for wild animals.”