S’pore resident wins nature images award

SINGAPORE – The second she noticed a lone giraffe approaching a watering gap at a nationwide park in Botswana, Mrs Vaidehi Chandrasekar held her breath and waited.

As the animal lowered its neck for a drink, the 72-year-old newbie photographer lifted her digicam.

The magic arrived when the giraffe raised its head and, lit from behind by the setting solar, despatched water circling by way of the air like a bathe of falling stars.

The uncommon shot, titled Water Ballet, gained the Singapore everlasting resident a gold award on the current 2026 World Nature Photography Awards in late February.

The 2026 version of the competitors, which is now in its seventh 12 months, acquired hundreds of entries from photographers throughout 51 nations and 6 continents.

Among them, Mrs Chandrasekar is the one winner from Singapore, taking the highest prize within the Behaviour – Mammals class.

Speaking to The Straits Times on Feb 27, the retiree stated of her shot taken on the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park: “I got very lucky.”

In her entry, she described the scene as “a moment of magic”, including that she had wished to seize the interaction of the golden mild and the swishing movement of the water.

While she has photographed giraffes earlier than, it was uncommon for one to expel a lot water, she informed ST.

Recounting how she felt when she came upon that she had gained on Feb 20, she stated: “I was totally overwhelmed.”

The World Nature Photographer of the Year title was awarded to Mr Jono Allen from Australia, who captured a uncommon white humpback whale swimming subsequent to its mom within the waters off islands in Oceania.

Mr Adrian Dinsdale, co-founder of the competitors, stated in an announcement: “This year’s winning images are a powerful reminder of both the wonder of our planet and the importance of protecting it.”

The competitors’s conservation effort – which includes partnering with Ecologi, a British environmental conservation organisation, to plant a tree for each entry – is what drew Mrs Chandrasekar to it.

She believes that images could make an influence on wildlife conservation and animal safety.

“It’s not just taking a picture. By looking at it, a lot of others can learn from it,” she added.

“They learn about the animals and how they must be left alone in their habitats.”

Mrs Chandrasekar stated that she began changing into extra concerned in images in 2019 after she retired from a job in system design assist.

Together along with her husband, she picked up images strategies by way of movies on YouTube and trial and error.

While she often travels abroad to {photograph} unique animals like leopards and polar bears, she has additionally taken pictures of birds that move by way of Singapore throughout their migratory season.

“When I learn of some new bird that has come, I’m definitely there to try to catch (a photo of) it,” she stated, including that she sometimes posts these images on her Instagram account _wingsgalore_

She counts the wildlife images group in Singapore as a supply of nice assist.

On Facebook, customers have shared along with her the place and when to search out particular birds that she needs to {photograph}, she stated.

At parks throughout Singapore, she has additionally met fellow photographers who’ve given her recommendations on the best way to get the very best angles, which she says are tough to seize due to the birds’ fixed motion.

Recounting her expertise tenting within the Botswana safari along with her husband, who can also be in his 70s, she stated it was “definitely not easy”.

“Sometimes we ourselves think we are crazy, doing this,” she stated, with amusing. “But we do it anyway.”

Other animals on her bucket checklist embrace Indonesian orang utans and penguins within the Antarctic.

“It’s a long list that we want to finish before we get too old,” she stated.