Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Natural History Museum rewards amazing pics
- Published
The overall winner of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 was 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn from Thailand for his creative image of a Bryde's whale surfacing in the Gulf of Thailand. A keen naturalist and a photographer since he was 12, Katanyou mainly takes pictures of the wildlife around his home in Bangkok.
This pic of two male Alpine ibex fighting in a the huge landscape of the Italian Alps was taken by Ekaterina Bee for the age 10 and under category. Ten-year-old Ekaterina has always been a keen photographer, and won her first award in this competition aged five. She says loves animals, science, biology, ancient Egypt, wild nature and documentaries. When she grows up, she would like to be a biologist.
Samuel Sloss from America took this amazing underwater photo of a veined octopus peaking out from a clam shell. Sam is a keen diver whose parents taught him to take photos underwater. The octopus shut the ‘lid’ when Samuel approached but then slowly opened it at which point Sam took his chance!
This amazing photo of two lions was taken by Amaya Shah for the 10 and under category. Amaya, who lives in Kenya, first got into photography when she was six. She says she loves going to national parks and watching animal behaviour. This photo from the 10 and under category shows two lions who live in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, in the Olare Orok Conservancy. The pair are siblings and are 15 years old - quite old for lions!
Jomtup Charoenlapnumchai from Thailand loves wildlife photography and entered this photo of a Bryde’s whale feeding into the 11-14 category. The city behind is his hometown of Bangkok. Jomtup took his photograph after having been at sea for 10 hours looking for the whales and seeing nothing!
This is called 'The picture that cleared the rubbish' and was taken by Adityakrishna Menon for the 15-17 category. It shows the build up of waste near Kochi, in southwest India. He took the photo from his uncle’s nineteenth-floor apartment balcony. A news journalist saw his image and made a film report that resulted in a clean-up in this part of the city and an end to the dumping of waste.
A goldcrest sings his high-pitched song from a spruce behind Nooa Mikkola ’s home in western Finland. Nooa has been taking photos for about two years and mainly likes to take photos of birds. In addition to photography, his hobbies include football and skiing. This tiny bird – Europe’s smallest - weighs just 6 grams!
Ismael Domínguez Gutiérrez's picture of an osprey waiting in a dead tree for the fog to lift was entered in the 11-14 category. Ismael currently lives and goes to school in Cádiz, Spain. He has won several photography awards. Osprey are winter visitors to the province of Andalucía where they hunt in the lakes.
Two dunlins face the elements on the North Sea island of Helgoland off the coast of Germany. Young photographer Levi Fitze is especially interested in birds, and describes the moment he received his first camera as a gamechanger. To get this photo, he had to lie down to get eye-level with the waders.
D’Artagnan Sprengel from New Zealand has been taking photos since he was 10 years old and got a proper camera when he was 11. He mainly focuses on bird and close-up photography, but he also enjoys space photography as well. He took this photo of a daisy - Bellis perennis - on his own frosty front lawn!