The annual competition had over 200 entries from the world’s wildlife photographers. Find out who the contenders are and you can watch a live online show of their images
Wildlife photographer of the year – a live broadcast
Animal photographers are renowned for being complex, detailed individuals, self-taught almost. But as our 20th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition opened, we were amazed at the sheer breadth of submissions. From digital filters, surreal compositions, portraits and deep behind-the-scenes portraits, to nudes, landscapes and wildlife that they just about hadn’t seen before, these images defy categorisation.
In 2009 David Cameron was the first prime minister to announce that the trophy of the prime minister’s residence should be shared between a wildlife photographer and his or her subject in order to help ensure balance and conservation – a change which the chief of the RSPB heralded as a “brilliant move”. And in 2016 the conservation charity, WWF, spoke about the possibility of sharing the trophy of being the oldest individual photographed at the continental scale – an image often taken by legendary photographers such as George Pal. But it’s still a little surprising to discover the sheer number of applicants, many of them amateur, who tell us so much about how photo-taking has changed over the last 20 years.
From a greylag kite showing off in the town of Porthmadog, Wales; to a rather large and well-known frog in the Brazilian rainforest; to a ground whitehorn sheep (Tirs) in Malmo, Sweden; a young hen harrier (Aquila) roosting in one of South Africa’s mountains; a sleeping polar bear peeking from behind rocks and ice near Logan Pass, Alaska; and a wild orca with its calf at Ushuaia in the Argentine Arctic, these 15 images tell a fantastic story about the European continent’s wildlife and we can be sure you will enjoy learning more about them on our programme during this live session.
A hunting hound’s mating ritual. The images will be running during the live online broadcast of Wildlife Photographer of the Year on the 23 June.
