Glorious Gannet Portrait Wins World Nature Photography Awards
Real Hacker Staff
‘Underwater Gannets’ by Tracey Lund — World Nature Photographer of the Year 2024 and Gold winner in ‘Behavior — Birds’ category | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
The World Nature Photography Awards announced the winners of its 2024 contest, celebrating the best in nature and wildlife photography. British photographer Tracey Lund won the top prize for her stunning portrait of a pair of gannets swimming off the coast of the Shetland Islands.
Lund’s winning image featured above also took the Gold award in the “Behavior — Birds” category. Lund bested photographers in a vast pool of entrants from six continents.
“Taken whilst on holiday in Shetland, sat on the side of a RIB. The hired DSLR camera in the waterproof housing was attached to [a] polecam system and lowered into the water. Thousands of gannets were in the sky above us and then started to dive into the sea after locally-caught fish. An unbelievable spectacle to witness, let alone photograph. I took 1,800 images on that day but only had two that I could use,” Lund explains.
“Our winners never fail to take our breath away with their stunning images. As always, it’s such a joy to see the amazing caliber of entries into the awards,” says Adrian Dinsdale, co-founder of the World Nature Photography Awards.
The top three images — the silver and bronze winners in the case of the Behavior — Birds category — from all 14 categories are featured below.
Animal Portraits
‘Anger Fish’ by Nicolas Remy — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Alike’ by Michael Stavrakakis — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Bloody Himalayan Vulture’ by Partha Roy — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Behavior — Amphibians and Reptiles
‘Head Massage’ by John Saeger — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Father Calling’ by Karthik Ak — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Reflections of the Frog’ by Rafal Dymarkowski — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Behavior — Birds
‘Oxpecker and Water Buffalo’ by Lakshitha Karunarathhna — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Aino’ by Jouni Erola — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Behavior — Mammals
‘Those Last Seconds’ by Alex Brackx — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Guarding’ by Elizabeth Yicheng Shen — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Reaching for the Top’ by Lukas Walter — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Behavior — Invertebrates
‘Lightfoot Crabs Puerto Egas Galapagos’ by Bill Klipp — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Not So Silent Hill’ by Panagiotis Dalagiorgos — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Cuckoo Wasp’ by Kevin Blackwell — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Nature Art
‘Earth’s Treasure’ by Miki Spitzer — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Aspen Trees’ by Robert Ross — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Patagonia Dreaming’ by Vittorio Ricci — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
People and Nature
‘Catch of the Day’ by Ioannis Pavlos Evangelidis — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Front of the Wreck’ by Ferenc Lorincz — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Chasing Nature’ by Hira Punjabi — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Plants and Fungi
‘Owl-Like Plant’ by Chatree Lertsintanakorn — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Rainbow at Dawn’ by Dr. Martin Stevens — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Trompet’ by Radoslav Sviretsov — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Underwater
‘Crowd Control’ by Andy Schmid — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Young Humpback Playing II’ by Philip Hamilton — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Light in Light’ by Giovanni Crisafulli — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Planet Earth’s Landscapes and Environments
‘Difference’ by Ivan Pedretti — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Perfect Cloud’ by Sr. Francisco Negroni — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Ions and Water Over Godafoss’ by Cari Letelier — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Black and White
‘Graceful Turn’ by Richard Li — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Under a Mother’s Guidance’ by Tom Way — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Double Catch’ by Tom Nickels — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Animals in Their Habitat
‘Livin on the Edge’ by Amit Eshel — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Lynx Pounce’ by Thomas Vijayan — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘A Foraging Turtle’ by Tom Shelsinger — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Urban Wildlife
‘Dragon’s Nest’ by Roy Wiesner — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Among Bricks’ by Roman Willi — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Budapest Beaver’ by Adam Horvath — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
Nature Photojournalism
‘The Dangerous Toy’ by Celia Kujala — Gold Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Voodoo Sacrifices’ by Enrique Lopez Tapia — Silver Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024‘Price of Binturong Coffee’ by Lennart Stolte — Bronze Winner | World Nature Photography Awards 2024
This year, for the first time, a selection of winning images from this year’s contest and prior years will be available to purchase as wall art in a dedicated online store.
“We’re thrilled that people will now have the chance to buy some of these images to grace the walls of their homes. What’s more, we’re planning to plant a tree for every piece of wall art we sell,” Dinsdale adds.
Photographers can now enter next year’s contest. The complete entry details and rules are available on the World Nature Photography Awards website.
Image credits: World Nature Photography Awards. Individual photographers are credited in the captions.
