WPOTY
Winner, Earth’s Environments Etna’s river of fire by Luciano Gaudenzio, Italy
From a great gash on the southern flank of Mount Etna, lava flows within a huge lava tunnel, re-emerging further down the slope as an incandescent red river, veiled in volcanic gases. To witness the scene, Luciano and his colleagues trekked for several hours up the north side of the volcano, through stinking steam and over ash-covered chaotic rocky masses . A wall of heat marked the limit of their approach. Luciano describes the show that lay before him as hypnotic, the vent resembling ‘an open wound on the rough and wrinkled skin of a huge dinosaur’. It was 2017, and he had been on the nearby island of Stromboli to photograph eruptions there when he heard news of the new vent on what is Europe’s largest volcano.
He took the very next ferry, hoping he would arrive in time to see the peak of the latest show. Mount Etna, which lies on the boundary between the African and Eurasian continental plates, has been erupting continuously for almost 30 years. What Luciano most wanted to capture was the drama of the lava river flowing into the horizon. The only way to do that was to wait until just after sunset and, with a long exposure, he could set the incandescent flow against the blue gaseous mist to capture ‘the perfect moment’. Camera details: Canon EOS 5D Mark III with 24mm f/3.5 lens, 1sec at f/16 and ISO 320, Leofoto tripod and ball head
Winner, UrbanWildlife Watching you watching them by Alex Badyaev, Russia/USA
What a treat for a biologist: the species you want to study chooses to nest right outside your window. The Cordilleran flycatcher is declining across western North America as the changing climate causes shrinkage of the freshwater habitats along its migratory routes and on its wintering grounds in Mexico. It also happens to be very specific in its choice of nest site. In Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, it typically nests in crevices and on canyon shelves. But one pair picked this remote research cabin instead, perhaps to avoid predation. Both parents were feeding the nestlings, flying out
to snatch insects in mid-air or hovering to pick them off leaves. So as not to disturb the birds, or attract predators to the nest, Alex hid his camera behind a large piece of bark on an ancient spruce tree leaning against the cabin. He directed a flash towards the trunk and operated the set-up remotely from the cabin. He captured his shot as the female paused to check on her four nestlings. Camera details: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with 17mm f/4 lens, 1/40sec at f/22 and ISO 1600, Canon 430EX flash, remote release
Winner, Plants and Fungi Out of the blue by Gabriel Eisenband, Colombia
BUYTHEBOOK
It was Ritak’Uwa Blanco, the highest peak in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes, that Gabriel had set out to photograph. Pitching his tent in the valley, he climbed up to photograph the snow-capped peak against the sunset. But it was the foreground of flowers that captured his attention. Sometimes known as white arnica, the plant is a member of the daisy family found only in Colombia. It flourishes in the high-altitude, herb-rich páramo habitat of the Andes, adapted to the extreme cold with a dense covering of woolly white ‘hair’ and ‘antifreeze’ proteins in its leaves. As the magic hour of sunset passed, there followed a blue hour that
drenched the scene in an ethereal light. But while the silver-grey leaves were washed in blue, the flowers shone bright yellow. It was also strangely calm, enabling Gabriel to use a long exposure to capture the clouds flowing over the high peak without any blur of movement among the plants. Seeming to glow ever brighter as the light faded, the yellow blooms began to dominate the scene, leading the eye towards the mountain, but stealing the limelight from it. Camera details: Nikon D300s with Nikon 10-24mm f/3.5 lens at 11mm, 30secs at f/22 and ISO 200, Gitzo tripod
Enjoy this year’s winning images in a 160-page hardback book. Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio 30 , edited by Rosamund Kidman- Cox and with a foreword by Chris Packham, is published by the Natural History Museum and is on sale now, priced £25, from the shop on the museum’s website nhmshop.co.uk
ENTERNOW
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 contest, featuring 16 categories, is open for entry now and closes at 11.30am on 10 December 2020. Wetlands, Oceans and Natural Artistry are new categories added to this year’s adult competition. For full entry details, including rules, categories, prizes and jury, please visit the website below.
nhm.ac.uk/wpy/competition
26 Photography News | Issue 83
photographynews.co.uk
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