The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2021 has awarded a People’s Choice Award to a dramatic, chilly landscape. Willow branches are exquisitely mirrored by the surface of Santa Croce Lake in Italy, where photographer Cristiano Vendramin photographed it. While the image’s composition creates an enchanting work of art that plays with light and reflection, it has a deeper meaning for Vendramin, who was reminded of a dear friend who used to enjoy the lake after photographing it. In a statement, Vendramin stated, “I like to think he made me feel this feeling that I’ll never forget.” “This shot is dedicated to him as a result.”
During the voting session, Vendramin’s photograph “Lake of Ice” received the backing of 31,800 wildlife and nature enthusiasts, winning out from a selection of 25 images. Ashleigh McCord, a photographer from the United States, was among the highly commended for the People’s Choice Award 2021. The photograph “Shelter from the Rain” was taken during a visit to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, and depicts a pair of male lions nuzzling during a heavy downpour.
Jo-Anne McArthur, a Canadian photographer, received a highly commended award for her work “Hope in a Burned Plantation.” In early 2020, McArthur came to Australia to capture the sobering image of an eastern grey kangaroo and her joey travelling through the devastation wrought by the massive forest fires. “The Eagle and the Bear,” a highly appreciated photograph by Jeroen Hoekendijk, looks like something out of Aesop’s fables. A black bear cub snoozing on a moss-covered tree was noticed by a Dutch photographer in the temperate rainforest of Anan, Alaska. An attentive eagle was staring at the comatose bear “for hours” throughout its slumber, which Hoekendijk thought was unusual.
In the Lishan Nature Reserve in Shanxi Province, China, photographer Qiang Guo was able to capture a choreographed interaction between two male golden pheasants. These birds are often regarded as some of the most beautiful on the planet, and their silent “Dancing in the Snow” created quite a spectacle. Do you want to be inspired? There’ll be a lot more to come! The Natural History Museum in London is the creator and producer of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the winners of the fifty-eighth competition will be announced in October 2022.
