Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Royal BC Museum, Victoria, BC - To April 27
Now in its 60th year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition from London’s Natural History Museum features a range of images—from Nature flourishing on its own terms to the impact of humankind on its increasingly fragile environments—all in an effort to “inspire change and create advocates for our natural world.” The NHM’s 2024 competition received a record-breaking 59,288 entries from 117 countries and territories, of which 100 were awarded.
The Grand Title winner was The Swarm of Life (2024) by Canadian photojournalist Shane Gross. To capture the image, Gross spent a number of hours snorkeling beneath a canopy of lily pads on Vancouver Island’s Cedar Lake, careful not to disrupt the finely layered deposits of silt and algae at the bottom. The result is a glorious, cathedral-like world animated by the patterned movements of the western toad tadpole. The picture is all the more poignant given that an estimated 99% of these transitioning creatures will not survive to adulthood.
“The jury was captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles,” states jury chair Kathy Moran. “We were equally excited by the addition of a new species to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year archive.”
The title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year went to Germany’s Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas for Life Under Dead Wood (2024). For his composite picture, Tinker-Tsavalas rolled over a log to capture the fruiting bodies of slime mould, which appear on the right side of the picture, and a springtail hexapod on the left.
Please note: some people may find images in this exhibition disturbing.
