The Grand Prize Winner
Title: Black Grouse Showing Off
Author: Audun Rikardsen
Location: Tromsø, Norway
This year's grand prize winner was chosen of a whopping 6,500 entries, and it depicts Norwegian nature and wildlife in a fresh and crisp photographic style. Audun Rikardsen's winning photo earned him a $5.000 prize, as well as a special feature at the yearly BigPicture exhibition at the California Academy of Sciences. Other winners spanned across 7 different categories:
- Aquatic Life
- Art of Nature
- Landscapes, Waterscapes, and Flora
- Terrestrial Wildlife
- Winged Life
- Human/Nature
- and 2019 Photo Story: Pushing the Limit.
'Landscapes, Waterscapes, and Flora' Winner
Title: Duality
Author: Armand Sarlangue
Location: Senja Island, Norway
This category features fascinating landscapes of locations in the wild all across the Earth. The requirement for the participants was to present a landscape in a novel perspective, be it mountain, a picture of waves or an aerial shot of the jungle.
'2019 Photo Story: Pushing the Limit' Winner
Title: Longest Migration
Author: Peter Mather
Location: Northern Yukon, Alaska, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
This unique category is a 5-8 photo collection of a special journey, documentary or narrative in style. This year's winning collection tells the story of Northern nature, wildlife conservation and the culture of the people of the north. We have another photo from this series further down.
'Winged Life' Finalist
Title: Rainbow Lorikeet Eating Nectar
Author: Cortez Austin
Location: Lamington National Park, Australia
'Art of Nature' Winner
Title: Clouds of Salt
Author: Chiara Salvadori
Location: Salar de Antofalla, Argentina
Yet another creative category, the finalists of the 'Art of Nature' category were required to present nature as an abstract subject matter. In the picture above, for example, the salt pan in Argentina looks like a closeup photo of waves and a snow-laden Arctic mountain simultaneously. Fun fact: none of the photos of this category are allowed to use Photoshop or any other photo editing software, they are all 100% authentic.
'Aquatic Life' Finalist
Title: Crab Eater Seal Resting on the Ice
Author: Antartica
Location: Florian Ledoux
This astounding aerial photo of seals makes them look like fish, doesn't it? Just imagine the size of that iceberg!
'Aquatic Life' Winner
Title: Sea Dragon
Author: Pier Mane
Location: Galápagos, Ecuador
Have you ever seen a lizard underwater? The winner of this year's 'Aquatic life' category depicts a marine iguana species native to the Galapagos islands hunting. These unusual and enormous animals are unique to the islands and this picture definitely contributed to my knowledge of marine life.
'Terrestrial Wildlife' Finalist
Title: Traveling to the Edge
Author: Prince (Buddy) Eleazer
Location: Namib-Naukluft Desert, Namibia
'Landscapes, Waterscapes and Flora' Finalist
Title: The Renardo Legacy
Author: Check My Dream
Location: Flakstad Beach, Norway
'Human/ Nature' Finalist
Title: Flamingo Socks
Author: Jasper Doest
Location: Julianadorp, Curaçao
'2019 Story: Pushing the Limit' Winner
Title: Longest Migration
Author: Peter Mather
Location: Northern Yukon, Alaska, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, United States and Canada
'Winged Life' Winner
Title: Losing Wings
Author: Piotr Naskrecki
Location: Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
The animals of the sky were represented in this year's competition by a colony of ants simultaneous losing their wings in the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Their wings almost look like an abstract tapestry, woven by mother nature herself.
'Art of Nature' Finalist
Title: Río Tinto
Author: Mario Suárez Porras
Location: Río Tinto, Spain
'Terrestrial Wildlife' Winner
Title: Brown bear. Underwater view.
Author: Mike Korostelev
Location: Ozernaya River, South-Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary, Kamchatka, Russia
The proud winner of this year's terrestrial animals is this brown bear selfie from Kamchatka, Russia. Who knew bears can take selfies, too?
'Human\Nature' Winner
Title: The Human Touch
Author: James Gifford
Location: Senkwekwe Center, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo
Celebrating the relationship between humans and animals is this portrait. How is it possible to deny that animals are intelligent and are capable of true emotions after seeing this photograph?
