On the hot Texas sand, bees huddle together in a frenzied ball. Wings flapping, two new insects rush to join the crowd. The silky bodies of the gatherers create such a jumble that it becomes difficult to determine who owns which leg or head.
Which fly stung these bees? That of love, or rather procreation. These specimens are all males struggling to make do with a single female trapped in the center of the cluster. A few minutes later, the victor of the battle flies away with their treasure to mate out of sight.
A “bee ball” at the top of the list
The scene is as fascinating as it is complex to immortalize. No wonder the American photographer Karine Aigner was honored for this and not by just anyone: from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the renowned photo competition of the Natural History Museum in London.
Thanks to her “Bee Ball”, Karine Aigner has just won the title “Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022″. “The impression of movement and intensity […] makes these small bees strong competitors for a single female,” said Rosamund Kidman Cox, President of the Jury.
The scene was all the more welcome as bees today face numerous pressures that threaten their future, such as habitat loss, pesticides or even climate change. With 70% of species nesting underground, including the illustrated specimens of the genus Diadasia, it is becoming increasingly important that these areas of natural soil remain undisturbed.
This “bee ball” follows the reproductive ballet of the groupers, the portrait of a Siberian tigress and the confrontation between a fox and a marmot, which were awarded in 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. However, Karine Aigner is not the only one who received awards this year. As with every edition, a main prize was also awarded to a young photographer.
In the mouth of a whale
It is a 16-year-old Thai, Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, who conquered the jury with his photo “The Beauty of a Whale”. When a Bryde’s whale appeared near his boat, the young man was mesmerized by the colors and textures of its dark skin, pink gums, and gray, brush-like baleen.
Like other whales, this whale feeds using a technique called “lung-feeding”. In other words, it opens its wide-open mouth to catch large quantities of small fish and uses its baleen to filter small organisms from the ocean. A technique that Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn captures as creative as it is remarkable.
“From the jaws of a Bryde’s whale comes this dazzling creation. The razor-sharp details of tiny anchovies stand out against an abstraction of colors with the texture of brown baleen surrounded by a cascade of water droplets,” analyzed Rosamund Kidman Cox. This is the first time the young Thai, who has been passionate about photography since he was 12, has won such a competition.
Thanks to this photo of a whale’s mouth, young Thai photographer Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn won the Young Photographer category of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022. © Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn/Wildlife Photographer of the YearFor this 2022 edition, the jury had to choose from more than 38,000 applications from 93 countries. A winner was then chosen for each of the 19 competition categories according to different criteria. Among the winners we find other photographers, including the French Laurent Ballesta, who was awarded last year.
⋙ Laurent Ballesta: “People don’t have the humility of the wild world to flee when things aren’t going well”
He won the “Portfolio” category of the competition thanks to his series of photos taken during an expedition to Adelie Land in Antarctica. You can see various invertebrates and fish immortalized in the icy blue waters of the South Pole. During this mission, the biologist and his team completed 32 dives at temperatures as low as -1.7 °C.
100 photos exhibited in London
“Wildlife photographers give us unforgettable glimpses of wildlife, sharing elusive details, intriguing behaviors, and reporting on the frontlines of climate and biodiversity crises,” said Dr. Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum in London, in a statement.
“These images show their admiration and concern for nature and the urgency to act to protect it,” he continued. The winning photos by Karine Aignier and Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, along with 98 others from the final selection, will be on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 14 October 2022 to 2 July 2023 before touring the UK and beyond.
The 100 most beautiful photos of the competition will also be summarized in a book published in French by Biotope Editions.
>> Discover a selection of the photos awarded by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022.
Also read:
The most beautiful underwater photos, awarded by the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022
Laurent Baheux, nature photographer: “It’s not me who chooses the encounter, but the elephant”
Check out the beautiful bird photos that won Bird Photographer of the Year 2022