Elephant running, breathtaking volcanic eruption and polar bear hunting: nature is shown in all its glory at the prestigious German photography contest
- A tiny arctic fox and a bloodthirsty lion cub among the actors of a stunning series of shots awarded by a German competition
- The world’s leading nature photographers compete in the annual Glanzlichter competition for a top prize worth €2,500.
- Other dramatic sights include a boiling volcano, a mother giraffe protecting her baby, and a majestic barn swallow soaring through the window.
- Over 17,000 photos were submitted from 37 countries, with a total of ten category winners and runners-up.
These are some of the most heartbreaking and moving photographs of our planet ever taken.
And despite their focus on the natural and animal worlds, many of them can certainly be described as very human.
Below are the images chosen as the winners of this year’s Glanzlichter Nature Photography Contest.
The competition, which has been running for 24 years now, awards only the top ten photographs submitted by thousands of photographers from dozens of countries.
This year the organizers got as many as 17,000 people to choose from.
A fluffy arctic fox, a bloodthirsty lion cub that has just finished a meal, and a barn swallow swimming through a window frame are the main characters of this year’s winning paintings.
The images will be featured in a new book released May 2 and will be touring Germany and Italy for the next three years.
Runner-up in the Mammal World section of the competition is this incredible photo by Italian photographer Marco Gaiotti of a tiny Arctic fox enjoying the winter sun in Norway. Remaining roasted at -35°C, the magnificent animal sits firmly on a sheet of snow and ice.
A vivid reminder of the wild side of the animal world. Polish photographer Tomasz Shpila took this photo of a lion cub in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Shpila patiently waited for a pair of lionesses to go hunting wildebeest to eat the cub, and photographed the irresistible expression on the cub’s face after they finished their meal.
Israeli photographer Amit Eshel, winner of the Nature Moments category, spotted a family of polar bears climbing a tower of old bones in Alaska. Eshel took the photo near the small village of Kaktovik one evening when a family of polar bears went out in search of food. He hoped that the sight of their hectic search would highlight the effects of climate change.
By far the most intense image in this year’s competition. Dr. Lalita Ekanayake’s photograph of a panicked elephant overturning a truck in Sri Lanka is a chilling sight. Taken in December in Yala National Park, Ekanayake spotted an elephant lunging at a truck before a brave ranger (foreground) got into the car and drove the group to safety.
Another runner-up in the Mammal World category, German photographer Thorsten Hanewald spotted this mother giraffe grooming her newborn calf in Kenya. Taken just moments after the tiny giraffe took its first steps, Hanewald patiently waited for the mother’s beautiful act of care to take the picture. He said he wanted a photo that showed the heads of the giraffes next to each other so they could share one shot.
Spaniard Oscar Diez spotted this volcanic eruption in terrifying real-time in April 2021. The Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala, Central America is one of the region’s highest peaks and a fiery cauldron. Sharp stayed until the evening, so the dark gray sky, scarlet smoke and flaming red lava created a sharp visual contrast. It was worth the wait.
Norway is the only country to have made multiple Glanzlichter finalists, and with scenery like this, it’s not hard to see why. Italian photographer Ivan Pedretti captured this daring shot of an eye-shaped rock under the northern lights on the island of Lofoten in February 2020, just weeks before the Covid pandemic. Pedretti’s photograph is a stunning illustration of a world that now seems far away. Perhaps that is why he became the overall winner of the Glanzlichter competition this year, which means that 2,500 euros will remain with him.
Barn swallows aren’t quite the exotic birds you’d expect in a nature award-winning image, but Spanish photographer Antonio Leyva Sanchez found beauty in an unlikely place. A swallow flaps its wings to climb through an empty window frame in Sux, Catalonia. It seems like a tiny moment compared to the volcanic eruption and the northern lights, but for the Sanchez bird, the journey is all that matters.
Photographer Jari Heikkinen spotted this glowing red-throated diver landing on the calm waters of a lake in his native Finland. Heikkinen was rewarded for his exact time as the shot won in the Artists on Wings section of the 2022 Glanzlichter competition. A photograph showing a huge bird snatching a treat from the water shows calmness in what might seem like a cruel gesture.
The impressive second work of Italian photographer Marco Gaiotti. This photo of a giant panda in China’s Wolong Nature Reserve came in second in Glanzlichter’s Mammal World section. The panda rests comfortably despite leaning on a small branch high up in the tree, demonstrating his familiarity and comfort with his surroundings. This is not surprising: one tenth of the giant pandas in the world live in the Wolong Nature Reserve.