Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024
The Natural History Museum, London UK
This is one of my favourite exhibitions of all time. I go every year – it is a must on every exhibition-goer’s calendar. Or at least it is on mine, I love it – you get to see nature in all its sublime, terrifying glory. You also see the devastation of human impact on the natural world but rejoice in the knowledge that we are also doing something about it! I have included some of my favourite pieces from the exhibition and why they made an impression on me. They range from very, very cute, to “Oh, well that makes you think, doesn’t it” to: Yes, let’s protect nature and wildlife, what can I do to help?
So, let's start with the ‘Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ where children from ages under 10 to 17 take some wonderful snaps of the animals in their local area. Below is my personal favourite called Starry Starry Flight by Ismael Dominguez Gutiérrez from Spain. He used ‘strobe mode’ on his camera to beautifully capture the flightpath of bats in his local area, set against the Milky Way Galaxy. He was awarded a ‘Highly Commended’ for his piece.
Starry Starry Flight 2024 by Ismael Dominguez Gutiérrez, Spain.
The next piece that really stood out to me was the Hippo Nursery by Russian photographer Mike Korostalev, which I thought was adorable. They are wonderful creatures but are known to be one of the most dangerous land mammals, the likelihood of you being killed by a hippo you encounter is, according to National Geographic, 86.7% (for a lion it’s around 75%). Although not endangered, they are considered ‘vulnerable’ as Hippos only calf once every two years and they are hunted for their ivory. This is indeed a wonderfully charming photo, and probably my favourite piece thus far. Korostalev won the prize for the ‘Under Water’ category.
Hippo Nursery 2024 by Mike Korostalev, Russia.
My next favourite piece from this exhibition is this wonderful tiger in a cage Ghost Cat by Shinseng Tse from China. At first glance it seems horrible – South China tigers are slowly going extinct. There are less than 200 of them left and they are all in zoos. It was a fitting piece to include in the exhibition as this year the competition chose to focus on helping conserve these wonderful animals for future generations. He was awarded a Highly Commended for this photograph.
Ghost Cat 2024, by Shinseng Tse, China.
Overall, there is a reason why I keep returning year after year. It is a beautifully curated show. The show itself is shrouded in darkness so that the lightboxes hosting the photographs, shine. The natural world is truly spectacular and oftentimes taken for granted – I felt the message that we need to be better humans particularly poignant. There are many things we can do to be better, for example not throwing trash into protected areas, then nature can thrive.
My only criticism of the event was that it was far too overcrowded – true I went on a weekend, but it did make me miss the days of ‘social-distancing’ and I could take my time admiring the stunning photographs without having someone breathe on me. It’s all cold and flu season guys, please don’t cough on me either.