A pair of friendly lions stroll affectionately in Kenya. A factory in Greece takes the beach away from vacationers. Ghost mushrooms emit an eerie glow in an Australian forest.
These are some of the winning images in the Nature Conservancy’s 2022 Photo Contest. More people than ever participated in this year’s competition which saw more than 100,000 entries from 196 different countries and territories.
“The entries this year were stunning,” Alex Snyder, contest judge and coordinator, tells Treehugger. “Photographers worked hard to create incredible imagery but this year they also worked hard on sending a message with their photographs. This took the contest to another level. "
“The diversity of images from around the world gave a glimpse into our fragile planet and all the life that inhabits it,” said award-winning conservation photographer Ami Vitale who was one of the competition judges. “The contest itself was a mesmerizing odyssey and we are left with a profound message of how interconnected all of us are and what it means to our own survival to intermingle with wildness.”
There were six categories including a new one focusing on climate. Photographers were encouraged to capture what climate change looks like, ranging from its harrowing impacts to hopeful solutions.
Anup Shah of the United Kingdom won top honors in the wildlife category for the photo above. The two lions were photographed in Maasai Mara, Kenya.
Shah says of the winning image:
Here are the rest of the winners in each category.
Grand Prize
The competition’s grand prize-winning photo was taken by Lin Ping of China. It features a drone’s view of a highway in Tibet, with gullies on each side that make it look like a tree.
“It looks like a tree of life and evokes such feeling, but the irony is that there is no life without water,” said contest judge Smita Sharma about the winning photo.
Ping slept in a roadside parking lot overnight to get the early morning shot.
“Usually, most of my photography is about nature, but also a small part of cultural landscape and architecture,” Ping said in a statement. “I was inspired by the magical presence of nature which can go beyond individual lives.”
Climate, First Place
The winning climate photo by Sandesh Kadur of India features a fan-throated lizard (Sarada superba) in a wind farm in India’s Satara district. Research suggests that wind farms have changed the predatorial environment, now allowing the tiny lizards to thrive in the rocky environment.
Landscape, First Place
Francisco Javier Munuera González of Spain took the top landscape prize with this photo of the slope of Mount Adi in Navarra, Spain.
People and Nature, First Place
Janusz Jurek of Poland took this winning photo in Greece.
Water, First Place
“Braided River” won the water category for Kristin Wright of the United States.
Plants and Fungi, First Place
Ghost mushrooms, photographed by Callie Chee of Australia, earned the top spot in the plants and fungi category.
“What makes the contest exciting is when we see something that we’ve never seen before. This means taking the time and having the patience to get to that perfect moment,” says Snyder.
“To compose the image in your mind and execute it masterfully. Callie Chee took us to another world with her image of biofluorescent mushrooms—when it first came up on the screen, each judge just went, ‘Woooow!’ It was a clear standout in the competition.”
Here are more winners, including the personal picks of two judges.
Guest Judge Ami Vitale’s Choice
Calling the image “An Unforgiving Kingdom,” Shafeeq Mulla of Zambia photographed a leopard carrying the carcass of a vervet monkey with its baby still clutching its mother.
“The diversity of images from around the world gave a glimpse into our fragile planet and all the life that inhabits it,” says Vitale. “The contest itself was a mesmerizing odyssey and we are left with a profound message of how interconnected all of us are and what it means to our own survival to intermingle with wildness.”
Celebrity Judge Coyote Peterson’s Choice
Coyote Peterson, host of YouTube’s Brave Wilderness, chose this image by Florian Ledoux of Norway as his favorite. The photo shows a polar bear feeding her cubs near an abandoned Russian settlement.
Peterson says:
Wildlife, Second Place
Panos Laskarakis of Greece says, “The African dust around the supergiant is one of the best spectacles in wild Namibia!”
Climate, Second Place
Amish Jain of India captured “a person cleaning the lakes of excessive sea vegetation due to hot climate as well as waste being dumped into the lake.”
Water, Second Place
Nick Leopold Sordo of Mexico photographed the Las Coloradas salt mines in Yucatan.
Wildlife, Honorable Mention
Called “The Battle,” this image by Rick Dowling of the U.S. shows two eagles fighting for a piece of salmon in Haines, Alaska.
Landscape, Honorable Mention
Ivan Pedretti of Italy photographed this winter scene.
Jenny Zhao of the U.S. captured this image of a giraffe drinking at a waterhole at Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa.
Correction—October 5, 2022: This article has been corrected after a previous version erroneously placed Haines in Arkansas, rather than its correct state, Alaska.
