15 stunning images from The Nature Photographer of the Year awards
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More than 24,000 entries from photographers in nearly 100 countries competed during this years Nature Photographer of the Year — revealing moments of brutality to tenderness. The competition has entered it’s ninth year, and as well as winning the title of Nature Photographer of the Year 2025, the winner also gets €3,000 in cash. Metro has rounded up some of the winners, runners-up and highly commended for you to have a look through. (Picture: Laura Dyer)
Overall winner: Sundance
Photographer Åsmund Keilen says: ‘The photo was taken just outside Oslo on a hot summer day. I was on my way to the store to buy food. I have a habit of leaving my coffee cup on the roof of my car when unlocking our old blue Mercedes, and more than once I’ve forgotten it there and driven away. That day, when I backed out of the driveway, the cup tipped over but somehow stayed on the roof. A little discouraged, I reached to pick it up – and immediately saw what would become this photograph. Small orange birch seeds had fallen onto the blue roof during the night, and the summer sun reflected alongside dancing common swifts in the sky. Freedom seemed to take form in chaos. With the help of in-camera multiple exposure, I was able to recreate what I saw and felt that day: an impression of a reflection – or perhaps a reflection of an impression.’ (Picture: Åsmund Keilen)
Mammals category runner up: The Hidden Grail of Sumatra Island
Photographer Vladimir Cech Jr. says: ‘I will not exaggerate when I say that I have been waiting for this chance not for weeks, not for months, but for years. During the extreme Covid era, I decided to take a risk, overcome all the challenges that accompanied the preparations and the journey itself, and set out for my striped dream in Sumatra…I decided to leave two camera trap sets in the border zone of Gunung Leuser National Park and move the remaining two to a different area. After 315 days from installation, news came from Sumatra, both good and bad. The good: the tiger had come. The bad: it had approached from the wrong direction. To cut this long story short, it took me more than four years to capture the gaze of one of the most amazing creatures on our planet on the display of one of my homemade camera traps. The biggest challenges were the tiger itself and the island of Sumatra. Organization and complex fieldwork are extremely demanding; you must give your absolute best, and that is only the beginning. Moisture and other natural “traps” of the rainforest can ruin your chances even a few days after installation. Everything must fit together: you need to find a great location, ensure the equipment works long enough, and hope the tiger appears. Above all, you need a huge amount of luck.’ (Picture: Vladimir Cech Jr)
Mammals category highly commended: In Mother’s Arms
Photographer Dvir Barkay says: ‘The image was captured at the La Selva Biological Research Station in Costa Rica. It is part of a series of photographs I took of this mother and her offspring, a Three Toed Sloth. I spent a week with the pair as they moved from tree to tree, about one tree per day, capturing thousands of images in different weather and circumstances. In this moment, a rain shower had just begun, and the mother covered her baby as it slept, cradled safely in her embrace.’ (Picture: Dvir Barkay)
Other animals category winner: Silent Scream
Photographer Bence Máté says: ‘I am grateful for every moment my work allowed me to spend on Bird Island, part of the Seychelles, a tiny island of two kilometres in width made of coral sand. Its wildlife, atmosphere, and overall essence were so vastly different from what I was accustomed to back home that I felt as if I had stepped into a parallel world. The island is privately owned, and thanks to the dedicated efforts of its caretakers, the last rat, introduced by humans, was eradicated in the 1980s. Combined with controlled vegetation management, this has allowed the island to become home to more than seven hundred thousand pairs of sooty terns today. However, I arrived outside their breeding season and saw only a handful of individuals, though other bird species were still nesting, even in November. While waiting to photograph white terns, I suddenly heard a distress call. Not far from me, an adult brown noddy was tormenting a helpless chick of its own species for reasons I could not understand. Within moments, the struggling chick, now lying defenseless on the ground, was swarmed by crabs that began devouring it alive. It was heartbreaking to witness, but I chose not to interfere with the natural order. In no time, nearly ten crabs had surrounded the chick, dragging it into the bushes, one of nature’s rawest moments, a silent scream lost in the vastness of the island. (Picture: Bence Máté)
Other animals category highly commended: Above the Parapet
Photographer Phil Hall says: ‘Everyone has an opinion about Dubai. Most people see only one side, the glossy version popularised on social media. Yet behind that façade lies a rich and diverse ecosystem. Conservation efforts and habitat protection have created an environment that supports an astonishing range of wildlife. Still, the desert remains fiercely inhospitable, rivalled perhaps only by polar landscapes. Any animal that calls the dunes home commands respect. The Sandfish Skink is one such desert specialist, its name reflecting its uncanny ability to swim through the sand. This talent helps it regulate body temperature and escape the extreme desert heat, which can soar well beyond 50°C in summer. For this hot June shoot, my intended subject was the Arabian Oryx. I perched high on the crest of a dune, with a wide desert vista stretching out before me. The heat was relentless, and prevailing north-westerly winds blasted a constant stream of sand, making conditions even more hostile. I had been waiting patiently as a group of Oryx slowly traversed the dunes when, just a few metres away, I noticed a tiny Sandfish cautiously climbing the vast slope toward me. I adjusted my settings and shifted my position, careful not to startle it, encouraging its slow ascent. My face and camera were fully exposed to the stinging winds as I waited. The Sandfish climbed slowly, higher and higher, until it reached the peak of the dune. My finger pressed firmly on the autofocus button, ready. Then, at last, its head lifted above the crest. For a brief moment it paused, taking in a rare respite, and I pressed the shutter. This image is one I am immensely proud of. It captures not only the hostility of the desert but also the hidden small-scale dramas that unfold daily beyond our view, moments that reveal a side of Dubai few ever see.’ (Picture: Phil Hall)
Plants and fungi category runner up: In the Flow of Time
Photographer Balázs Ravasz says: ‘One summer evening, I was photographing water knotweed (Polygonum amphibium) at Lake Külső in Tihany, Hungary, when I noticed that the pollen on the water’s surface was drifting with the increasing wind. I captured this delicate scene using a long shutter speed.’ (Picture: Balázs Ravasz)
Photographer Jason Mirandi says: ‘This image was created in November 2024 in Pennsylvania during the Lehigh Gap Fire. A wildfire that scorched 600 acres of the Blue Mountain near the Lehigh Water Gap in the eastern part of the state. Photography is a passion of mine, and so is firefighting, and when I had the opportunity to both battle this wildfire and document it for the world to see, I took it. The image depicts the aftermath of a backburn, an intentionally set fire used to consume fuel between a firebreak and an oncoming, uncontrolled flame front, stopping its advance. While the raw flames of an active fire are powerful and dramatic, I purposely sought out the right scene and waited until the flame front had passed deeper into the forest to capture this photograph. In doing so, I hoped to reveal an entirely different, mesmerizing mood. The transformative power of fire is on full display in the aftermath of the retreating flame front, as the glowing, ember-covered trunks and gnarled branches create a landscape of haunting beauty that draws the viewer into the scene. This fire occurred during a historic drought, the first month in 153 years of recorded history with zero rainfall in the Philadelphia region and much of the northeastern United States. While extreme fire behavior is often associated with the arid western states, drought conditions can fuel intense wildfires across broader regions, affecting areas not accustomed to or prepared for such explosive events. It’s a sobering reminder of nature’s raw power, and of our shared responsibility to respect and protect it.’ (Picture: Jason Mirandi)
Landscape category runner up: Cono de Arita
Photographer Ignacio Palacios says: ‘Anticrepuscular Rays is an image of the Cono de Arita that I captured with my Mavic 4 Pro in the remote region of La Puna, Argentina. The Cono de Arita is one of those surreal places that feels as if it were dropped straight out of a dream or a sci-fi film. Rising almost 200 metres from the middle of the vast Arizaro Salt Flat in north-western Argentina, this near-perfect cone stands completely alone in the landscape. It looks exactly like a volcano but surprisingly, it isn’t. It’s made of rock and salt, not lava. Its symmetry and isolation make it visually striking and a bit mysterious. Locals consider it a sacred site…When I noticed the rays starting to form, I grabbed my tripod and quickly shot from the ground with my Nikon Z9 and a 14–24mm lens at f/8, ISO 64. It was a good frame, but I instantly realised that if I could get the drone in the air quickly and high enough, I could align the rays so they appeared to radiate perfectly from the tip of the cone. The drone shot came together in seconds, just before the light faded. I managed only a couple of frames before the rays disappeared but it was enough.’ (Picture: Ignacio Palacios)
Photographer Anton Sorokin says: ‘Every spring, California newts (Taricha torosa) return to ponds to breed. Over the years, photographing them has become one of my favorite subjects. From above, this particular pond in the San Francisco Bay region of California doesn’t look like much; it is a muddy pool nestled between gently rolling hills, sometimes used as a latrine and watering hole for local cattle. Yet underwater, it pulses with amphibian activity. Female newts lay eggs, while others attempt to eat them. Male newts pursue potential mates, grabbing onto both females and other males. Males are quickly released, but when a male finds a female, he grips tightly, and for good reason: rival males soon join the fray, attempting to pry him off. It can be difficult to tell where one newt ends and another begins. Eventually, the winning male and female break away and flee the other males. On this occasion, the sun was low, and by adjusting my angle, I was able to include it over the pair of newts in amplexus.’ (Picture: Anton Sorokin)
Photographer Nicolas Remy says: ‘The gulf wobbegong (Orectolobus halei) is one of the largest carpet sharks, reaching nearly 3 meters in length. An ambush predator, this animal spends most of its time motionless, waiting for suitable prey to come close enough for a rapid strike. This large individual was surrounded by a myriad of glassfish, a cohabitation I had witnessed before in the waters of Fish Rock Island (South West Rocks, NSW, Australia). That particular day, however, the ocean surge could be felt at the 27-meter depth where the shark was located, causing the fish to swim together against the moving water every few seconds, all facing the same direction. The blue-green water also complemented the pink rocks, whose coloration comes from algae covering rocky seabeds in South-East Australia. I decided this was a photographic opportunity worth pursuing and stayed for several minutes, timing my shot precisely when all the fish faced the camera. This angle also allowed me to photograph the “glass” fish without overexposing their reflective scales with my underwater flash lights. It took several long minutes to get the timing right, but the result was worth it.’ (Picture: Nicolas Remy)
Nature art category runner up: Injured Guillemot
Photographer Knut-Sverre Horn says: ‘I thought the guillemot was about to die when I found it lying still on the ground, partly covered in blood running from its right eye, on Hornøya, Varanger, Northern Norway. An hour earlier, I had been quite annoyed to realize that my brand-new macro lens was still in the camera bag, as I don’t like to haul around more gear than I’ll actually use. Now, the lens came in handy after all. The drops of blood made a striking contrast against the dark brown and white feathers. I kneeled down and took a few photos with different framings and angles when the bird suddenly took flight. It was apparently able to see me with its left eye. I don’t know what caused the injury, but guillemots may fight fiercely, and I have also seen them collide mid-air when they circle the colony in huge swarms. Hornøya is one of my favourite places, and I take ninety-nine percent of my images close to my home in Varanger.’ (Picture: Knut-Sverre Horn)
Nature art category highly commended: Coup de Grace
Photographer Åsmund Keilen says: ‘This image was created in Østmarka National Park, Oslo, Norway. I was wandering through the terrain on a cold November day when a frozen pond quickly caught my attention. The low winter sun, combined with delicate ice crystals, cast colorful reflections of light. The ice bird chirped, and I listened. In that silence, the world exhaled. Time slowed down. Light bent. And then it let go. Fragile and temporary. A moment held in ice. The next day, the weather turned warm, and the ice bird flew away.’ (Picture:Åsmund Keilen)
Human and nature category highly commended: Echolocation
Photographer Lana Tannir says: ‘Harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are small, elusive cetaceans found in coastal waters across the Northern Hemisphere. They rely on echolocation to navigate, communicate, and hunt. However, populations in many regions are declining due to human impacts such as underwater noise, pollution, overfishing, and bycatch in fishing nets. At 30 years old, Freja is the most well-studied and oldest recorded harbor porpoise in the world. Since 1997, she has lived at Fjord & Bælt, a research facility in Kerteminde, Denmark, after being bycaught in a fisherman’s net and deemed non-releasable. Freja participates in non-invasive behavioral experiments such as this one, in which her eyes are covered with suction cups while she is asked to discriminate between two underwater targets, one made of aluminum and the other of plastic. A DTAG monitoring device on her back records her acoustic responses. Through these studies, scientists aim to understand how harbor porpoises use echolocation to hunt and how underwater noise affects their foraging abilities. Such research helps guide conservation strategies to support the survival of these elusive marine mammals in the wild. This photograph was taken at the research station during one of these data collection sessions and is part of a larger photography project titled Saving the Harbor Porpoise. The project documents the work of scientists and conservationists in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, highlighting their efforts to study, protect, and raise awareness of this vulnerable species.’ (Picture: Lana Tannir)
Human and nature category highly commended: Two Giants
Photographer Richard Peters says: ‘Mara North Conservancy in the greater Maasai Mara offers a wonderful array of wildlife. The reserve is easy to navigate thanks to a central road that runs through the middle, which is periodically resurfaced to smooth out the bumps and ruts that build up over time. During a stay in the reserve, a large digger was left parked in the middle following recent maintenance work. The digger itself became a makeshift landmark for visitors to the park to gain their bearings. The entire time it was there, I thought it would be fun to photograph a giraffe or elephant near the digger as a way of showing how wildlife and humans coexist in this area. One evening, we followed a herd of elephants that were slowly making their way towards the digger. I didn’t expect them to walk past it entirely, but some did indeed climb the small slope it stood on. Most went over the rise and continued on, but one stopped and walked around the back. Combined with the soft glow of a sunset sky, the moment was beautifully captured.’ (Picture: Richard Peters)
Animal portraits category highly commended: A Curious Nose
Photographer Laura Dyer says: ‘One of the rarer African finds and a lifelong dream for many is seeing an aardvark. These nocturnal creatures are notoriously difficult to spot and even rarer to photograph, as they emerge under the cover of darkness to search for ants, of which they can eat up to 50,000 in one night. Feeding at night allows them to feel safer, as they are harder to spot by predators, against whom their only defence is a quick retreat into their burrow or a battle with their very sharp claws. Aardvarks, however, are very sensitive to the cold, feeding in bursts and returning to their burrows to both digest and keep warm. On this particular visit to the Makgadikgadi Pans, a sudden cold snap in the central Kalahari meant that night-time temperatures plummeted well below zero, lower than what the aardvark can comfortably handle. This meant its night-time feeding schedule was not long enough to meet its food requirements. As a result, on this rare occasion, a sunset aardvark existed on Earth. He left the burrow before dark to lengthen the time he had to feed, and you can imagine my joy as I was able to spend time watching this curious-looking creature, digging for termites and using those long ears to listen intently to their underground activity. It was a truly special experience to observe an aardvark out in the open, calmly feeding and completely relaxed in our presence. It was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase this rare species and to see, in such sunlit detail, all that makes up one of Africa’s most remarkable mammals.’ (Picture: Laura Dyer)
Youth category highly commended: Couple
Photographer Andres Luis Dominguez Blanco says: ‘This photograph shows a short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) perched on a sunflower at dusk, in the agricultural plains near Valladolid, in the heart of the Spanish plateau. The image was taken during a summer visit, at a time when a noticeable concentration of adult and juvenile owls had gathered in the area after the breeding season. Their presence was linked to a local vole (Microtus arvalis) outbreak, which had resulted in an exceptional availability of prey. During the visit, I observed how the owls became active at sunset. They emerged from the vegetation to preen on the sunflower stems before beginning their hunting flights. The sunflowers offered excellent visibility and natural camouflage within the farmland. The birds showed relatively calm behaviour, especially when observed discreetly from inside a vehicle. To capture this image, I used a friend’s car as a hide and photographed through the rear window. This method allowed me to remain unnoticed and let the owl behave naturally. The vehicle also provided flexibility in composition and a lower perspective without disturbing the birds. The photo highlights the short-eared owl’s ability to adapt to agricultural landscapes and take advantage of temporary ecological conditions. Though usually associated with open natural areas, these owls make effective use of farmland when prey is abundant. Their crepuscular habits make encounters like this possible, where light, environment, and behaviour align.’ (Picture: Andres Luis Dominguez Blanco) Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
