It was sunset when the snow leopard finally brushed by Sascha Fonseca’s camera trap high up in the Indian Himalayas. Fonseca had gone to great lengths to portray the elusive big cat, known as “the ghost of the mountain.” Fascinated by snow leopards for their incredible camouflage and the remote regions they inhabit, Fonseca had…

Back and bigger than ever, Nature Talks’ annual Nature Photographer of the Year competition has revealed its winners for 2022. The winners were chosen in 13 different categories after the judges considered 20,952 entries from 96 different countries. Taking the overall top spot and a prize of 3,000 euros, Russian photographer Dmitry Kokh won with…

Destroying the stereotype of the hulking gorilla, this picture reveals the species in an atypically tender light. Tomasz Szpila’s photo “Touch” captures a male gorilla’s gentle digit upon a baby sibling’s forehead. It also saw Szpila crowned 2022 Wilderness Safaris Photographer of the Year. Only seven days old at the time, the infant primate belongs to the…

We can fully appreciate the anguished expression crossing the face of this 81-year-old Greek woman, Kritsiopi Panayiota, who stands grief-stricken before a hellish backdrop of forest fires on the verge of consuming her home. As the devastating infernos of California’s wildfires in 2020 continue to haunt recent American memory, Grecians recall the worst fires their…

From a safe distance, French drone photographer Armand Sarlangue arranges a rendezvous with an explosive volcanic fissure located several hundred meters from the main crater of Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland—also known as the “Land of Ice and Fire.” Dancing far above gleaming molten lava, Sarlangue’s drone camera captured what no unaided human photographer could hope…

“Tour boats had been watching the young whale for days as it slowly moved through the bay, appearing sicker and slower with more shark bites over its body day after day.” The scene was visceral. While making its annual migration north along Ningaloo Reef off Australia’s northwest coast, the fledgling-adult humpback, maimed and ailing, inched…

As all manner of mandates and travel restrictions have impeded would-be underwater photographers from diving with their cameras into seas, tropical lagoons, and other submerged spots around the world, it hasn’t stopped the Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) competition from rolling out this year’s host of winners. Some 4,200 splendid subaquatic shots piled in from…