The exhibition opens on Friday, 2 January, 2014

 

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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 exhibition follows the jubilee 50th competition, which has been organized by the National History Museum in London and the BBC Worldwide since 1965. Every year thousands of photographers send in their wildlife photographs taken all over the world; they are always proof to their insightful observation of the world's flora and fauna, and often a result of long-term tracking of wild animals. A panel of judges select finalists and winners in all the categories. This year the winning works were selected from 41, 421 photographs from over 90 countries. The annual exhibition presents around 100 most interesting, award-winning and commended pictures of the planet Earth's rich wildlife.

 

The main award and the grand title of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 went to Michael ‘Nick' Nichols from the United States for his black and white photograph called ‘The Last Great Picture'. Nichols also won in the Black and White category. His archetypal image shows five female lions with cubs, calmly resting and sleeping on a rocky outcrop soon after they had attacked and driven off one of the pride's males. The photo was taken in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, where the photographer had been following the lions for almost six months. He photographed them in infrared, a technique making the invisible visible and magical, mysterious and unparalleled.

 

The title of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 went to a Spanish boy, Carlos Perez Naval (in the 10 Years and Under category) for his photograph of a yellow scorpion basking on a stone, called ‘Stinger in the Sun'.

Among the best photographers of this year's competition there was a Pole, Łukasz Bożycki from Warsaw. He became a finalist in the Mammals category with his picture called ‘Winter Hang-out'. The author, a biologist and passionate wildlife photographer, was able to take a shot of a Daubenton's bat hibernating in a Second World War German bunker during his and his friend's winter expedition to Puszcza Piska Forest in northern Poland. The photo was dedicated to his friend, Piotr Tomasik, who died shortly afterwards.
A few changes have been introduced to this year's competition. There is only one winner and a few finalists; there are no second and third prizes or honorable mentions any more. Also, a new special award has been set up: People's Choice. Out of the thousands of pictures that have not qualified for the exhibition, the judges have chosen 50 for public assessment via the Internet. As a result there are five more photographs to be seen on the competition's website: www.wildlifephotographeroftheyear.com (but not at the premier exhibition in the Natural History Museum in London). One of these, called ‘Red Deer and Cranes', is by a Polish photographer, Marek Kosiński.

"Marek Kosiński was the first Polish photographer to be chosen for the exhibition (in 2002), but he had to wait twelve years for his next success. In the meantime, his son, Bartek, became the winner in the 10 Years and Under category in 2012. In 2013, Łukasz Bożycki was commended for his photograph ‘Eye of a Toad', and now, another success: he is a finalist in the Mammals category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014" - says the curator of the exhibition in Poland, Jerzy Zegarliński.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 exhibition opened in London on October 21. The winners of the 50th competition were announced and awards handed in at a ceremony in the National History Museum. In 2015 the exhibition will tour the world and it will come to Poland for the 13th time. Galeria Bielska BWA has hosted the event since 2004, each year with a record-breaking number of visitors. In 2015 the Polish tour of the exhibition starts in Bielsko-Biała and then continues in eleven more cities. Its patrons are the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and Minister of Environment.

The Polish tour has been organized by Agencja Zegart.

More information to be found on www.FotografiaDzikiejPrzyrody.pl (in Polish).

The exhibition will be open until 30 January, 2015.

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Wildlife Photographer of the Year is owned by Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide

                                   

 

Sponsor:

        

 

Polish tour organizor:

       

 

Media Patrons:

                         

 

Sponsor of the exhibition in Bielsko-Biała:

 

       

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