Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition opens at NHM 

The 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition showcases the competition’s top 100 photographs, whittled down from close to 50,000 entries from 95 countries.  

These images will go on display at the South Kensington museum from Friday, October 13.  

The ancient mariner by Laurent Ballesta (Image: Laurent Ballesta)

The exhibition includes 19 category winners as well as the overall winning entry, which was revealed at an awards ceremony in London yesterday, Tuesday, October 12.  

The winning snap was an image of a tri-spine horseshoe crab, accompanied by a trio of golden trevallies, taken by French marine biologist Laurent Ballesta.  

This is the second time Ballesta has won the award, having claimed the title back in 2021 for an “intriguing” image of camouflage groupers existing a milky cloud of eggs and sperm in French Polynesia. 

Owls’ road house by Carmel Bechler (Image: Carmel Bechler/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Balkesta’s crab photo, The golden horseshoe, is an otherworldly image of a crustacian that has survived for more than 100 million years, yet currently faces habitat destruction and overfishing for food and its blue blood which is used in the development of vaccines.  

The judges described the image as “luminescent”.  

Seventeen-year-old Carmel Bechler form Israel won Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023, for his image of barn owls in an abandoned roadside building.  

Judges praised the photo for its layered composition and meaning, and how it encapsulated both the issue of habitat destruction and the process of adaptation.  

Life on the edge by Amit Eshel (Image: Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year award launched in 1965 and is now in its 60th year.

Each of the images featured in the annual exhibition inspire awe and wonder and highlight the importance of conservation and sustainability as well showcase the diversity of the animal world. They are also just incredibly delightful images to look at.

Visit nhm.ac.uk for more information at take a look at some of the images below.  

The dead river by Joan de la Malla (Image: Joan de la Malla/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Alpine exposure by Luca Melcarne (Image: Luca Melcarne/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Hippo nursery by Mike Korostelev (Image: Mike Korostelev/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

The tadpole banquet by Juan Jesús Gonzalez Ahumada (Image: Juan Jesús Gonzalez Ahumada/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Out of the blue by Ekaterina Bee (Image: Ekaterina Bee/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)