Canadian nature photographer Jacquie Matechuk has gained the celebrated Nature Photographer of the Year 2023 competitors for her unimaginable photograph, “He Appears to be like to the Heavens,” which depicts a ravishing spectacled bear, also called an Andean bear, surrounded by dreamy Spanish moss in Ecuador.
“The Spanish moss hanging from this centuries-old fig tree offers an unimaginable sense of three-dimensionality whereas the smooth mild filtering by means of the colours highlights the profound connection between species and habitat on this picture,” explains competitors chairman Marco Gaiotti. “Lastly, the pose of this spectacled bear matches completely into the feel of the {photograph}.”
Of her successful picture, which has earned Matechuk the title “Nature of Photographer of the 12 months,” the Canadian photographer says, “Spanning greater than 8,000km, the Andean Mountain vary occupies greater than 1 / 4 of the land floor in Ecuador. Wealthy in biodiversity, it’s additionally residence to a singular species known as the Spectacled Bear. Till planning this journey, I knew nothing about them. However as an authorized bear information, I used to be excited to increase my data and understanding of a brand new species and to match habits and their interactions to these of our grizzly, polar, black, and brown bears.”
After touring from the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to the Andean mountains, Matechuk was struck by the wealthy, fertile lands of the nation. She met up with a neighborhood farmer/information within the rural mountains. Matechuk says the person is “gentle-natured” and has labored “tirelessly for many years” to look at, be taught, and advocate for spectacled bears, a threatened species and the one native bear species left in South America.
“For 11 days at roughly 8,000 ft above sea degree, we hiked vertical paths up and down the canyon partitions, trekking by means of creeks, ducking out of torrential downpours, and infrequently clambering by means of mud to look at these lovely bears. Of their pure habitat and with our information’s intimate data of every bear, we have been shortly accepted by them. We saved a respectful distance to make sure their consolation and it paid off in spades. They might nurse, go to sleep, cuddle, forage, and play, seemingly extra oblivious to our presence with every passing encounter,” Matechuk explains. The prize-winning photograph exhibits “Tony,” a big male spectacled bear seen continuously within the space.
Class Winners
Alongside Matechuk’s general successful picture, the competition’s judging panel additionally chosen winners throughout greater than a dozen classes, together with youth classes. Every successful picture is featured under and runner-up and extremely recommended images are available on the Nature Photographer of the Year website. Matechuk’s photograph gained the “Mammals” class, so the runner-up is seen under.
Birds
Mammals
Different Animals
Crops and Fungi
Panorama
Underwater
Nature Artwork
Human and Nature
Black and White
Animal Portraits
Nature of “De Lage landen”
Youth
Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award
Extra Data
Nature Photographer of the 12 months is an annual photograph contest operated by Nature Talks with a grand prize of over $3,200.
Photographers from almost 100 nations entered greater than 20,000 images in final yr’s competitors.
The awards ceremony occurred over the weekend on the Nature Talks Photograph Competition within the Netherlands. Profitable pictures can even be a part of a touring exhibition in Europe, together with within the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
Picture credit: All photographers are credited within the particular person captions. Photos supplied by the Nature Photographer of the 12 months competitors.
