Highly commended in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 2025

I’m incredibly honored and deeply grateful to share that my image, “Inside The Pack,” has been highly commended in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is widely regarded as the most prestigious and respected award in the field of wildlife photography!  From a record-breaking number of entries to its 61st competition, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year has unveiled a first look at 15 inspiring and powerful images of our natural world.

In addition to this incredible recognition, my photo was also chosen as the cover image for the English edition of the portfolio book, a distinction I find truly humbling and inspiring. Unbelievably, this marks the second time in just the last three years that one of my photographs has been selected to grace the cover of what many lovingly call the “Oscars” of wildlife photography portfolio books.  Can someone please pinch me, because I still can hardly believe this is real!

Perhaps this image manages to capture and somewhat convey the overwhelming feeling of being completely surrounded by a pack of Arctic Wolves in their natural, wild environment — an experience so surreal and profound that it remains etched in my memory.  The very fortunate few who have had the rare opportunity to observe Arctic wolves in the remote and pristine parts of Ellesmere Island often remark on their playful nature and remarkable lack of fear towards humans.  Unlike other wolf species that face constant pressures from human encroachment, Arctic wolves maintain no inherent distrust of people. Furthermore, with an abundance of natural prey available in their untouched habitat, they do not view humans as a potential food source. Through this photograph, I wanted to highlight how the behavior of these stunning animals challenges the negative reputation and “Wolf Hate” culture that often arises from misunderstanding, myths, and folklore stories passed down through generations.

Words cannot fully express how meaningful my encounters with the Arctic Wolves of Ellesmere Island have been to me personally.  This journey symbolizes much more than a photographic achievement — it represents a metaphor for nurturing belief in myself and those around me, setting clear and purposeful goals, visualizing success, taking consistent and focused action, persevering through difficulties, and ultimately realizing that we all hold the power to turn what once seemed impossible dreams into reality.

Hidden Spirit trailer

I am very excited to share with you the trailer for the documentary film "Hidden Spirit" produced by my friend, the talented photographer and director Uri Magnus Dotan. About two and a half years ago we embarked on a expedition to Mongolia with the goal of making a film about the search of the elusive snow leopard. During the journey, very personal contents emerged from me, a story I kept to myself for over a decade, dealing with a pain that I shared with almost no one, including those closest to me. As the journey progressed, Uri's understanding grew stronger that the story that should be told on the film is the very personal story of my struggle. The decision to be exposed like this is not easy for me. A year later we went to Mongolia again to complete the shooting of the film, and soon after Uri continued editing and producing the film for a period of about a year and a half. The premiere of the film is a defining moment for me and my family, a very personal exposure but at the same time also a great sense of liberation from just talking about the subject, and a strong belief that watching the film can also provide inspiration, hope and support to people and families who are also dealing with similar issues.
For more info on the film:
https://www.hiddenspirit.co

Ellesmere Island expedition April 2024

Two years ago we tried to find and photograph the most elusive animal of the high arctic and we failed. I learned so much from the experience and from other people attempts so I worked together with our Inuit guides on a new plan, a grandiose plan with logistics at a level that only big film productions have been able to pull off to date, another failure was not an option!

Together with our amazing guides and a Canadian Eskimo sled dogs team we embarked on a 18 days journey farther north than our guides have been before. Our guides did an amazing job keeping us safe and warm in some very challenging weather conditions and using their vast knowledge of tracking and finding wildlife in the arctic environment.

I'm so stoked to tell you that mission accomplished, big time, we have found and photographed the White Arctic wolves of Ellesmere Island! It will take me some time to go through the wildlife photos and choose the best ones for different purposes, but I can't wait to share it with you soon as well as some of the stories from the expedition, I still get goosebumps when I think about what we experienced!

This place is so remote so the wolves have never been persecuted by men, they are naive to human presence, this is what we went to literally the edge of the world for, there is no other place on earth you can experience anything like it! Huge kudos for our amazing guides work and to Loi who made this ambitious plan possible, they made our dreams come true!

Let me know if you wish to join me for future Ellesmere Island trips:
https://www.amiteshel.com/workshops

HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY ANIMAL PORTRAIT Amit Eshel | Master of camouflage

Wild Snow Leopard male, Spiti Valley, India. 
We found this large Snow Leopard male as he was looking for a cover during a snowstorm.  His camouflage in the environment was simply amazing, If he hadn’t moved we would never have noticed him!  I loved the textures and zig-zag shape of the snow-covered rocks and wanted to include it all in the composition even though I could get a tighter shot of the Leopard using a longer lens and a teleconverter.  For me wildlife photography is firstly about capturing the Animal in the context of the environment.

Winning the Animals in their Environment category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition!

I'm very proud to announce my Image “Life on the Edge” just won the first place in the Animals in their Environment category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition! Being awarded as a category winners in the most prestigious nature photo contest is a dream come true for me!

Video credit: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

Some FAQ questions about this Image:

What’s happening in the image? Nubian Ibex battle on the edge of the cliff with the beautiful backdrop of Zin Desert mountains. During the rut season males fur becomes darker in areas such as front chest and legs, the neck muscles thicken and they fight for the right to breed with the females. The battle usually begins with a display of the horns while tilting the head to the sides.  In the second stage, if a fight develops, the males push each other as they both turn their heads and the base of their horns towards each other. If the opponents are equal, more vigorous fighting ensues as the males stand on their hind legs and strike each other.  In this mode, the collisions of the horns make a loud sound that can be heard far and wide.  Despite these violent fights, there is no damage to the skull, but sometimes horns are broken. Courting males seldom feed and expend much energy on fighting or mating, sometimes resulting in severe deterioration of their physical condition.  Background story: I envisioned and dreamed about such kind of a image for many years since I started following and photographing the Nubian Ibex herd that live in this stunning environment. I always wanted to capture 2 adult males fighting in that exact spot by using a wide angle lens and include the beautiful desert habitat but I have never had a chance to do it until that special morning when I spotted these adults males just after sunrise on the cliff above me as they just started battling.  I wanted include the Zin valley and mountains in the image so I knew I will have to hike up and and position myself above them with the stunning backdrop. I made my way up the cliff In a careful detour trying not to spook them and slowly positioned myself closer and closer to them in order to achieve the composition and angle of sunlight I envisioned in my mind.  What motivated you to take this image?
By showing my images and telling the story conservation story of Nubian Ibex in Israel I wish to raise more awareness and act for conservation of this beautiful species. I have been working on a long-term project about the Nubian ibex life in different seasons and locations in order to tell the story of the species. The Nubian ibex is found in the desert mountain chains of Jordan and Israel, as well as in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen.  Less than 2500 ibexes are estimated to remain in the wild, the population is thought to be at carrying capacity in Israel, but otherwise critically endangered in other areas.  Threats include habitat loss (via agriculture, livestock, and infrastructure development), hunting, pollution, and competition with non-native species. What challenges were faced in order to capture this image? Finding battling adult males Nubian Ibex is challenge, over the years I have seen many juvenile Nubian Ibex bumping their heads as a practice in order to test their strength against each other, but seeing adult males battling at full power for the right to breed was the first time for me. Getting close enough to the Ibex in order to effectively use a wide lens is key for achieving such a image. I did not want to interfere in any way with their natural behavior and so I approached with the utmost caution. To my delight, they were so engrossed in the battle and completely ignored my presence. The males fought for about fifteen minutes, at times I was worried about one of them falling down from the cliff but at the end one of them surrendered without any serious injuries. It was an incredible moment in nature to witness! What do you like most about it? The satisfaction feeling I had after I was finally able to execute the image as I envisioned it was incredible. I feel like everything came together in this image, the composition, the behavior, the quality and direction of light, the incredible desert environment, all the ingredients combined into one complete frame which I immediately knew was special. It is very rare that I immediately feel that way about a photo I took, I usually very critical about my work. Technical details: Canon r5, canon ef 24-70mm f2.8l ii usm, canon adapter ef to rf. 1/800, F8, ISO 500

Nature is my inspiration!

Years ago I started practicing photography as a tool to capture wildlife portraits as inspiration for my jewelry designs and fell in love with wildlife photography.
Interestingly, engaging in both Photography and jewelry design affected my perspective and the way I create and in both fields!
The first principle that guides me in both design and photography is simplicity.
Emphasis on composition, separation, contrast, relations and spacing between shapes and lines, effective silhouettes, all of these principles are the basis for a good aesthetic photograph and design in my eyes.
When looking at a small scale jewelry you should easily understand what you see, same in photography, keeping it simple and clearly understood even when looking at it in a small scale is a key to a good image.
When I started photographing I was mainly attracted to animal portraits and closeups and was trying to encapsulate their beauty to a minimum of shapes and lines that capture their essence.
The same principles that guided and influenced my jewelry designs from the beginning affected the way I was photographing.
After practicing photography for a while I realized that some very important key elements might be missing from most of my work in both fields - emotion, storytelling and sense of place and time.
I started focusing on these elements in my photography and soon enough it influenced and inspired my jewelry designs as well.
I found it challenging in photography to focus on emotion, storytelling and sense of place and time, while still maintaining the aesthetic values and simplicity I was looking for.
In wildlife photography we can plan, hope and try to achieve a dream shot, but nature is not in our control and to be honest most times we can not capture the image we were dreaming about.
In the rare occasions when everything falls together I feel unparalleled satisfaction and that’s why I love wildlife photography so much!
The beauty in jewelry design and paintings is that there is no limits for my imagination, I can place all the elements I want together!
Here are a few examples of how I use my photography as inspiration for my jewelry design and vice versa.
For more of my jewelry designs you can visit my Jewelry shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/siberianartjewelry/

Nubian Ibex I captured in Israel

The jewelry design inspired by my Nubian Ibex image.
Well, this was the very rare occasions when everything fell together in the image, I was very lucky to be at the right place at the right time and to witness this magic moment and document it in such a way.
I did not have to use my imagination too much and just tried to keep the composition as close to the original image I captured and try to simplify it a little to make it work as a jewelry design.
I’m very happy with the way the jewelry design came up but I still don't think it can compete with the power of the original image.
You can see all my Nubian Ibex jewelry designs and order here

Snow Leopard image I captured in Mongolia.

The jewelry design inspired by the Snow Leopard image, I loved the pose of the leopard in this image because I think it’s capturing the essence of the Snow Leopard and its incredible grace and adaptation to the harsh life in the mountains.
I tried to make this design a little more geometric and added a little of my imagination, notice the use of straight lines in the design, it emphasizes with the Leopard natural environment characterized by the sharp and jagged mountains.
You can see all my Snow Leopard jewelry designs and order here

Emotional image of a Puma and kitten hug I captured in Patagonia, Chile.

The jewelry design inspired by the image, I added sense of place (the the mythical Torres Del Paine towers in the background) that I could only dream to capture together with the emotion in the original image.
You can see all my Puma jewelry designs and order here

Dall Sheep Image I captured in the Yukon, Canada.

The jewelry design inspired by the image, I added stronger action and storytelling to what I was able to capture in the original image.
You can see my Dall Sheep designs and order here

Polar Bear Image I captured in Canada.

The jewelry design inspired by the image, I added tension to the composition by making the cubs smaller and used positive and negative spaces to create a story and sense of place and time.
You can see all my Polar bear designs and order here

Humpback whale breaching I captured in Baja California, Mexico.

The jewelry design inspired by the image, I wanted to tell the story of both worlds above and below water at the same time.
Still dreaming about trying to capture a real image showing both worlds this way :)
You can see all my Whale design and order here

Moose couple captured during fall in Alaska.
Not a great photo but it inspired me, I love Moose!

The jewelry design inspired by the image, I wanted it to express more emotion and to have cleaner and simpler background from what I could capture in the original image.
You can see all my Moose designs and order here

Wolverine captured in Finland.

The jewelry design inspired by the image and as you can see it is very similar to what I captured in my camera.
I actually did not make to much changes, I just changed the animal climbing pose a bit, cleaned a few distracting branches and added some aesthetic elements.
You can see all my Wolverine designs and order here

Coastal wolf image I captured in BC, Canada.

Habitat shot of Coastal British Columbia, Canada.

The jewelry design inspired by my visit to coastal British Columbia, I still haven’t captured my dream shot of a coastal Wolf and I will try again in the future, but if I ever get my dream Coastal Wolf photo it may look a lot like the jewelry I designed :)
You can see all my Wolf designs and order here

This photo was taken many years ago when I just started practicing Wildlife photography and went on a safari trip to Tanzania.
And, yes I know it’s not a great Photo (to say the least…) but it reminded me of an exciting moment when a a Lioness walked towards me in the open African savannah with her cubs following.
It inspired me to design a jewelry in a way I would love to capture these magnificent animals in the mind of the more experienced photographer I’m today.

I called this design “African sunset”.
The principles that guide my photography and designing are all here: simplicity, story telling, sense of place… and the beauty in jewelry design is that there is no limits to what I can create even if I did not capture the photo I was hoping for while being in the field.
You can see all my Lion designs and order here

In search of the white Arctic Wolves.

I owe you a story…
More than a year ago I came back from Ellesmere Island, Canada's northernmost island. Ellesmere Island is a location I dreamed about for many years, debating with myself whether I should go there or not considering the high costs and level of difficulty. During the late winter of 2022 the window of opportunity opened and I decided to go for it. The Island is so remote that it took 6 domestic flights inside Canada just to get to Grise Fjord, the northernmost civilian community in Canada on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island. Grise Fjord was the starting point of our trip and from there we traveled north on land and sea ice with our Inuit guides using snow machines and traditional Inuit sleds. This trip had a very specific goal, to find and photograph the white Arctic Wolves who live on this island. The Arctic Wolves of Ellesmere Island were professionally photographed by no more than 50 people in the history, most of these people have worked for films productions with tremendous financial and time resources. The estimate is that there are only about 200 wolves living on Ellesmere Island, the tenth largest in the world, slightly smaller than Great Britain, this is the difficulty level we are talking about here, far above anything I have done in the past, there is no tourist infrastructure on the island, very few people have ever been there.

So why did I decide to go to literally the end of the world for it? Because this is maybe the only place on earth where some of the wolves are completely naive to the presence of people since they have never been persecuted or encountered by man. Finding these White Arctic Wolves and standing face to face meters away from them on the ground is my biggest dream in wildlife photography, to be privileged to experience something like this is not an experience that can be described in words. However, in order to find these "naive" wolves you must travel far way north on the Island and get away from the local hunters pressure which has already caused a change in the behavior of the wolves living in the south to the mid part of the island, these wolves are no longer "naive" and behave like "normal" wolves - very beware of the presence of people. Therefore we knew we will have to travel very far north on land just to have a chance to meet Wolves that are not afraid of people. This was a very tough trip, it was very cold with temperatures dropped below minus 35 degrees Celsius + wind chill. The ride on the traditional sleds was extremely bumpy and back breaking, it was very tough physically and mentally. Despite the difficulties, after 4 very long days of travel we managed to reach to the area of the island where we wanted to be, this point was way farther north than our wonderful Inuit guides have ever been before. That area looked very promising with many Wolves tracks, big Musk Ox herds and we even found 2 Musk Ox remains that were recently killed by Wolves. At that point things started to get complicated and we suddenly realized that because of the long and difficult journey we went through due to unexpected difficult terrain conditions we did not have enough fuel left in order to spend a few days in the core area and search as we planed.
At that point we had just enough fuel left for the long way back to Grise Fjord. This was the moment we realized that our chances of meeting the wolves Wolves are fading away rapidly. During the long way back to Grise Fjord while camping along the way I have done everything I could in order to have a chance to meet the wolves, I have hardly slept and spent most of the hours of the nights (midnight sun) outside hoping the Wolves will miraculously appear near hour camp, unfortunately it did not happen... Ellesmere Island is by far the most beautiful and the most remote place I have visited, I came back home with a lot of good memories and insights, a couple of nice shots of other arctic wildlife but to be honest I'm devastated, this was the trip I gambled on everything, financially, the physical and mental price, the fact that I left a wife and baby at home who really need me, just to comeback empty handed... On social media it is customary to show only the bright side of things usually, well this was not the case here, I was licking my wounds for a while and I see no reason to hide these feelings. However, I feel so lucky just to be able to be there and I learned so much from the experience, I had to try and make a dream come true and I now know what need to be done in order to have a much better chance to succeed next time. Huge thanks to our wonderful Inuit guides and to Eric and Loi my wonderful expedition partners who shares the same passion for arctic wolves like me and of course the biggest thank you and appreciation to my amazing and supportive family.
Based on the experience gained I have made a new plan and we will be going for another expedition in April 2024.
Wish us luck!

I designed jewelry inspired by my drawings as a young child

I want to share with you a project I have been working on for the last few months and really means a lot to me. Last year while organizing an old storage unit, my mother found a big pile of hundreds of drawings I made during the years of 1981-1983 when I was only 4-6 years old. I knew I was drawing from a very young age but I did not remember drawing or even seeing most of these drawings in the past. I must admit it was overwhelming and incredibly touching for me to find this treasure and looking of many of these drawings I could not believe I have created them in such a young age (fortunately the drawing are dated). There was something fresh, and un influenced by nothing but my internal world that apparently did not changed much to this day I knew right away that I have to do something with this find and not let it rest in a storage for another 40 years. I decided to select 8 of these drawings and make a little art project Inspired by it.
the main idea was the keep it as close as possible to the original drawing and just add a bit extra 3d dimension feel to it. I was not trying to find the perfect line or shape, or trying to draw something “correctly” as I did in most of my adult life creation but letting the imperfections be and embrace the beauty and freedom of it without trying to please anybody or worry about any commercial purposes. There is something very liberating in this creative process and I think I will be embracing this approach for my future work. I hope you will enjoy and connect to this project as much as I did when I found this little treasure and worked on this special project who took me back in time to the core of who I’m. I made this project for myself without any goal of pleasing anyone or sell these pieces but if you like one of these creations you are more than welcome to have it or even ask me to make something like that based on your own or your family members drawing.
You can see all of them and order here Fashion production and some of the images by the talented Maya Maymoni Models: Maya Goren and Roza Igzaw.

Me as a Child

Kangaroo

Kangaroo

Leopard

Leopard

Leopard

Giraffe

Giraffe

Giraffe

Elephant

Elephant

Elephant

Zebra

Zebra
That’s my boy modeling it :)

Tiger

Tiger

Lion

Lion

Lion and Elephant

Monster

Monster

Monster

Winning the Conservation Story category at Nature's Best Photography awards.

I'm very proud to announce my Iberian Lynx project just won the first place in the Conservation Story category at the prestigious Nature's Best Photography photo competition!

Another Alaskan brown bear image of mine was Highly Honored in the Animal Antics category.

I’m very happy to be a part of this year gallery together with other photographers I truly admire (I’m not mentioning any names cause I will surely forget someone), congratulations to all this year winners!

During the spring and summer of 2021 I was observing and photographing the Iberian Lynx in PEÑALAJO, a 2,260-hectare estate located between the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Mudela and Almuradiel in Ciudad Real, very close to the northernmost foothills of Sierra Morena, Spain. The Mediterranean forests that the Iberian lynx calls home are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Europe, but the continent’s most endangered cat enjoys one meal above all others - rabbit. A superb, stealthy hunter, the lynx’s specialty is catching rabbits, which account for up to 90% of its diet. At the beginning of the 2000’s only two isolated breeding populations remained in the world, located in southern Spain, and totaling about 100 adult animals, with only 25 breeding females. it was essential to give the lynx more room to breed by creating new populations in other regions. Based on the quantity of rabbits and the quality of the habitat, sites were selected in eastern Sierra Morena, Montes de Toledo, and the Matachel valley in Extremadura as well as the Guadiana valley in Portugal. PEÑALAJO has always considered the conservation of Mediterranean habitats, pasture and arable land was a perfect habitat to take part in the conservation plan of the reintroduction of the Iberian lynx to its historical distribution in Ciudad Real. The local farmers have been working together with the different local and regional administrations and together with WWF, improving the habitat of the Iberian lynx and the local rabbit population. The result, several years later, is that PEÑALAJO has one of the highest Iberian lynx densities in the Iberian Peninsula, with 3 breeding populations, and between 5- 10 new cubs spotted each year.

The high density of rabbits has meant that females successfully breed more than two cubs on average per season and that there is a high number of young specimens in the area. In midday in summer, the mercury climbing above 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit), therefor a number of water holes were built to help the wildlife survive the very hot and dry summer.

A small hide was built next to the water hole I have spent many days trying to see and photograph the elusive cats, most days no cats showed up next to the hide but I got lucky few times during three different trips to Spain throughout the spring and summer of 2021 and about 3 weeks in total of sitting in the hide. Every rare encounter with the cats moved me and filled me with joy.

The great news from the field are that due to the conservation efforts the species continue to recover from the brink of extinction and now it's numbers are consistently rising and lately estimated to be over a 1300 cats!

New Podcast - Wildlife photo chat with Ray Hennessy

t was a pleasure talking to Ray Hennessy about wildlife photography and some of my experiences from the field!
You can listen to the Podcast here: http://rayhennessy.com/wildlife-photo-chat-podcast/2020/12/30/047-amit-eshel

Travel Photographer of the Year awards 2020

Great news from Travel Photographer of the Year awards 2020!

My Musk Ox portfolio was awarded Runner Up (joint 2nd place) in the Nature, Sealife, Wildlife category out of a great gallery of images and a very tough competition.

I have been visiting Dovrefjell in Norway several times in the last couple of years working on this project and I truly enjoy everyday I spent with these ice age survivors on the mountains and I'm particularly proud of the way these photos where achieved by putting the time and effort hiking the mountains and tracking the animals with friends by ourselves in some harsh conditions.

The secret of building a strong portfolio of 4 images is choosing photos that works well together as one unite, not all necessary needs to be the strongest images I took in the location but they must support each other in terms of style, composition, diversity and most importantly storytelling.

This is my 3rd portfolio awarded in this competition out of 3 portfolios I entered in the last couple of years!
To the winners gallery: https://www.tpoty.com/2020-winners/

Living rocks.
On a very windy day in February 2018 I was snowshoeing up the Norwegian mountains with two friends. After a tough two hours hike we spotted a few dark spots in the distance.
As we got closer we realised they were a small group of Musk Ox, inhabiting the mountains like ancient living rocks.
During the cold winter Musk Ox are moving up the mountains to higher elevations where the strong winds blow off the deep snow and make it easier for them to use their hooves and dig through snow to graze on the roots, mosses, and lichens that sustain them.

Together as one.
We have spent a few hours with them on the top of the mountain especially watching the bonding between a female and two calves.
They were so gentle and affectionate to each other, playful, completely calm and naive to our presence.
I have captured many images of the family but this image capturing a dynamic playful moment between them stood out among the rest in my eyes.
It is not common to observe such interactions among Musk Ox.
Another thing I love about this image is how the way they are all standing tight together is forming a silhouette that looks like one big Musk Ox in profile, standing against the wind and fighting the elements.

Solitude.
A large male Musk ox stands at a high vantage point to watch over his herd of females and calves.
Climbing up the snowy mountain to observe and document them in their natural element made me feel like I was living in another age, it’s a miracle that they’ve survived the changes of our planet to this day.

Ice age survivors.
During a blizzard the Musk ox will often Lie down together to keep warm and Wait for the storm to pass.
Musk Oxen have 2 layers of fur – the outer layer called “guard hairs” and the inner layer of shorter hairs called “qiviut”.
The under-layer can be used to spin a form of wool that is 8 times warmer than a sheep’s wool and considered to be the warmest natural fibers in the world.
Spending time with them opens my imagination to ancient life and unknown times, a strong reminder of the fact that these majestic creatures are here to stay and must be protected.

Highly Commended in the Nature photographer of the year 2020 contest.

Very happy to share that my image "Living in the moment" was Highly Commended in the category of Animals portraits at the Nature photographer of the year 2020 contest.
To the gallery of all the wonderful winning images:
https://naturephotographeroftheyear.com/previous-editions/npoty-2020-results/

"When Rays Fly" awarded Highly Commended at Siena international photo awards.

Good news from Siena international photo awards!
My image "When Rays Fly" was awarded Highly Commended in the Animals in their environment category.
Proud to have my photo selected in a very competitive field with many of the top wildlife photographers competing in only one wildlife category.
The story behind the shot:
We were sailing on a small boat of the cost of the Sea of Cortez, Mexico and encounter a large group of Mobula Rays swimming trough us and breaching out of the water constantly.
These creatures are just as graceful in mid air as they are in the water, flipping their wings like flying birds.
The amazing phenomenon only lasted a few short moments before the school disappeared back into the depths.
While there are multiple hypotheses for their behavior, researchers have yet to prove any conclusively.
A few of the most recent theories for why Mobula rays jump are mating ritual, parasite cleaning or communication.
To the category winners gallery: https://sipacontest.com/gallery/2020/category/67

Travel Photographer of the Year awards 2019

I'm very honored to announce that 2 of my portfolios were awarded on the 2019 Travel Photographer of the Year awards.
My Pumas were Highly Commended in the Endangered Planet category and my Bears photo received a special mention in the same category.
Over 20,000 images were submitted to the contest this year and I'm very proud to have my name up there with a short list of very gifted photographers.
Congratulations to all the winners!
To the winners gallery: https://www.tpoty.com/winners/

"Rupestre", a beautiful wild Puma and incredible mother to 4 kittens.
The Puma of Patagonia, once almost hunted to extinction, has made a phenomenal comeback in the last decades thanks to safeguarding measures.
The story behind the place and how it became a very unique place to view Pumas in the wild began as a tragic tale told by local guide
Dania Goic from Estancia Laguna Amarga.
Dania’s grandfather established a Estancia (farm) adjacent the eastern entrance to the Torres Dell Paine National Park in 1976.
Local ranches at the time were primarily sheep ranchers earning their living by selling wool and Christmas lambs.
Most sheep ranchers despised Pumas because they preyed on the Sheep and often killed Pumas illegally.
In 2005, a human-made fire swept the area, and burned half of Estancia Laguna Amarga, creating additional difficulties for the family.
Soon after the fires, wildlife began to recolonise the ranch and because the sheep herds had been so reduced, the Goic family made no attempts to drive them back into the Park.
In the coming years the family started to try coexisting peacefully with Pumas in a part of the world where conflict with sheep is still rampant, and pumas are frequently illegally killed in retaliation.
They still raise sheep as well, but within a more holistic and sustainable framework, using livestock guarding dogs to protect their small flock from pumas.
The estancia became a refuge for wildlife, the only place on the planet where it is possible not only to locate wild Pumas on an almost daily basis but also to safely observe them from a close distance on foot, proving these beautiful cats do not see human as a food source when not pushed for a impossible reality of survival following our invasion of their natural habitat and elimination of their natural food sources.
An example of conservation and coexistence with a wild cat that is persecuted and misunderstood in other parts of the Americas.
If managed poorly, the backlash for pumas, local people and local economies could be drastic. But one cannot deny the incredible potential that Puma tourism holds for challenging how we live with pumas everywhere.

"Patagonian future".
All 4 young Puma kittens of Rupestre, estimated to be about 4 months old.
mothers give birth in a cave or alcove to a litter of between one and six cubs–typically two.
Born blind, cubs are completely dependent on their mother at first, and begin to be weaned at around three months of age.
As they grow, they begin to go out on forays with their mother, first visiting kill sites.
Kitten survival rates are just over one per litter.
These beautiful wild cats where completely calm in my presence, accepted me into their world and allowed me to capture some unique moments like this image of them sunbathing under the early morning sun.

"Hug to mom"
A 4 months old Puma kitten gives a loving hug to his mom Rupestre.
Pumas rely mainly on vision, smell, and hearing. They use low-pitched hisses, growls, purrs, yowls, and screams in different circumstances. Loud, chirping whistles by young serves to call the mother.
Touch is important in social bonding between mother and young.

"Lessons in behavior"
Rupestre looking for prey from a high advantage position while her playful cubs learning by imitation .
The kittens nurse for three months, steadily growing in size as they incorporate meat into their diet.
By 8 months old the cubs are about 45 pounds and are learning to hunt under the guidance of their mother, who leads them to kill sites and teaches them to catch small prey.
After two years, juveniles leave their mothers to establish their own home ranges–male juveniles typically depart before females.

"Cotton candies".
After fertilisation in early summer, the small, unremarkable brown and green flowers develop distinctive white bristle-like seed-heads that resemble tufts of cotton.
Peak flowering lasts only two weeks a year and varies from year to year depending on the weather.
After a long wait my efforts bore fruit and I was privileged to witness this beautiful family of mother and triplet wild Eurasian Brown Bears stepping out of the forest and playing in this beautiful settings.
Cubs are born in the den in January and February, a litter is usually two to three cubs and the female bear raises them alone.
During this phase a female bear is extremely aggressive and will occasionally attack male bears if they come too close to the cubs.
The cubs stay one and half to two years with their mother.

Proud to have my Pumas and Bear images together with the winning images from the 2019 Travel Photographer of the Year awards are displayed in a spectacular, free-to-view outdoor exhibition in magnificent new London venue for TPOTY – Coal Drops Yard, near King’s Cross and St Pancras stations.

Winning the Grand Prize of 2019 Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice Awards!

I'm incredibly excited and honored to announce my Muskox image has been selected as the Grand Prize winner of 2019 Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice Awards!

It is one of the most prestige nature photography competitions in the world with over 25,000 images from 63 different countries submitted this year.

Any mention in the finals of this prestige competition is a incredible honor, winning the Grand Prize is beyond my wildest dreams and hopes!

It is a huge milestone in my career and an achievement I will treasure forever!

Big thanks to my two photographer friends Yair Schwartz and Amir Eyal who went with me on this trip, I can not be more proud of the way this image was captured after enormous physical effort tracking these magnificent animals in the Norwegian mountains winter by ourselves, a truly old school wildlife photography!

I'm very proud to be a part of this group of very talented photographers which I respect!

For the gallery of this year Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice Awards finalists you can visit: https://spark.adobe.com/page/LGPFr9hF3ybMh/?fbclid=IwAR2v-fc4a6tBwHYahu2Y4-LVP5mKr8Gar_AJHysY7LDq-ufK138lUzku2y0