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This week I’m sharing my four photographs that have been finalists in The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competitions, which is Australia’s largest and most prestigious NPOTY competition. This year’s exhibition will open to the public on Saturday 30 August at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. The exhibition will be formally opened at a private function on the evening of Friday 29th attended by short-listed photographers and their guests. I used to live in Adelaide, and Coober Pedy, and am rapt to be visiting South Australia for this event.

GRAPHIC WARNING – two of the images were finalists in the Our Impact category.

The Pollinator was a finalist in the Animal Behaviour category in 2018, and was published with this caption: Honeyeaters are especially vulnerable when sipping nectar from large, tubular flowers. This New Holland honeyeater was heavily dusted with pollen from the flowers it had visited. I was amazed to capture the unique sunburst of pollen surrounding its head when it swiftly withdrew from the flax lily.

The Hand of Man was a finalist in Our Impact category in 2019. It was a harrowing photograph to take and was published with the caption: During Victoria’s duck-shooting season rescuers found spent cartridges, dog prints and freshly shot protected species, along with this Little Penguin which the zoo vet said had injuries consistent with dog attack. Instead of a catchlight in the penguin’s eye it is captured in the droplet of blood.

Gannet Discipline was a finalist in the Animal Behaviour category in 2020. I was thrilled to be a finalist for three consecutive years. This incredible shot, which I can still hardly believe I was able to capture, is remarkable for the sight itself and the fact that there are no other gannets photobombing the image. Gannet Discipline was published with this caption: Although this fledgling had just been fed, it was insistently tapping its parent’s bill and calling for more food. In what seemed to be a swift act of parental discipline, the adult bird held its chick in a momentary headlock. It was an unexpected, and comical, glimpse into the private life of gannets.

Anguish is a finalist this year in the Our Impact category. I feel a deep sadness every time I see this photograph, or even think about it. I think we all understand that adult creatures care about their offspring but this photograph shows the care that youngsters have for their parents. The caption I wrote for this image is: This juvenile cormorant cradled its parent with a wing as it desperately tried to release the life-threatening entanglement. The image shows the potential harm from discarded fishing line while also revealing the poignant, anthropomorphic connection between birds. Despite concerted efforts from specialist marine wildlife rescuers, the cormorant sadly evaded capture.

I highly recommend taking a look at the finalists for each AGNPOTY competition. You can pick a year and a category by clicking this link: Nature Photographer of the Year Galleries I also recommend the books that are published each year, called Australasian Nature Photography – The year’s best wildlife and landscape photos

The AGNPOTY competition attracts entries from hundreds of photographers in Australia and around the world, so I feel especially thrilled to have been able to enter some years and to have my images among those included among such fabulous photographs in these magnificent galleries and books.

I’ll be finalising numbers for the calendar print run in the few days so please click the link if you’d like to join the 150 people so far who will be enjoying their lirralirra calendars next year: Etsy – Kim Wormald lirralirra

Happy birding, Kim

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