An image of a slumbering polar bear curled up on an iceberg has been selected as the winner of this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award.
The image, titled “Ice Bed,” was captured by British amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.
Calling the winning an award an honour, Sarikhani said that the image “stirred strong emotions,” such as hope, in those who saw it.He also emphasized the importance of addressing climate change, stating that there is still time to rectify the damage we have caused.
The competition received an overwhelming response, with over 75,000 people participating in the voting process – a record-breaking number. Out of the 50,000 entries, “Ice Bed” was selected from a shortlist of 25 images.
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is curated by the Natural History Museum in London. Douglas Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, described the winning shot as “poignant” and “breathtaking.”
The “thought-provoking image is a stark reminder of the integral bond between an animal and its habitat and serves as a visual representation of the detrimental impacts of climate warming and habitat loss,” Gurr said in the release.
Alongside the winner, four other images were highly commended. All five photographs will be on display at the Natural History Museum in London until June 30.

A photo of a polar bear sleeping on an iceberg has won the People Choice category in a wildlife photography competition run by the National History Museum in the UK. 

Called the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the competition attracted more than 50,000 entries from around the world. 

Judges announced the overall winner in October, with the grand title taken out by Laurent Ballesta for his photo of a horseshow crab with three little golden trevally fish swimming above it. 

Of the 50,000 images, there were only 100 finalists. 

Then the judges and the museum shortlisted 25 images to be displayed in the London museum, with members of the public asked to vote for their favourite. 

Overnight, the museum announced that Nima Sarikhani’s photo, called Ice Bed, was the public’s top pick.

The UK photographer took the image while on an expedition vessel in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.

“Having spent three days searching for polar bears through thick fog, the expedition vessel I was on decided to change course,” Sarikhani explained on Instagram. 

“It turned and headed to where there was still some sea ice.

“Here we encountered a younger and an older male and watched the pair over the following eight hours.

“Just before midnight, the young male clambered onto a small iceberg and, using his strong paws, clawed away at it to carve out a bed for himself.”

The photographer said it was an honour to be named the public’s favourite. 

“I love that this image stirs so much emotion in people,” Sarikhani said in a statement. 

“Some find it happy and peaceful, and some find it somehow melancholic or ominous.

“Whilst climate change is the biggest challenge we face, I hope that this photograph also inspires hope; there is still time to fix the mess we have caused.”

Top four images

While the polar bear image was the winner, four others were awarded highly commended prizes.  

Other photos in the running

The top five images were selected by the public from a shortlist of 25 photo, with the museum saying they were all memorable images

Two photos in the selection were taken in Australia. 

The one below was taken by Charles Davis in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. 

It shows a wood duck and her ducklings

The second Australian photo came from Ofer Levy, who took the photo below in Western Australia’s Roebuck Bay.

It shows challenge between a territorial mudskipper and a trespassing crab.

Here are other images the public voted on. 

Check out this pawsitively adorable snap of a polar bear catching some z’s on an iceberg.

It stole the hearts of thousands, and it snagged the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award.

British photographer Nima Sarikhani’s “Ice Bed” won the top spot in the 59th annual Natural History Museum of London contest with a whopping 75,000 votes, beating about 50,000 other (also beautiful) entries from over 100 countries, according to a press release by the museum.

After three days of searching on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway, Sarikhani finally stumbled upon a couple of bears. He began following the majestic creatures, and after eight hours, the little fella got tired and started to craft a makeshift bed with his sharp claws. Sarikhani saw an opportunity and took it!

“I am so honored to have won this year’s People’s Choice award for Wildlife Photography of the Year, the most prestigious wildlife photography competition. This photograph has stirred strong emotions in many of those who have seen it,” Sarikhani told the museum. “Whilst climate change is the biggest challenge we face, I hope that this photograph also inspires hope. There is still time to fix the mess we have caused.” 

According to the museum, Svalbard is home to one of the 19 global populations of polar bears, with approximately 300 bears residing in the area. However, due to global warming, the bear’s habitat in Svalbard is melting away as temperatures have risen by 3-5 degrees Celsius since the 1970s.

“The period with sea ice over shallower water in much of the area is now much shorter than it was a few decades ago,” Jon Aars, a researcher with the Norwegian Polar Institute, told the museum. “The loss of sea ice also affects other aspects of their lifestyle. For example, the bears often no longer reach areas in the East that have traditionally been important for building dens. Instead, the bears are now often found hundreds of kilometers closer to the North pole, where the sea ice tends to be.”

For now, Svalbard’s polar bear population is stable, but the changing temperatures could affect the numbers in the future, the museum warns.

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Wyoming Public Media Traveling Photography

A traveling display of 14 framed photos from the 2023 Wyoming Public Media Photo Contest Wyoming “Through Listeners’ Eyes”! will be traveling around Wyoming this year.

Schedule:

March 1^st Coal Creek Coffee Downtown location
April 1^st Coal Creek Coffee Uptown location

Advertising Opportunities:

If you are interested in having the Traveling Display at your business, please let us know, we are hoping to have 12 different locations across Wyoming.

We will be doing on-air promotions, staff meet and greets, and social media advertising.

Contact:

Mike Gray, Wyoming Public Media – mgray14@uwyo.edu

Or call 800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240

Winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award announced

Lynda Kinkade shows stunning images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, following a contest in which a record 75,000 people voted. The competition is produced by the Natural History Museum in London, where the images will be showcased.

One of the most interesting iPhone 16 rumors so far is that the incoming smartphone could get a so-called Capture button – and some fresh rumors have revealed exactly how that could reinvent the traditional camera shutter button.

A Weibo account called Setsuna Digital (via MacRumors), which has successfully predicted some Apple innovations in the past like the iPhone 15 Pro’s spatial video, has claimed that the Capture button will have a two-step action that’ll work like a traditional camera shutter, letting you first focus and then take a shot.

Unless they’ve been set up with back-button focusing, this is how most standalone cameras work – letting you lock the focus and exposure with a light press of the shutter, then recompose your shot before hitting the shutter to take the photo. As Setsuna Digital notes, this could push Apple’s next iPhone further towards feeling like a pro camera and video tool.

It wouldn’t be the first smartphone to do this – the Sony Xperia 1 V also has a two-stage shutter button, though you can switch this to a more straightforward setup using Basic mode. But what’s particularly interesting about the rumored Capture button is that it isn’t just looking to ape the traditional camera shutter.

According to an earlier report from The Information, you’ll also be able to swipe across the surface of the Capture button to zoom in and out of your scene. It’ll also apparently work for both stills and video, as Apple is seemingly discovering that content creators are recording more horizontal videos for big screens (rather than the vertical format favored by TikTok).

Considering ergonomics is one of the biggest weaknesses of smartphones compared to the best mirrorless cameras, rumors of this Capture button could be good news for prospective iPhone 16 owners – particularly photographers like me.

A big photographic upgrade?

If you’re planning to upgrade to an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro this year, then the latest rumors suggest Apple is planning some strong photography and video boosts for those phones.

Both phones are expected to get the rumored Capture button, which would be one of the most significant hardware changes to the iPhone in a while (arguably more so than this year’s Action Button). It’s expected to appear on the bottom-right-hand side of the iPhone, with the current mmWave antenna moving to the left-hand side of the phone.

As a photographer who decided to skip the iPhone 15 Pro this year, these rumors are getting me excited about upgrading this year. If the iPhone 16 Pro combines this new Capture button with the ‘tetraprism’ periscope camera tech seen on the iPhone 15 Pro (which has been predicted by analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu), then it’ll be a powerful pocket camera.

While current iPhones are incredible compact cameras, relying solely on a touchscreen to take photos and video can feel like a downgrade from the tactile experience of using one of the best cameras.

With the iPhone 16 Pro also tipped to get a 48MP ultra-wide camera, plus all the rumored AI upgrades from iOS 18, this could be a very good year to upgrade indeed.  

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Portrait photography is a sought-after skill in various sectors of the industry, including fashion, lifestyle, wedding, and commercial photography, plus much more. For aspiring photographers, venturing into portrait photography not only opens doors to many career paths but also enhances personal growth by improving communication and collaboration skills.

Coming to you from Mitch Lally, this insightful video provides practical advice for beginners on how to start a career in portrait photography, even without a portfolio. Lally emphasizes the importance of starting with friends and acquaintances to build a portfolio, moving on to working with real models to foster a more collaborative environment. He discusses the significance of reaching out to modeling agencies for development models or new faces, suggesting TFP (time for print) or test shoots as a cost-effective way to enhance portfolios for both photographers and models. Lally’s approach demystifies the initial steps towards becoming a portrait photographer, highlighting the value of building relationships within the industry.

The video also delves into the necessity of clear, intentional planning for shoots through the use of mood boards and focusing resources on the shoot’s concept rather than on equipment. Lally advocates for investing in aspects that contribute directly to the photo shoot’s success, such as location, outfits, and professional services like makeup artists or stylists, rather than the latest camera gear. This prioritization underscores a crucial lesson for newcomers: the idea and execution of a photo shoot have a more profound impact on the outcome than the equipment used. This mindset shift from gear to creativity is vital for anyone looking to make a mark in the genre. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Lally.

If you would like to continue learning about the art of portraiture, be sure to check out our range of tutorials on the subject in the Fstoppers store.

Life in Pompeii has long captured imaginations since Mt. Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago, coating the Italian city in ash and soot—yet, remarkably, not entirely destroying its striking art and architecture. A recently released book, sure to spark wanderlust, is now providing a behind-the-scenes look at the once vibrant metropolis.

In 2019, Italian photographer Luigi Spina was given unprecedented access to the ancient city by the Archeological Park of Pompeii, which commissioned him to photograph the World Heritage site. His work is now compiled in Inside Pompeii, published by the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Spina documents the architecture of Pompeii in 274 color photographs, capturing it with an eerie emptiness—nary a tourist in sight—as if all the former residents simply vanished from the city’s bustling streets. The photographs were taken at all times of the day, inside and outside buildings and with a clear reverence for the lives of those who once inhabited the city.

The house of Caesius Blandus. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

“For centuries, a thick grey blanket covered the urban fabric of a living city,” Spina wrote in the introduction. “The shops and the domus lining the street are an invitation to keep exploring the stories of others. Stories that are not so different from our own.”

Spina added that nothing in Pompeii has changed in millennia: “This is Pompeii, a glimpse of other people’s lives, through a fissure in time.”

One photograph documents windows overlooking a garden which includes illustrations from the epic poem, The Iliad, accompanied by the named of the characters of the story. And in another, viewers can see the remains of what was once a luxurious bath complex owned by an elite businesswoman named Julia Felix.

The illusion is only seemingly broken in some images, such as one of an interior courtyard in a home owned by wealthy traders Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutu, where modern gates to protect the architecture are not just seen but dominant in the frame.

Still, some of the pictures show how much of the ancient world mirrors our own. In one image, what looks like a buffet line can be seen in a thermopolium, a place to buy hot food. The particular counter photographed was discovered as recently as 2019 even though excavations go back as far as 1709.

See more of Spina’s images below.

The house of Venus in a Shell. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The praedia of Julia Felix. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The house and thermopolium of Vetutius Placidus is pictured in Pompeii. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The house of Ephebe. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The house of Paquius Proculus. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The house of the Vettii. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The house of Cryptoporticus. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The house of Paquius Proculus. Photo: Luigi Spina, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

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