As of: February 8, 2024, 3:30 p.m
By: Sophie Kluß
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The photo of the polar bear convinced the majority of the 75,000 participants in the vote.
The photographer also talked about the story behind it and his hope behind it.
The Wildlife Photographer of The Year is a competition organized annually by the Natural History Museum in London.
The audience is even asked for the “Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice”.
The 25 best were selected from over 50,000 photos submitted before viewers from all over the world were able to vote for their favorites.
Thanks to the most votes, Nima Sarikhani has been able to call herself the winner of the prestigious audience award with her photo “Ice Bed” since February 7, 2024.
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Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award: Nima Sarikhani wins
"Nima's dreamy image captures the moment a polar bear falls asleep on a bed of ice against a stunning pink and blue sky." wrote the Natural History Museum, @NHM_London, along with congratulations to Sarikhani on the short message service X (formerly Twitter).
© picture alliance/dpa/Wildlife Photographer of the Year /PA Media |
Nima Sarikhani
Nima Sarikhani is a British amateur photographer.
On his
account he shows selected works, including the winning photo with the German title “Ice Bed”.
Sarikhani describes the photo as follows: “A polar bear digs a bed out of a small iceberg before falling asleep in the far north off the Norwegian island group of Spitsbergen.” The photographer also wrote a few lines about the creation.
After three days in dense fog searching for polar bears, his expedition ship decided to change course.
The route should lead to “where there was still some sea ice”.
There the group finally found two male polar bears, a younger and an older animal.
After eight hours of observation, the younger male climbed onto the small iceberg shortly before midnight and “cut a bed out of the ice with his powerful paws”.
When the polar bear finally fell asleep, Sarikhani pressed the shutter button - and took a photo that would soon go around the world.
“Nima’s stunning and poignant image allows us to recognize the beauty and fragility of our planet,” commented Dr.
Douglas Gurr, the museum's director, the winning photo.
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Photographer wants to raise hope: “It’s not too late to fix the mess we’ve made”
Sarikhani himself wants to use his photo to raise hope that the consequences of climate change can still be partially averted, reports the
Tagesschau
.
"Polar bears are incredibly adaptable and in some areas their numbers are increasing, it's not too late to fix the mess we've made," he said optimistically.
In the accompanying special exhibition, all of the shortlisted images can be seen at the Natural History Museum in London until June 30, 2024; you can book tickets here.
You can also view this year's top five here.