With an underwater photo of groupers spawning, Frenchman Laurent Ballesta has been named Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021.
The biologist held the fish in a milky cloud of eggs and sperm in front of the Pacific atoll of Fakarava.
The photo "Creation" was selected from more than 50,000 submissions from 95 countries, as the Natural History Museum in London announced on Tuesday evening.
"The picture works on so many levels," said jury chief Rosamund Kidman Cox.
"It's surprising, energetic and fascinating, and has an unearthly beauty." The photo captures a magical moment, a truly explosive creation of life.
With a view to the current World Conservation Conference in Kunming and the upcoming UN climate conference COP26 in Glasgow, Museum Director Doug Gurr emphasized that "Creation" is "a convincing reminder of what we will lose if we do not address the impact of humanity on our planet."
Ballesta and his team had repeatedly traveled to the Fakarava lagoon over a period of five years and were there day and night under water.
The groupers only spawn there around the full moon in July.
With a spider to "Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year"
A total of 19 categories were chosen on Tuesday evening in London.
Ballesta not only won the top award for nature photographer of the year;
with »Creation« he also won the underwater category.
Ten-year-old Vidyun R Hebbar was named “Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year”.
His award-winning photo shows a spider and its tent-like web, a tuk-tuk drives past in the background.
The boy from India took part in the competition at the age of eight and likes to photograph living things in the streets and parks of his hometown Bangalore.
You can find a selection of other winners in the following series of images:
"Wildlife Photographer of the Year" is the most renowned competition for nature photographers.
It was first organized by the BBC in the mid-1960s, and the Natural History Museum in London has been on board since 1984.
The best pictures of the current year will be on view in the museum from this Friday until June 2022.
After that, they will be issued in other countries, including Germany.
aar / dpa
