A humpback whale carcass was discovered on the seafloor that has been completely defecated by sharks in the area. While traveling north on its yearly migration along the Ningaloo Reef, this sub-adult whale perished. Nature's harsh deed, but a crucial component of the ecology.
Concept of Life and Death
The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition's winning photo shows a humpback whale carcass circled on the ocean floor by a shark.
Judges cited Ashlee Jansen's photo as illustrative of the concept of life and death and as a reminder of how unforgiving nature and the food chain can be while still being an essential component of the natural ecology.
The South Australian Museum and Australian Geographic collaborated on the competition, which was first held in 2004 under the name ANZANG Nature Photography.
"This captivating image of a dead whale speaks to the circle of life - one death supports the renewal of other ocean communities. The beauty of the image lies in its artful circular composition, seen in the curves of the whale's skeletal ribs mirroring the patterns in the sand, keeping our eye within the frame moving between the living and the dead," a judge said in a comment to the winning photo.
The sub-adult whale in the picture, according to photographer Jansen, perished while traveling north on its yearly migration along the Ningaloo Reef. She noted that it was a stark illustration of Mother Nature's brutal act, adding that it is still a part of the natural ecosystem.
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Take a look at the winners and some of the runners-up from the competition's two separate categories as well:
Animals in Nature
Winner: Night Light Dining
The Great Dividing Range is treated to a magnificent occasion every spring. After dusk, bioluminescent fireflies briefly emerge from the forest's deepest recesses. They're not completely secure, though. Insectivorous dusky leaf-nosed bats that are emerging from their roost catch fireflies in mid-flight while doing astounding aerial acrobatics.
Runner-up: Midnight Seahorse
In the chilly nighttime seas near Kettering, Tasmania, a knobby seahorse pursues its prey. They practically disappear from view to the untrained eye when they are stationary among the seagrass. Observing these tiny seahorses forage for crustaceans in the dead of night is awe-inspiring.
Astrophotography
Winner: The Outlier
The Milky Way lines up horizontally across the night sky, the fog hangs over Lake Toolondo, and a lovely dead tree rises above the rest. That evening, when the photographer witnessed this image, it seemed as though the tree and the Milky Way were somehow connected in spite of their separation.
Runner-up: Finders Rise
The colors of the Australian outback's terrain at dusk and dawn are among its most breathtaking sights. Here, the Milky Way is wonderfully framed by the outline of the ridge line. The foreground of the image was completed immediately before the blue hour after the image was taken just before astronomical dusk.
To see more images, visit www.australiangeographic.com.au
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
