Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award crowns timeless image of lions lazing on the endless Serengeti plains 2014 winner
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An American photographer has been crowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his black-and-white image of the king of the jungle.
Michael 'Nick' Nichols' photograph of a pride of lions beat more than 42,000 entries to win the accolade, while incredible images of embracing toads, lightening and a sunbathing scorpion also won awards.
The winners received their awards at The Natural History Museum in London, from its patron, The Duchess of Cambridge, Sir David Attenborough, wildlife presenter Liz Bonnin and renowned wildlife photographer Frans Lanting.
Michael 'Nick' Nichols' photograph of a pride of lazing lions beat more than 42,000 entries to win the accolade, while incredible images of embracing toads, lightning and a sunbathing scorpion also won awards. He followed the pride for six months so they got used to his presence, before photographing them in infra-red to capture a 'primal' and 'biblical' moment
Mr Nichols became the 50th photographer to win the main title, for his serene black-and-white image of lions resting with their cubs in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park.
To get the winning shot, he followed the pride for nearly six months so they became used to his presence as he photographed them in infra-red.
He said the technique 'transforms the light and turns the moment into something primal, biblical almost'.
Eight-year-old Carlos Perez Naval was awarded Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 for his image of a scorpion soaking up the Sun near his hometown in Spain. The afternoon Sun was casting such a lovely glow over the scene that Carlos decided to experiment with a double exposure for the first time so he could include it. The judges said that his image displays expertise beyond his years
Anton Lilja, from Sweden, photographed a male frog in the moment of fertilising a female's mass of eggs to win the 15 to 17 Years category. The title of the image is 'the long embrace'. A male frog grasps his mate in a tight embrace, known as amplexus. Amplexus often lasts for days, with the male holding onto the female until it has laid her eggs
Mr Nichols set out to create an image that would express both the essence of lions and how we see them - a picture of a time past, before lions were under such threat.
His photograph shows five females of the Vumbi pride – a 'formidable and spectacularly co-operative team' – resting with their cubs on a rocky outcrop.
Shortly before he took the shot, they had attacked and driven off one of the two pride males, before lying close together to take a nap.
Jim Brandenburg, acclaimed wildlife photographer and chair of the judging panel, said: 'Nick's image encapsulated so many elements that demonstrated artistic and technical skill, the sort that takes many years of professional work to hone and craft as he has done'.
The winners received their awards at The Natural History Museum in London, from its patron, The Duchess of Cambridge, Sir David Attenborough, wildlife presenter Liz Bonnin and renowned wildlife photographer Frans Lanting. Francisco Negroni from Chile won the Earth's Environments prize for photographing the lightning near an erupting volcano
Rodrigo Friscone Wyssmann came across this grim sight off Magdalena Bay off the coast of Mexico. His image shows a young great white shark killed by a hook. He said: 'Great whites are amazing, graceful and highly intelligent creatures. It was such a sad scene I changed the image to black and white, which felt more dignified
Relaxing at the end of his Costa Rican family holiday, Will Jenkins photographed a metre-long green iguana that jumped down from the hotel roof. For it, he was named a finalist in the 11-14 years category. He said: ' The iguana sunbathed for about 20 minutes before heading to the beach. It made me realise you should always have your camera with you, just in case'
Eight-year-old Carlos Perez Naval was awarded Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 for his image of a scorpion soaking up the Sun near his hometown in Spain.
The photograph was taken at dusk and shows the scorpion flourishing its sting as a warning to the young photographer, who had found it basking on a flat stone in a rocky area near his home in Torralba de los Sisones, northeast Spain.
The late afternoon light was casting such a lovely glow over the scene that Carlos decided to experiment with his first ever double exposure to include the sun.
Jan van der Greef, of the Netherlands, was declared finalist of the birds group. He captured the sword-billed hummingbird - the only bird with a bill longer than its body - on a trip to Ecuador. His image shows the green sword-billed bird facing off a territorial inca hummingbird that was after nectar from flowers. The image is simply called 'touche'
Bruno D'Amicis, from Italy, found a teenager selling a three-month-old fennec fox in southern Tunisia and photographed the emotive scene to win the 'world in our hands' category. He said that while the practice is illegal, people are capturing creatures for trade and medicine because of high unemployment, poor education and the socio-political legacy of the Arab Spring revolts
Speaking at the awards, Sir David Attenborough said: 'It's the fiftieth birthday, 50 years of remarkable competitions, I remember the very first one…it was a great occasion but it's marvellous to see what it's grown into…It is a true privilege to be here.'
The exhibition will embark on an international tour across six continents and photographers can submit entries for next year's competition from January 5 until February 26, 2015.
Fabien Michenet, of France, photographed this juvenile sharpear enope squid in Tahiti, French Polynesia. He had to dive at night to get his picture and said that apart from the occasional sound of a dolphin, it was silent. The squid he captured was just one inch (3cm) long and was hunting smaller creatures under the cover of darkness
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