Today, Wednesday 13 February, LUMIX announced the winner of their Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award for the LUMIX People’s Choice Award. David Lloyd from London now holds the title for his winning image called ‘Bond of Brothers’ featuring two adult male lions.
LUMIX is Panasonic’s range of digital cameras, and this year marks the fifty-fourth year of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which was developed and is run by the Natural History Museum in London.
In 2018 the Natural History Museum received over 45,000 entries, and over 16,000 nature fans voted for Lloyd’s winning shot out of a shortlist of 25 photo candidates.
These two adult males, probably brothers, greeted and rubbed faces for 30 seconds before settling down. Most people never have the opportunity to witness such animal sentience, and David Lloyd was honoured to have experienced and captured such a moment.
The image depicts two adult male lions, likely brothers, according to the photographer, who were captured as they rubbed their faces together for about 30 seconds. It is unusual for lions to nuzzle for that long, and David felt honoured to have witnessed this rare and affectionate sight, and to have shot it.
‘I’m so pleased that this image did well because it illustrates the emotion and feeling of animals and emphasises that this is not limited to humans,’ he says. ‘It is something I think more people need to be aware of for the sake of all animals.’
His image will be showcased at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, until 30 June 2019.
‘Lions are individuals with complex social bonds, and David’s winning picture provides a glimpse into their inner world,’ says Director of the Natural History Museum, Sir Michael Dixon. ‘A truly stunning photograph, this intimate portrait reminds us that humans aren’t the only sentient beings on this planet. I hope the empathy and wonder garnered by this image will inspire more people to become advocates for nature.’
Matthew Maran has been photographing foxes close to his home in north London for over a year and ever since spotting this street art had dreamt of capturing this image. After countless hours and many failed attempts his persistence paid off.
Four ‘Highly Commended’ images also made a big impression on the thousands of voters.
These include Matthew Maran’s perfectly timed shot of a fox walking towards an incredibly fitting graffitied image in London and Justin Hofman’s heartbreaking image of a famished polar bear in the Canadian Arctic.
Justin Hofman’s whole body pained as he watched this starving polar bear at an abandoned hunter’s camp, in the Canadian Arctic, slowly heave itself up to standing. With little, and thinning, ice to move around on, the bear is unable to search for food.
Wim Van Den Heever came across these king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands just as the sun was rising. They were caught up in a fascinating mating behaviour – the two males were constantly moving around the female using their flippers to fend the other off.
While adult African wild dogs are merciless killers, their pups are extremely cute and play all day long. Bence Máté photographed these brothers in Mkuze, South Africa – they all wanted to play with the leg of an impala and were trying to drag it in three different directions!
Hungarian photographer Bence Máté also featured with his image of three wild dogs playing with the leg of an impala, as well as Wim Van Den Heever with his sublime shot of three king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands.
Images supplied/Natural History Museum
