Winner spotlight of World Nature Photography Awards 2025: #1
Image © Hermis Valiyandiyil
In the soft glow of early morning, Hermis Valiyandiyil captured a special moment, a hoopoe taking flight, its wings spread in perfect symmetry against the rising sun.
What began as quiet observation turned into something more intentional.
Over successive mornings, Hermis noticed the bird’s pattern: catching prey both mid-air and on the ground, then returning each time to the same tree.
Inspired, he envisioned an image that would reflect not just motion but meaning: a composition where the light and dark sides of the background would symbolise the duality of existence.
Returning before sunrise, he waited. The hoopoe arrived as hoped, gliding with effortless grace across the contrasting backdrop. One frame stood out, a fleeting alignment of form, light and movement.
A moment, as Hermis describes it, that felt like a gift from nature. And an image that won Hermis the silver award in 2025's category 'Behaviour - Birds'.
Image © Asaf Amran
This haunting image by Asaf Amran showing a lone figure standing at the edge of the Dead Sea, is part of a larger body of work titled ‘Dying Beauty’.
At first glance, the scene is spectacular: surreal salt formations that appear otherworldly. But behind this beauty lies a deep environmental crisis.
The Dead Sea is rapidly disappearing, shrinking at a rate of over one metre per year. Sinkholes are opening where water once flowed. New lakes form from dehydration. What’s left behind is both stunning and sorrowful: salt pillars, mud formations and fragile landscapes that are as temporary as they are beautiful.
‘Dying Beauty’ documents not just what the Dead Sea looks like today but what no longer exists, what has already changed and what will soon vanish. The images are both art and archive; a rare historical record of a landscape slipping away before our eyes.
Asaf won the silver award in our 2025 category ‘People and nature’.
Image © Indranil Basu Mallick
Indranil Basu Mallick set out with a specific goal: to capture a sporing bracket fungus in action.
But as is often the case in nature photography, the original plan gave way to something entirely different.
After an extensive search, Indranil came across what he believes to be a species of Termite Mushroom. He decided to plan a return visit after sunset, when sporing activity would be more visible.
Lighting the scene proved challenging, requiring careful placement to highlight the delicate structure without overpowering it.
But the real gift came from the environment itself: snails, drawn to the fungi to feed, slowly made their way across the scene, adding a dynamic and unexpected element to the composition.
The resulting image won Indranil the silver award in our 2025 category ‘Plants and fungi’.
Image © Sina Ritter
In this serene underwater image, Sina Ritter captures a graceful sea turtle gliding through the blue, accompanied by a remora, a small fish often seen hitching a ride on larger marine creatures.
At first glance, it’s a quiet moment of marine life. However, it’s also a portrait of natural collaboration.
The remora benefits by feeding on scraps of the turtle’s meals and gains protection from predators while staying close. And whilst the turtle doesn’t rely on the remora, there’s no doubt that it benefits from a cleaner shell due to the removal of algae or parasites.
It’s a balanced relationship that works and goodness knows we all need to see more of those right now!
This image won Sina the silver award in 2025's category 'Underwater'.