Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013

25.11.2013

The prestigious title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 has been awarded to South African photographer Greg du Toit for his image ‘Essence of Elephants’, a mysterious and energetic portrait of African elephants in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana.

Greg du Toit spent 10 years on the quest for a perfect portrait of an elephant herd and preparation, passion and luck combined to help him secure this winning image. ‘My goal was to throw caution to the wind,’ says Greg, ‘to abandon conventional photographic practices in an attempt to capture a unique elephant portrait. This image hints at the special energy I feel when I am with elephants.’

Chair of the judging panel, accomplished wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg says: ‘Greg’s image immediately catapults us to African plains. This image stood out for both its technical excellence and the unique moment it captures – it is truly a once in a lifetime shot.’

Fourteen-year-old photographer Udayan Rao Pawar has been recognised as Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 for his image ‘Mother’s little Headful’. This presents an arresting scene of gharial crocodiles on the banks of the Chambal River in Madhya Pradesh, India, an area increasingly under threat from illegal sand mining and fishing.

As always the competition has been extremely popular seeing almost 43,000 entries from an incredible 96 countries with prizes for a total of eighteen individual photographic categories.  The winning and shortlisted entries come together to produce the highly acclaimed show at the Natural History Museum, celebrating the rich array of life on our planet, reflecting its beauty as well as highlighting its fragility.

Metro is delighted to have once again produced all the Duratran prints for the exhibition at the Natural History Museum as well as the extra sets of for the touring exhibitions which will start in 2014, covering much of the UK as well as Europe, Canada and Australia to be enjoyed by millions of people across the world.

Click here for more information about the exhibition
Click here to see all winning images:
Click here for information on how to buy winning prints

Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, London SW7 5BD
Visitor enquiries: 020 7942 5000

Exhibition dates: 18 October 2013 – 23 March 2014,
Opening times: 10:00am –5.50pm (last admission 5.15pm)

Admission: Adult £12, child and concession £6, family (up to two adults and three children) £33
Free for Members, Patrons and children under four

Images ©
Essence of Elephants – Greg du Toit (South Africa)
The Cauldron – Sergey Gorshkov (Russia)
The Water Bear – Paul Souders (USA)