Koos van der Lende (South Africa) Ancient survivor
'This welwitschia is at least 200 years old. I photographed it in Namibia's Messum Crater, close to the Skeleton Coast. I loved the circle the leaf made on the left, and I used 12 reflector boards to bounce the sunlight back to get the detail.' Two leaves, a stem base and roots. That's all there is to a welwitschia. Yet this simple arrangement means the plant can cope with the driest of environments. It takes root where no other plant would dare try. Its long, curled ribbon leaves, split with age and singed by the hot ground, funnel the morning dew down to the roots. Some individuals could be more than 1,500 years old.
Fuji GX617 panoramic + 90mm lens; 8 secs at f45; Fuji Velvia 50 120mm film; central grey filter to compensate for the one-stop light fall-off to the sides; polarizing filter + four-stop neutral-grey gradual filter; Gitzo heavy-duty tripod; 12 reflector boards.
Danny Laps (Belgium) Saffrondrop bonnets
'I was pleased to find these diminutive mushrooms in a dark Belgian wood. I was charmed by their delicate, glowing colours, softened by the light streaming through the beech leaves. Through my lens it felt like I was looking at a scene fresh from a child's tale. Only the fairy was missing.' Saffrondrop bonnets are not a common type of mushroom, but are most often found growing in chalky areas, on wood or sticks, in clusters. When it is snapped or forcefully poked it exudes a bright orange latex. Fungi like this species are neither classified as plants nor animals - they are in a kingdom of their own.
Nikon D200 + 200mm f4 micro lens; 1/6 sec at f6.3; ISO 100; Manfrotto 055 tripod + Arca-Swiss Z1 ballhead. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Darran Leal (Australia) Leaf drop
'Picking my way through the ruins I came across a small tree backlit by the sun and sparkling with rain. A jewel-like drop, with its perfect reflection of leaves inside, struck me as a great symbol of the regrowth of the rainforest, but I had to move fast. The challenge was to capture the moment in spite of gusts of wind and the great magnification required.' In 2006, the rainforest in far north Queensland in Australia was rich in nature and opportunities to take wildlife photographs. Then Cyclone Larry reduced the area to stumps and tangled undergrowth. This photograph was taken a year later.
Canon EOS 5D + 100mm macro lens; 1/125 sec at f22; ISO 100; Canon 580EX flash + TTL auto cord. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Koos van der Lende (South Africa) Bottle in the wind
'At first, the vast plain in Namibia's Namib-Naukluft National Park looked empty. Then I noticed a lone tree. The wind was blowing exceptionally hard, but it didn't bother the tree, which has grown leaning with the wind. I was just so amazed that this empty, barren world could be home to such a fat, happy little tree.' Bottle or phantom trees survive in the hostile deserts of Namibia by storing water and nutrients in their trunks. They look similar to baobabs because they have adapted to the desert in a similar way, but they aren't related. Bottle trees have many adaptations to the desert including silver bark to reflect the sun's rays.
Fuji GX617 panoramic + 90mm lens; 15 secs at f45; Fuji Velvia 50 120mm film; central grey filter to avoid one-stop fall-off to the sides; polarizing filter; Gitzo heavy-duty tripod; four reflector boards.
Urban and Garden WildlifeOriginal pictures are what count here, showing wild animals or plants in obviously urban or suburban settings, including gardens.
Winner: Jamie McGregor Smith (United Kingdom) New occupant
'Gaining access to this derelict room symbolised the adversity overcome by this plant. As I peered in and saw the fresh fern fronds, backlit by sunshine streaming through the window, its colour and sense of life seemed exaggerated by the room's grim, drab appearance. Against all odds the fern was thriving, gaining nourishment from the decomposing floorboards.' Ferns, along with lichens and mosses, are often the first plants to colonise new or harsh environments. They grow in sites that sometimes aren't ready for flowering plants, shrubs or trees because of poor soil or a lack of nutrients. By creating soil as they decompose, ferns change the local environmental conditions, making them more suitable for other plant species to follow.
Canon EOS 20D + Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 DC OS lens; 8 secs at f22; ISO 100.
成人奖-野生地点 这个奖项的参赛作品是风景照，但是它们必须传达出真实的荒野感受，创造出野性美。
Wild PlacesThis is a category for landscape photographs, but ones that must convey a true feeling of wildness and create a sense of awe.
Winner: Andy Biggs (United States of America) Skeleton Coast
'As I peered through the scratched airplane window, I wondered how I could convey the giddy heights of the Namibian sand-dunes. I wanted to capture the way shafts of sun pierce the mist and highlight the sand textures. The huddle of Cape fur seals - a dark smudge on the strip of beach - gave a sense of the vastness of this wilderness.' The Skeleton Coast is 16,000 square kilometres of national park that runs along the Atlantic coast of Namibia. The plants, insects, reptiles and small mammals that live there get their moisture from the dense ocean fogs, which form as the cold Benguela current blows inland. Larger animals such as the Cape fur seal live along the coast. Cape Fria is home to a colony of more than 100,000 individuals.
Canon EOS 5D + 24-105mm lens at 47mm; 1/1250 sec at f5.6; ISO 500. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Franz Josef Kovacs (Austria) Moonrise over the Badlands
'I had a full week to scout the landscape and find my favourite composition before the full moon. The shot I wanted was the moon rising over the desert horizon. But when the moment came, I had just one minute when the shadows and the pink afterglow were perfect. I managed to take just two images of the glorious scene.' The Bisti Badlands are an extraordinary landscape of colourful, eroded rocks in the northwest corner of New Mexico, USA. A geologist's dream, the multicoloured formations are made from layers of coal, silt, shale and mudstone combined with sandstone. The rocks contain the fossils of a range of organisms including plants, fish, turtles, mammals and dinosaurs. They provide a valuable window in to the way life and the landscape have changed over millions of years.
Linhof Technikardan 45s + 4x5 Schneider Apo-Symmar 210mm f5.6 lens; 8 secs at f22; Fuji Velvia 50; 0.6 + 0.9 hard-graduated neutral-density Lee filter; Gitzo tripod.
Albert Froneman (South Africa) Wild waves
'I was impressed by the sheer size and energy of the waves at South Africa's Western Cape. The late afternoon light made them look translucent and the wind whipped off huge sheets of sea spray. A kelp gull, snatching fish from the surface between waves, flew across the blue-grey scene at the ideal moment, giving a sense of scale and a focal point.' Kelp gulls are spread across the southern hemisphere and are the only gulls to inhabit Antarctic waters. The kelp gulls are skilled scavengers and their numbers have increased because of a rise in human activity, such as fishing, in the southern oceans.
Canon EOS-1D Mark II + Canon EF500mm f4 IS USM lens; 1/4000 sec at f8; ISO 400. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Animals in their EnvironmentThe habitat must be as important a part of the picture as the species being photographed, and the picture must convey a feeling of the relationship between them.
Winner: Yongkang Zhu (China) Snow swans
'To photograph the swans in their environment meant I had to endure the same conditions - snowstorms and high winds that roll the snow across the flat land in great waves. The storm was so bitter I wished I could have escaped along with the swans.' Every winter, huge flocks of whooper swans migrate from the far north of Europe and Asia to warmer lowlands. The Rongcheng Swan Lake nature reserve in eastern China is a major overwintering sanctuary for whooper swans. But even here, when the fresh water freezes, the birds are forced to feed in the fields, digging through the snow for grass.
Canon EOS 20D + Sigma 300-800mm f5.6 lens at 300mm; 1/1250 sec at f6.3; ISO 200; tripod. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Brian Skerry (United States of America) Shark nursery
'I spotted this newborn lemon shark pup on the coast of Bimini in the Bahamas. It was enjoying the safety and sustenance of its mangrove nursery lagoon. I like this picture because I believe it shows a different perspective of sharks, that they are simply one important part of a bigger ecosystem.' Lemon shark pups are only about 60 centimetres long, shorter than a human adult's arm. They are born live, along with up to 17 littermates, and spend a couple of years in the nursery before moving into open sea. Mangroves are critical nurseries for many fish - especially lemon sharks - and protect the coast from storm surges. But the development of new holiday resorts means the mangroves are starting to be cleared.
Nikon D2X + Nikon 16mm lens; 1/160 sec at f8; ISO 200; Subal housing; two Sea & Sea YS350 strobes on 1/4 power.
Michael Lambie (Canada) Surf gull
'A lone glaucous-winged gull seemed set on challenging the breaking waves on Vancouver Island. It would land on bare rocks and then be forced to take off again after a few seconds by the next crashing wave. Keeping my equipment dry was a constant challenge. I was battered by wind, rain, snow, sleet and hail as I stood on rocks just above the high-tide line. But that was nothing to what that gull was going through.' Glaucous-winged gulls live along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. They spend their days scavenging along the beaches looking for remains of squid, molluscs and fish to eat. These gulls live in large colonies on rocky coastlines, and stay near salty water, often returning to the same colony each year.
Canon EOS-1D Mark III + Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM lens at 200mm; 1/1250 sec at f7.1; ISO 1600; Gitzo 1223 tripod + Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Christian Ziegler (Germany) Bat house
'Lighting the picture was tricky, as I wanted to show the total environment - the rainforest outside the trunk as well as the inside of the bat's home and the bat itself. It took many months of hot, sweaty and mosquito-ridden days and nights.' Seventy-four species of bat live together on the tropical island of Barro Colorado in Panama. The island can support this diversity because each species of bat has different feeding and roosting habits. The common big-eared bat eats insects such as caterpillars, but carefully discards their intestines so that it doesn't end up eating half-digested leaves.
Canon EOS 5D + 16-35mm lens; 4 secs at f8; two strobes for fill flash + video background lighting.
Dan Mead (United States of America) Sand sprinters
'The mother was in the lead, scouting the situation - a straggling chick, a strange vehicle, a vulnerable family. But its next move took me by surprise. It suddenly turned sharp right and headed straight up the nearest dune. It must have been 100 metres high and at an angle of 30 degrees. The sand slipped away under their feet. It was an amazing effort. The whole family disappeared over the crest of the Namibian dune.' Ostriches are the largest and fastest running birds on Earth. Their height, keen hearing and excellent eyesight make them able to spot danger quickly. If they do spot anything, they can run away at over 70 kilometres per hour. The southern ostrich lives in southern Africa and they are nomadic, foraging for seeds and insects as they go.
Canon EOS 5D + Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS USM lens at 400mm; 1/640 sec at f9; ISO 100. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Ellen Anon (United States of America) Whooper lift-off
'My fingers, double-gloved, had gone numb. Waves on Japan's Lake Kussharo, Hokkaido, were starting to freeze solid, and I was in awe that these gorgeous birds could face the water. By now, the wind had churned the lake up into white peaks that echoed the snowy mountains behind. When one swan began to taxi along the churning runway, I managed to make my frozen index finger release the shutter just before it took off.' Like its close North American relative the trumpeter swan, whooper swans are named after their distinctive loud call, heard from flocks on the water or in flight. The yellow base to their black bill typically extends to a point beyond the nostril, distinguishing them from the smaller, but otherwise similar tundra swan.
Canon EOS-1D Mark II + Canon 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 lens; 1/800 sec at f11; ISO 400. This photograph is available to buy as a print.
Florian Schulz (Germany) Wolf-watch
'The adults were taking their grown-up pups around the territory. I could see by their pricked ears that they were interested in something. It was then I saw a lone wolf watching them with equal interest. In winter, these same wolves are forced to cross the boundaries of Denali National Park in Alaska in search of food. They risk snares or even bullets.' Grey wolves communicate with each other through sight, sound and smell. By pricking up their ears and tail, they show they are alert or aggressive. They can even show expressions on their faces, of defensiveness, playfulness and aggression. When they bark and howl their voices carry to wolves up to eight kilometres away, and their scent conveys breeding and social status.
Nikon D2x + 70-200mm f2.8 Nikkor lens; 1/125 sec at f2.8; ISO 400.
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