Possum eating a cicada – Photographer Caitlin Henderson (from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2023-possums-midnight-snack?tags=ed.current)

Dear Readers, on Tuesday I went to the Natural History Museum with my artist pal Robin Huffman – she was passing through London en route to volunteer at the Ape Action Africa animal sanctuary in Cameroon. If you haven’t ‘met’ her before, have a look at her work at the link above. Anyhow, we’re always in the market for inspiration and so off we went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. I thought that it was a little smaller than in previous years, and the images weren’t quite as well displayed, but it’s still well worth a visit, and here are a few of my favourite images.

I thought that the image of the possum eating a cicada (above) had a very painterly quality to it – if a Dutch Old Master had painted possums instead of bowls of fruit or dead animals, I’m sure he would have come up with something like this, even down to the highlights on the dead insects strewn on the window sill. A great image!

I think that cropping a photo can often produce a startling image, as in Max Waugh’s image of a bison (below).

Snow Bison by  Max Waugh from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2023-snow-bison?tags=ed.current

And of course, lighting is key…

The Survivor by Mark Williams from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2023-the-survivor?tags=ed.current

Bobcat Delivery by Vishal Subramanyan from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2023-bobcat-delivery?tags=ed.current

But strangely enough, the images that appealed to me most this year were the more abstract ones. The one below is a real mind-blower. Even though I know that it’s not possible to have a vertical wall of rice paddies, I still can’t see the photo any other way. See what you think!

Reflections on a Water World by Barbara Dell’Angelo from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2023-reflections-on-a-waterworld?tags=ed.current

And finally, I loved this one most of all. So much, in fact, that I bought a teeshirt with this photo on it. The photographer, Uge Fuertes Sanz, spent hours sitting by the River Cabriel in the Sierra de Albarracin Mountains, Spain, waiting for a cloud to pass over so that he could capture this soft light. What a beautiful image, and what a fitting end to the exhibition!

Autumn Glow by Uge Fuertz Sanz from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-choice/2023-autumn-glow

But of course we couldn’t leave without saying hello to this chap….Yes, it’s the Natural History Museum’s Tyrannosaurus Rex, popular with children (and adults) for many years. He doesn’t walk anywhere (fortunately) but he does raw, wriggle his teeny tiny front legs and generally look at the audience menacingly, which is enough to reduce small children to quivering wrecks.

You can see him in action below…I love all the unimpressed people walking past and looking at their phones.

The gallery for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year is here, and the People’s Choice photos (the competition has just closed) are here. Well worth a look if you’re in London!