Nature inFocus Photography Awards 2024: Leopards, sharks and spiders

The Nature inFocus Photography competition celebrates photographers who capture powerful moments in natural history and highlight critical conservation issues.

Each year, the contest showcases a stunning array of imaginative and artistic images, while raising awareness of the environment.

Winners are selected according to a series of categories: Animal Behaviour, Animal Portraits, Conservation Focus, Creative Nature Photography, Wildscape & Animals in Their Habitat and Photographer of the Year – Portfolio.

Below is a selection of the winning entries.

A school of hardyhead silverside fish moves with remarkable precision, twisting and turning in unison as they attempt to evade a group of blacktip reef sharks in Athuruga, Maldives.

As night falls over the water, Alpine newts begin their silent hunt. They glide between clusters of frog eggs, each one carefully positioning itself for a meal before the darkness deepens.

Kuwani, a renowned tigress of Kolsa, remains a dominant force, even at the age of 14.

A wild boar unknowingly ventures too close to the tigress, unaware of the imminent danger. In a flash, she springs into action, her muscles tensed and claws unsheathed.

Kolsa is a region within the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, located in the state of Maharashtra, India.

A leopard climbs a tree, her cub observing from below before instinctively following her lead.

Captured by a camera trap near Mysore in India, this intimate moment highlights the strong bond between mother and cub, while also offering a glimpse into the natural instincts of the leopard.

In the waters of Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka, a water buffalo emerges from a swim, its head adorned with a garland of floating weeds.

A devotee stands in the Yamuna River, New Delhi, offering prayers to the sun.

Once revered as sacred, the river now ranks among the world’s most polluted, overwhelmed by industrial waste, sewage, and agricultural run-off.

In Austria, a group of snails rests lightly on blades of grass, their delicate forms illuminated against a glowing backdrop, creating a striking sense of fragility.

High in the Andean mountains of Ecuador, Tony, a large, male spectacled bear, shelters from the midday heat beneath the shade of a century-old fig tree draped in Spanish moss.

At sunrise in Hokkaido, Japan, red-crowned cranes move through a veil of mist, their graceful forms resembling brushstrokes on a canvas.

This year, the coveted Photographer of the Year Portfolio award went to Supun Dilshan for Trapped Between Worlds, a striking visual story that draws attention to the struggles of Sri Lankan elephants.

The images show the increasingly dire situation faced by these majestic animals, as they try to survive in environments that are being rapidly altered by human activities.

A damselfly gazes through a hole in a vibrant green leaf, offering a rare glimpse into its delicate world in Sundarganj, Bangladesh.

The contrast between the insect’s slender form and the leaf’s textured surface underscores the intricate beauty of nature’s hidden wonders.

All photos courtesy Nature inFocus Photography Awards