David Kary

AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER OF 2021 : SPECTACULAR

The 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer Of The Year competition is produced by the South Australian Museum.

The competition is open to photographers from around the world for images taken in the region of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea.

An exhibition of the photographs is on display at the Australian Museum in Adelaide until 31 October 2021.

Here are just a few of the spectacular photos.

Overall winner of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of 2021 Scott Portelli for his photograph ‘Leafy Night’.Portelli captured the winning photograph at Second Valley in South Australia. He says leafy seadragons hide in the thick kelp in the water to camouflage themselves from predators. At night the seadragon’s features and their delicate bodies can appear translucent.
Animal Habitat Winner : ‘A Tree Dreaming’ by Christian Spencer. n the huge Strzelecki Desert in central Australia, a flock of galahs make the most of the only water available at the base of this tree. Spencer came upon a rare opportunity to get a clear photograph of the birds in flight in the middle of the desert.
Whale Shark Feast by Alex Kidd. Kidd spotted the rare sight of a whale shark feeding on a large school of baitfish at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. ‘Whale sharks are not often documented feeding on schools of baitfish as they’re most commonly seen filter feeding,’ Kidd says. ‘This is the first time I have seen this behaviour after five years of photographing these animals on the reef.’
Landscape Winner ‘Forest Of Reflection’ by Hayden Cannon. A beautiful scene I came across one afternoon whilst scoping out a site for a photo shoot,’ Cannon says of the image, taken in Dalyellup in Western Australia. ‘I saw these paperbarks in the water creating stunning reflections, with some golden light emphasising the trees.’

Featured image : Animal portrait winner ‘A white-capped mollymawk at sunset’ by Douglas Ginsey. Gimesy captured the shot in Foveaux Strait off Stewart Island in New Zealand. White-capped mollymawks are a kind of albatross that mainly eat squid, fish, krill and offal from the ocean surface, and they rarely dive for food. Their largest threat is now long line and trawl fishing, especially in the seas off southern Africa.