“Our world is extraordinarily beautiful and interconnected, yet the human race is doing its best to over-exploit and damage it. Issues of wildlife conservation and sustainability are gaining momentum globally, yet the messages and images tend to be negative, depressing and enervating.”
(Paul Joynson-Hicks, Comedy Wildlife co-founder)
While living in East Africa and working
as a wildlife photographer, founder Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE was looking through
his photographs when he came across several that made him laugh out loud: an
eagle looking at me through its back legs and a warthog’s bottom. He realised
that the humour of these photographs was both entertaining and a means to
engage people with the threats facing these same animals. A funny animal
photo is incredibly effective because there are no barriers to understanding,
or taboos that must be negotiated. It taps into the impulse for
anthropomorphism which is well-documented as one of the most powerful triggers
for human empathy. To really understand animals and the issues that affect
them, you need to empathise with them as fellow inhabitants of the same planet.
And so, in 2015, The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards was
born from Paul’s small office in USA River on the slopes of Mt Meru in
northern Tanzania. Soon after, Co-Founder and photographer Tom Sullam was
bought on board and then Michelle Wood, a couple of years later.Since then,
steered by its founders, the competition has grown and grown into a global
competition that’s able to make a meaningful contribution to the amazing world
of wildlife.
“In addition to providing some lighthearted
relief and joy, the competition aims to highlight the extremely important message of
wildlife conservation in
an engaging and positive way,” the organizers explain.
The competition champions the work of charity
partner Whitley Fund
for Nature (WFN), a British non-profit organization
that supports conservation leaders working in their home countries across the
global south. Over 29 years, it has channeled £20 million to more than 200
conservationists in 80 countries.
THIS YEAR'S WINNERS
A lion cub slips from a tree and becomes the
protagonist of the winning image of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
2022. The clumsiness of the funny big cat clashes with the stereotype of feline
elegance, so much so that the author of the shot, Jennifer Hadley, decided to entitle the photograph Not so cat-like reflexes.
“It was probably his first time in a tree –
Hadley says – and luck wanted me to be there”. It is undeniable that luck is
one of the fundamental ingredients of this competition, if not the main
element. Since 2015, the competition has rewarded photographers who have been
able to combine the patient waiting typical of naturalistic photography with a
decisive quickness of reflexes, capturing literally unique moments. These
unrepeatable instants with which randomness seems to reward the constancy of
the most disciplined are hilarious, and their precious rarity lies right here. She is the overall winner.
The Five
Category Winners of the 'Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022'
·
Arturo Telle Thiemann (Spain),
Creatures Under the Water Award winner with the photograph entitled Say
Cheeeeese.
"A pair of triggerfish looking
into the camera, photographed in the Azores. Strange as it may seem, these fish
can be quite aggressive. In this case they didn't try to bite me, but my camera
case was scratched...the life is hard...at least it wasn't me who got
hurt".
“hippopotamus that seems to want to
swallow a heron that is on the back of another hippopotamus immersed in water”
"A few hundred miles away from a
small town called 'Bikaner' we went to explore the wildlife. It was after
almost a year of not traveling due to covid. We hired a guide to explore the
places around. During the he last day of our city trip we came across a pipe
where we spotted an owl. I had previously photographed owls in pipes so I was
sure I wasn't wrong. We waited a while but it didn't take long and a some
spotted owls came out of the tube. It was really funny when she came out and
looked at me, before she went in she closed one eye and it was like she wanted
to say 'Hello pretty boy!' and I immediately took a picture when he did this
pose".
"This photo was taken in the
Falkland Islands. These two penguins were at the beach when one gave the other
an annoyed shrug."
“Bird of prey, concentrated playing
with a pine cone in Ontario, Canada”
Alessia, 5scB
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