{"id":116027,"date":"2025-09-03T16:04:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T16:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/116027\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T16:04:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T16:04:26","slug":"winners-of-australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/116027\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Overall winner \u2013 Inside-out view of a cauliflower soft coral. Named for its characteristic appearance that resembles a cauliflower, with numerous small, rounded, bump-like polyps that give it a puffy texture. This unique perspective was made possible by the Nauticam EMWL, an underwater version of the probe or insect eye lens. | Ross Gudgeon <\/p>\n

A psychedelic inside-out macro view of a cauliflower soft coral has been named the winner of the 2025 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.<\/p>\n

The photograph taken by Western Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon was captured in the waters of Lembeh Strait, off North Sulawesi, in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

The coral is named for its characteristic resemblance to a cauliflower, with numerous small, rounded, bump-like polyps that give it a puffy texture.<\/p>\n

Gudgeon was able to achieve the unique perspective by using a Nauticam extended macro wide lens (EMWL), an underwater version of the probe or insect eye lens.<\/p>\n

For his achievement, Gudgeon received the overall winner\u2019s prize of $6,530 (10,000AUD) and a cruise with Coral Expeditions. Winners in the competition\u2019s 10 categories also received $980 (1,500AUD) each.<\/p>\n

Animals in Nature \"A<\/a>Winner of Animals in Nature category. Each year, on the full moon, tens of thousands of spider crabs gather to shed their shells. At this time, they become soft and vulnerable to predation from sharks and large rays so they bunch up in epic numbers to protect themselves. This Port Jackson shark was cruising over the hoard. | Charles Davis
\n \"A<\/a>Etienne Littlefair \"A<\/a>Chris Young \"A<\/a>Brandon Pasowicz \"A<\/a>Bernie Shore Threatened Species \"A<\/a>Winner of the Threatened Species category. Ghost bats are rare and elusive, with strict roost requirements. After years studying these nocturnal predators with thermal optics, I\u2019ve discovered a handful of regularly frequented locations in the escarpment surrounding my home. This image was captured on 1 January 2025 \u2013 an incredible way to usher in the New Year. | Etienne Littlefair \"A<\/a>Alex Pike \"Three<\/a>Lewis Burnett
\n \"A<\/a>Michael Eastwell Our Impact \"A<\/a>Winner of the Our Impact category. Discovered in a brick wall at home, a small garden skink was trapped in a hole. I felt helpless as the lizard thrashed its body from side to side in an attempt to escape. Thankfully, it was eventually able to get itself free. | Sara Corlis \"A<\/a>Joanna Kelly Astrophotography \"The<\/a>Winner of the Astrophotography category. An amphitheatre of pandani watch on as the galactic core, swathed in airglow, rises over an alpine lake, nestled in a rugged Tassie mountain range. Lady Aurora dances under the Magellanic Clouds. This image was captured on a crisp night in one of Tasmania\u2019s more rugged and majestic multi-day walks. | Marley Butler \"The<\/a>William Goward \"Colorful<\/a>Kavan Chay Landscape \"A<\/a>Winner of the Landscape category. I love the raw power and beauty of storms. Watching this severe storm making its way to me, I was filled with excitement and anticipation. To capture the only CG (cloud-to-ground) bolt to come from this amazing shelf cloud was absolute bliss. Once again, thank you Mother Nature! | Darren Wassell
\n \"Snow-covered<\/a>Scott Leggo \"A<\/a>William Patino Monochrome \"A<\/a>Winner of the Monochrome category. Orca WA007 joyfully leaps out of the Bremer Canyon after devouring a Cuvier\u2019s beaked whale, her prey\u2019s intestines subtly hanging from her mouth like a festive decoration. Around 300 of these mammalhunting orcas have been recorded in this remote Southern Ocean hotspot, with unfolding research suggesting they may be their own ecotype. | Rachelle Mackintosh \"A<\/a>Michael Snedic \"A<\/a>Franco Tulli Aerial \"Aerial<\/a>Winner of the Aerial category. This is not a dead leaf; it is a result of massive tides retreating over mudflats. I thought of a dead tree and a bird as we flew over the flats in the chopper. As this blacknecked stork flew towards the drainage, we banked hard just in time to capture them together. | Charles Davis \"Aerial<\/a>Ashley Sykes
\n \"Aerial<\/a>William Patino Macro \"A<\/a>Winner of the Macro category. Vertical migrations are some of the most remarkable in the world. Billions of animals hide in deep waters then travel to the surface at night to feed under the cover of darkness. This paper nautilus hitched a ride on a passing jellyfish \u2013 a truly unique and magical encounter on one of the world\u2019s greatest vertical currents. | Talia Greis \"A<\/a>Peter McGee \"A<\/a>Mary Gudgeon \"Close-up<\/a>Francois Brassard <\/p>\n

The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition is produced by the South Australian Museum. An exhibition will run at the South Australian Museum until February 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

The exhibition will also go on display at the Australian Museum in Sydney from October 25, 2025, to February 15, 2026. The full gallery of photographs from this year\u2019s competition can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Overall winner \u2013 Inside-out view of a cauliflower soft coral. Named for its characteristic appearance that resembles a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,82189,460,134,18360,61257,7254],"class_list":["post-116027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australiangeographicnaturephotographyoftheyear","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-naturephotography","tag-photocompetition","tag-wildlifephotography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}