{"id":630925,"date":"2026-10-15T02:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T02:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630925\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T02:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T02:00:15","slug":"incredible-seals-eye-view-image-wins-this-years-ournature-environmental-photo-video-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630925\/","title":{"rendered":"Incredible \u2018seal\u2019s eye view\u2019 image wins this year\u2019s OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

A striking photograph of a polar bear peering into a seal breathing hole in the Arctic ice has won this year\u2019s OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award.<\/p>\n

Audun Rikardsen\u2019s image A Seal\u2019s Nightmare (with one from the same series also shortlisted for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition<\/a>) shows the bear looking directly into a camera that he set up beneath the ice. <\/p>\n

The inspiration for the image came from one of Rikardsen’s previous experiences in the Arctic, after a polar bear had dropped his camera into a hole and sunk it into deep water off Svalbard. But before it did, the polar bear had taken several \u2018selfies\u2019 of itself with the motion-activated camera.<\/p>\n

When wondering how he could improve upon those images, Rikardsen developed a rig that used a motion sensor which would be triggered when a polar bear investigated the hole. During another trip near Svalbard, a bear approached the rig, triggering the camera \u2013 but it also attempted to haul up the entire camera rig. Rikardsen then had to wait eight hours for the bear to wander off and to check whether he was successful, resulting in a unique perspective of one of the Arctic\u2019s most successful predators.<\/p>\n

Other winners of this year\u2019s competition include Alain Schroeder, whose work documents efforts to help conserve one of the world\u2019s most endangered great apes: orangutans<\/a>. His series, titled Saving Orangutans, followed conservation teams working to rescue, treat and rehabilitate the animals. <\/p>\n

Imre Poty\u00f3\u2019s image Moonlight won the Carpathian Basin category, which celebrates local photographers. In the image, he captures the beauty of winter moths moving through a Hungarian forest.<\/p>\n

\"SavingAlain Schroeder won the Best Photo Story award for his series Saving Orangutans. In this image, Nazarudin, from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, monitors six-year-old Kamala during her first \u2018soft release\u2019, the final stage before her full return to the wild – Credit: Alain Schroeder \/ OurNature Photo & Video Award 2026<\/p>\n

The organisers of the international competition, which is in its third year, note that it attracted more than 2,100 entries from photographers and filmmakers across 35 countries. The OurNature Environmental Photo & Video Award<\/a> aims to raise awareness and demonstrate how photography can contribute to positive environmental change.<\/p>\n

A selection of winning and finalist photographs will be presented in a free exhibition in Budapest\u2019s Sz\u00e9na Square. It will remain open 24 hours a day and will be on display for approximately one month.<\/p>\n

\"MoonlightImre Poty\u00f3\u2019s image won the Carpathian Basin category, with his photo taken in Hungary\u2019s B\u00f6rzs\u00f6ny Mountains – Credit: Imre Potyo\u0301 \/ OurNature Photo & Video Award 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A striking photograph of a polar bear peering into a seal breathing hole in the Arctic ice has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-630925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}