A Celebration of Nature’s Beauty and Fragility
Every year, the World Nature Photography Awards (WNPA) unearths a trove of breathtaking images that capture the raw, unfiltered beauty of our planet. The 2025 competition saw thousands of submissions from 48 countries, each frame an intimate dialogue between artist and environment. More than a contest, WNPA stands as a clarion call for conservation, proving that fine art photography is more than just aesthetics—it’s activism.
This year, Slovenia’s Maruša Puhek ascended to the pinnacle of nature photography with a hauntingly poetic image: two deer dashing through a snow-draped vineyard. Unlike the dramatic landscapes and exotic wildlife often dominating these awards, Puhek’s photograph was a study in serendipity—an unplanned marvel caught with a 14-year-old camera.
It was a cold January day when I spotted two deer running. I took a few shots and felt frustrated that I didn’t have a telephoto lens. Only later, while editing, did I realize how lucky I actually was. The wide lens kept the snowy landscape integral to the scene, making the composition truly special. — Maruša Puhek
Puhek’s triumph underscores a truth often overlooked in fine art photography: vision trumps equipment. The best shots aren’t born from cutting-edge technology but from an artist’s instinct to recognize magic in the mundane.
The Year’s Most Striking Winners
Beyond Puhek’s poignant masterpiece, the 2025 WNPA celebrated 14 category winners, each offering a unique perspective on nature’s magnificence. From ethereal landscapes to riveting wildlife encounters, these images serve as visual love letters to the planet.
Notable Gold Medalists:
- Marcio Esteves Cabral (Brazil) – Plants and Fungi: A hypnotic image of glowing wildflowers in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, where bioluminescence paints the forest in an otherworldly glow.
- Jake Mosher (USA) – Planet Earth’s Landscapes: A dreamlike capture of Hyalite Lake, Montana, where the interplay of ice, sky, and mountain evokes a near-mystical stillness.
- Paul Goldstein (UK) – Black and White: A brutal yet elegant tableau—five cheetahs feasting on a hartebeest in the Olare Conservancy, Kenya. A masterclass in contrast, motion, and the merciless beauty of survival.
Paul Goldstein (UK). Gold, Black and White. Location: Olare Conservancy, Kenya
Malini Chandrasekar (UK) – Animals in Their Habitat: A polar bear, stark against the ice fields of Svalbard, Norway, a chilling (and timely) reminder of the fragility of the Arctic.
Other winners delivered a kaleidoscope of perspectives, from underwater marvels to the intimate details of amphibian and reptile behavior. Each image, in its own way, is an invitation to look closer, to feel deeper, to care more.
Photography as a Call to Action
To simply admire these photographs would be to miss the point. They are not just art—they are witnesses. Witnesses to a world on the brink, where every frame is a plea for preservation.
“Seeing these images cannot fail to motivate one to do everything to protect this fragile planet of ours.” — Adrian Dinsdale, WNPA Co-founder
This is the crux of WNPA’s mission: inspiration as a precursor to action. These award-winning landscapes for photography are not passive scenes but active battlegrounds, reminding us that conservation is not optional—it is imperative.
The Power of Fine Art Photography in Conservation
The 2025 WNPA proves that photography is far more than a medium for aesthetic pleasure—it is an agent of change. These images tell stories of resilience, loss, and renewal. They reveal the heartbreaking realities of climate change and habitat destruction, but they also offer hope, showing us the enduring beauty that still exists in the wild corners of our world.
For art magazines and collectors, this competition is an annual reminder that fine art photography is not confined to galleries and private collections. It is alive in the shifting light over a mountain ridge, in the quiet grace of a bird taking flight, in the fleeting moment when a predator and prey lock eyes.
From sprawling landscapes to the tiniest creatures, the 2025 World Nature Photography Awards reaffirm that photography is one of the most powerful tools in environmental storytelling. Whether captured with the latest technology or a timeworn camera, these images remind us that the world is unbearably beautiful—if only we take the time to look.
Editor’s Choice
From sprawling landscapes to the tiniest creatures, the 2025 World Nature Photography Awards reaffirm that photography is one of the most powerful tools in environmental storytelling. Whether captured with the latest technology or a timeworn camera, these images remind us that the world is unbearably beautiful—if only we take the time to look.