Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

• Stefano Unterthiner ( Nationality - Italy, Country of Residence - Italy)
  Animals in their Environment - Highly Commended
  Killer in the mist
  Photographs in this category must create a sense of place and convey a feeling of the relationship between an animal and where it lives.
  
  The picture was taken in a torrential rainstorm on Possession Island in the sub-Antarctic Crozet Archipelago. A killer whale family was hunting king penguins and southern elephant seals just off a nearby beach. 'Over four months, this was the first time,' says Stefano, 'that I saw killer whales so close to shore or to the king penguin rookery.' The penguins were in a terrible panic, he says. 'The drama was intense, what with the enormous male, its dorsal fin slicing through the grey water, and the simply terrible weather.' Stefano spotted the killer whales from the cliff overlooking the beach and then spent more than three hours photographing them in whipping rain. 'It's one of the most unforgettable moments of my life.'
  
  Nikon D2X + Nikon 70-200mm lens; 1/500 sec at f7.1; ISO 250.
  
  
  
  

  Stefano Unterthiner / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

• Morten Hilmer ( Nationality - Denmark, Country of Residence - Denmark)
  Animal Behaviour: Mammals - Runner-up
  Hare spat
  Photographs in this category are chosen for their action and interest value as well as for their aesthetic appeal.
  
  The only way for Morten to stay in the world's biggest national park for any decent length of time was to take a job as a cook at the isolated Danmarkshavn weather station in northeast Greenland. For three months, he spent half a day catering for the seven staff. The rest of the day, he headed out into the nearby mountains, gradually getting to know the daily routines of the local Arctic hares. In the station kitchen, there were plenty of rations. But out in the frozen wilds, it was a different story. The hares had to scrape away the snow to reach the roots below.
  With food so scarce, tempers ran high, and squabbles often broke out. This explosive spat, backlit by the setting sun, was over in seconds – since at temperatures below -25°C (32°F), energy was too precious to waste. The hares did, though, have strategies to cope: sometimes, when the weather-station dogs dozed, they would creep up and pinch their food.
  Nikon D2X + Nikkor AFS 200-400mm f4 lens at 270mm; 1/500 sec at f4; ISO 160
  
  
  
  

  Morten Hilmer / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

• András Mészáros ( Nationality - Hungary, Country of Residence - Hungary)
  Animal Behaviour: All Other Animals - Winner
  Raindrop refresher
  This is a category for photographs of animals that are not mammals or birds – in other words, the majority of animals on Earth. Most of them behave in ways that are seldom witnessed and little known or understood. So this category offers plenty of scope for fascinating behaviour.
  
  After a summer shower, András headed off to his local forest to take photographs. He specializes in pictures taken around his home near Lake Velence in Hungary – in particular, close-ups. In a sunny glade, he noticed lots of red ants running up and down a flowering common mallow, feeding on the sugar secretions of aphids sucking from the buds. Here, one of the ants sips from a raindrop balanced on a mallow petal. 'The beauty of macro-photography,' says András, 'is the worlds it reveals – all the activity going on in miniature that you otherwise would never see.'
  Canon EOS-5D + Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens reversed + 2 sets of extension tubes + Canon EF 1.4x teleconverter; 1/200 sec at f9; ISO 200; Gitzo 143 tripod + Manfrotto 469 Ball Head; Canon 420EX flash; beanbag.
  
  
  
  

  András Mészáros / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009

• Paul Nicklen ( Nationality - Canada, Country of Residence - Canada)
  The Underwater World - Highly Commended
  Water baby
  The subjects in this category can be marine or freshwater species, but must be featured under the water. The photographs must also be memorable, either because of the behaviour displayed or because of their aesthetic appeal – and ideally, both.
  
  A young southern elephant seal pup rests in a freshwater creek in Fortuna Bay, South Georgia. His 36kg (80 pounds) birth weight had soared to about 180kg (400 pounds) in fewer than three weeks. Now weaned, he had been left to fend for himself. Constant storms meant that the seawater was too murky for underwater photography, but Paul was desperate to get images of elephant seals. He eventually found this young seal playing in a crystal-clear freshwater creek, and joined it in the water for more than two hours. 'After waiting months in vain for a picture of a polar bear in the Arctic,' he says, 'here I was on the other side of the world, being mobbed by countless curious animals, including this plump and healthy seal. South Georgia is one of the most astonishing wildlife hotspots I have been to.'
  Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III + Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L II USM lens; 1/100 sec at f13; ISO 200; Seacam housing; dual Ikelite SS-125 strobes.
  
  
  
  

  Paul Nicklen / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009