Nature is beautiful. It is an outlet for inspiration and provides peace and serenity. Beneath the beauty is the harsh reality and a game of survival.
Every year, a competition is held for Wildlife Photographer of the Year. While the competition is about the photographer, it highlights what draws us in as viewers and crowns the award winner. These photos showcase the two spectrums of nature: the awe-inspiring beauty and the harsh reality of survival and instinct.
These are some of the most breathtaking submissions for the 2025 Wildlife Photographer award.
Essence of Kamchatka
Photographer Kesshav Vikram captured this image of a brown bear walking alongside the Kurile Lake in Kamchatka Krai, Russia. In the background, the Iliinsky volcano peeks out of the clouds.
The photo shows a peaceful scene as the brown bear makes its way to hunt sockeye salmon that are migrating upriver to their origin lake.
Toxic Tip
Photographer Lakshitha Karunarathna captured this image of a lonely Asian elephant in Sri Lanka passing through a waste disposal site. Photographs like this show how the harsh reality of pollution is quickly overcoming the beauty of nature. According to the BBC, the landfill site was created over a decade ago near a wildlife zone that is home to around 300 elephants.
A Tale of Two Coyotes
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Photographer Parham Pourahmad’s photo, captured in San Francisco, California, shows the glowing amber eyes of a male coyote. A female’s black-tipped tail frames the male’s eyes perfectly in the morning sun.
Pourahmad followed the pair of coyotes for hours before the two stopped, and the male nuzzled against its counterpart. A beautiful image that shows the side of coyotes that we may never have a chance to witness in person.
Deadly Lessons
Nature is a game of survival. Marina Cano’s photo captures three young cheetahs in Kenya’s Samburu National Park practicing their hunting skills on a Günther’s dik‑dik. What you don’t see in the photo is the mother cheetah off in the distance, watching her babies learn the art of hunting.
Inside the Pack
Photographer Amit Eshel got up close and personal with a pack of Arctic wolves on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. He says he was so close that he could smell their breath. Capturing the Arctic wolf pack at eye level fulfilled his dream of photographing these animals. Arctic wolves are found only in Canada’s north and northern Greenland.
These are only a few photos that capture nature’s good, bad, and ugly. However, each photo could inspire an audience in many ways. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner will be announced on October 13, 2025.
