The Winners And Finalists Of The Annual “Focus On Nature” Photography Awards In 2020 Have Been Announced. In This Festival, Many Photographers From Different Parts Of The World, Including India, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, And The Philippines, Were Present And Competed With Each Other.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 disease reminds us that the disconnection between humans and Nature can have disastrous consequences. Of course, despite these darknesses, there are also solutions. For example, if we manage our activities sustainably, Nature can heal itself quickly. While we are trying to rebuild our economy, the lessons of the Corona outbreak are to correct our unbalanced and dangerous relationship with Nature and try to improve this relationship.

Focus on Nature is a three-day festival featuring exciting sessions unique to nature lovers and aims to recognize photographers whose work helps preserve our natural history and raise awareness about nature conservation. This festival has been created as a platform for nature lovers to communicate, share and learn from famous photographers, researchers, experts, foresters, and other members of society.

Also, Focus on Nature Festival encourages the community to use this platform to promote wildlife photography and provides an opportunity to validate, recognize and showcase their work to connect with nature enthusiasts and photographers.

In this context, the “Focus on Nature” photography festival, the best Nature and wildlife photography festival in Asia, emphasizes the protection of the audience and the need to comply with health recommendations during the outbreak of the Coronavirus, published its list of winners in 2020 on September 1 online and through YouTube website shared.

Due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, the competition was held online from the beginning, and more than 1,600 photographers submitted about 14,000 images to the festival from all over the world.

Focus on Nature Photography Awards has created an impressive catalog of imaginative and artistic images in all the years it has been held, and this year’s event was no exception. From remarkable natural history moments to pressing conservation issues, each image in this collection has many stories to share about the natural world. The organizers say that this festival was established to provide a space for nature lovers to connect.

(Click on the images to view them in full size)

Winner of the wildlife landscape and animals in habitat and nature category

• Photo Title: The Dark Knight
• Photographer name: Yashpal Rathore
• Photo Location: Bangalore, India

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

I captured a photo of this bat in flight using a laser trigger and a low-power flashlight. A giant short-nosed fruit bat, he was emerging from a cherry tree on the footpath of a busy street in Karnataka. The headlights of the speeding vehicle, the neon lights of the mall, and the long exposure shot perfectly capture the dynamics of city life. This growing city has always witnessed the emergence of these mammals at night, which cause chaos in urban environments. Although many humans disturb bats, these birds play a vital role in our ecosystem as seed dispersers and pest controllers.

Winner of the creative nature photography category

• Photo Title: mirage at night
• Photographer Name: Nayan Jyoti Das
• Photo Location: Manas National Park, Assam

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

Sometimes Nature surprises us with impressive and beautiful moments, just like a fairy tale. A family of wild elephants, caught in the warm embrace of fireflies, have made a pleasant gathering under the night sky. The stars, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, are shining in the sky.

Winner of the creative nature photography category

• Photo title: Order in chaos
• Name of the photographer: Jaish Joshi
• Photo Location: Vadodara, Gujarat

This wide shot also captures the madness of the starlings in the sky. The photographer says in the description of this photo:

Starlings are sitting on the edge of the wall like substitutes on the bench, waiting to join the game. Hundreds of tiny starlings move through the sky in perfectly coordinated patterns. The starling is a noisy, showy bird with a fast and direct flight.

Second place in the animal portraits section

• Photo Title: Boxer
• Name of the photographer: Mofid Abu Shalva
• Photo location: Qatif, Saudi Arabia

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

The red palm beetle is a species of snout beetle known for its long snout and prominent antennae. Their existence was first reported in coconut trees of Southeast Asia. Since then, they have found their place in palm trees in several countries of the Middle East and have spread to Africa and Europe through the transfer of infected planting materials.

Winner of the Animal Portraits category

• Photo Title: Monsoon Courtship
• Name of the photographer: Ripan Biswas
• Photo Location: Cooch Behar, West Bengal

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

This photo shows an image of a frog that was recorded by changing the focus first from the frog and then from the clouds. The sky lights up with thunder and lightning and announces the arrival of the mating season of amphibians. Monsoons, also known as ‘Kalbuishakhi’ in Bengali, bring the first rains after months of the dry season.

Animal Behavior Award Winner

• Photo Title: Octopus
• Photographer’s name: Magnus Lundgren
• Photo Location: Balayan Bay, Luzon, Philippines

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

This photo is a picture of a Nautilus or octopus inaccessible ocean habitats, A species widely found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Although this relationship is still not fully understood, it is believed that Nautilus uses its host as a food source and defensive weapon. When the Nautilus was photographed, it used its host as a defensive weapon by turning towards the camera, possibly as a potential predator.

Animal Behavior Award Winner

• Photo Title: Water wars
• Photographer Name: Chaitanya Rawat
• Photo Location: Jahalana Forest, Jaipur

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

On a hot day in the forests of Jahalana with a temperature of 45 degrees Celsius, I waited under the shade of a tree near a water hole. While I was only expecting to watch this leopard, a striped hyena also appeared in my camera frame, which had come looking for water. My patience paid off when the leopard sloshed off the rocks like melted wax and strode toward the water hole to water itself. The conflict and chase of these two animals led to the leopard’s escape, the hyena’s drowning, and the recording of this photo.

Animal Behavior Award Winner

• Photo Title: Red race
• Photographer name: Varun Thakar
• Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

The southern pronghorn, the largest horned species on earth, is feeding its young. This type of bird is found in the grasslands, woodlands, and open plains of South Africa and is recognizable by its black plumage and red throat ridge in males. The young birds have yellow areas on their face and throat. Pollution, logging, and agricultural expansion, which often destroy nesting habitats, are among the main threats to the extinction of this species of bird.

Conservation award winner

• Photo Title: Circle of Death
• Name of the photographer: Sarkan Manipuri
• Photo Location: Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

Fishermen have surrounded the lifeless body of Mobula Ray at Kakinada beach, where the fish came, and are pricing the fish for Rs. The auction winner then prepares the fish and illegally trades it to Southeast Asian countries at a high-profit margin. The gill rockers of Mobula ray fish are believed to have medicinal properties.

The second person in the protection department

• Photo title: plastic surfer
• Photographer’s name: Magnus Lundgren
• Photo Location: Balayan Bay, Luzon, Philippines

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

A male paper nautilus swims on a piece of plastic in the ocean. Plastic debris damages and kills fish, seabirds, and marine ocean mammals. Marine plastic pollution has affected at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species.

Winner of the young photographer category

• Photo Title: Dust
• Photographer’s name: Sitara Karthikeyan
• Photo Location: Corbett, Uttarakhand

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

A majestic tusk elephant walks forward towards the photographer, showering itself in the spray of dust. Elephants use dust to keep their skin healthy and prevent parasites. Also, dirt and dust help them to cool their bodies.

Second place in the young photographer category

• Photo title: balance in faith
• Photographer name: Abhikram Shekhawat
• Photo Location: Jaipur, Rajasthan

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

Aravalli mountain range is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, which stretches from Gujarat and Delhi to Rajasthan and Haryana. With its vast landscape and biological diversity, Aravalli forms the northern landscape of India. A large population of rhesus macaques (a type of monkey) lives in this area, where the famous Galtaji temple is also located. Although these monkeys cause a lot of nuisance to people, the faithful who visit the temple to worship the monkey god, Hanuman, treat them with respect. This image is of a female rhesus macaque sitting in front of the magnificent edifice of this temple.

Winner of the young photographer category

• Photo Title: Catching the sun
• Photographer’s name: Sumit Adhikari
• Photo Location: Indian Ocean, Maldives

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

With its impressive leap, a dolphin has created a magnificent painting against the sunset light from the deep blue ocean. Although there are many hypotheses for this movement of dolphins; However, scientists still haven’t discovered the reason for their actions.

Second runner-up in the wild landscape and animals section

• Photo title: A staircase of stars
• Name of the photographer: Mandar Komarek
• House photo: Coorg, Karnataka

The photographer says in the description of this photo:

Snails are a type of gastropod mollusk. The snail has been placed in the category of gastropods because the whole lower part of its body is considered its foot. Biologists have identified more than 30,000 species of snails. The snail feeds on all kinds of plants and has a diverse environment. Some species of snails live in the sea, and some live in freshwater or gardens. This picture depicts several snails in a broad frame of green forests.