Posted on 03/07/2026 7:14:21 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
From the beaches of Galápagos to the forests of Cameroon.
In the Congo Basin, two groups of wild western lowland gorillas encounter photographer Hugo Hebbe. One group is familiar with humans, reacting with indifference to the attention. The other remains cautious, scamping off when humans approach. The images captured during the encounter (seen below) document “an evolving story of fear, patience and trust,” the photographer explains.
The images, part of a series called “Guardians of the Jungle,” were honored at the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards, Professional division.
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Many more award-winning photos at the link...
lotta nice ones- hate the lgihted mushroom one though- edited to look like there is an inner light bulb illuminating the underside of the mushroom- photo sites are chockerblock full of those fake effects- but most of the rest are nice-
i weill just add aotu the mushroom though- there was a lot of work to get the effect- I can appreciate that part of it- but it’s just not natural effect- i don’t mind edited photos- even the greats like answel adams manipulated photos for artistic effects- but i just personally prefer more natural looks-
Beautiful.
Thanks for posting.
I wonder how many of these are just AI-generated. The depth of field seems off on the coyote pix. I most like the overhead of the swirling elephants.
A number of these photos seem pretty pedestrian.
Especially that Chinese watchtower. It looks like a crappy tourist snapshot — maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t find the subject matter, lighting, composition, technique, or anything else at all interesting. It doesn’t tell any sort of story.
Maybe these awards are judged solely on equity and social justice criteria, in which case I am unqualified.
I like the crow picture...find interesting the talk of the disappearing SALT lake in Iran and its affect on agriculture??? Reference to environmental issues...
Thank you.
Yeah that Chinese watchtower pic is pretty unremarkable as a work of art, although the history is interesting. I kinda like the crow pic.
In this era of AI…it’s hard to get excited. How do you know what your looking at?
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