The GDT Nature Photographer of the Tear is perhaps Europe’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition – here’s our selection of the best of the winners and runners-up

By Paul McGuinness

Published: Friday, 21 April 2023 at 12:00 am

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The prestigious GDT Nature Photographer of the Year competition is one of the most hotly anticipated competitions in world photography, and this year’s selection shows why so many photographers dream of winning.

What is the GDT Nature Photographer of the Year competition?

Every year the competition is exclusively run for the Society’s members (unlike the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is open to all photographers resident in Europe).

This year, a total of nearly 7,000 images were submitted by 424 GDT members from 13 countries. After a pre-jury procedure by Christine Averberg, Stephan Amm and Felix Wesch, it was the GDT members’ turn to make their choices from ten images in each of the seven categories: Birds, Mammals, Other Animals, Plants & Fungi, Landscapes, Nature’s Studio and this year’s special category Urban Nature.

The winning image, entitled Scenes of a Marriage, was taken by German photographer Silke Hüttche. Silke is only the second woman to be elected overall winner in the 51-year history of this competition. The organisers believe that this, as well as the constantly growing number of female participants who are able to successfully position themselves with their images, is a good sign that the historically male-dominated genre of nature photography is increasingly reflecting society in a more realistic way.

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Overall winner

“I have this habit of constantly looking for birds wherever I am,” explains winning photographer,  Silke Hüttche of Germany. “So every time I pass this electricity pole I take a look up for there is always some kind of bird sitting there. As was the case on this somewhat dull day in September 2021 when I glanced up and spotted the kite sitting there on the one end and shortly after a second one arriving to settle on the opposite end.

“This seemed to get exciting – were  the two a pair or rivals? Hoping for some action-filled photography, I took out my camera and waited. Initially my wish was for some kind of interaction between them. But they just seemed to have nothing to say to each other and kept looking in opposite directions. In the end I was fascinated by this scene of perfect symmetry, and luckily both birds remained still for long enough until I had the picture I wanted.”

See more of Silke’s work at www.sh-naturfotografie.de

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Category winners – a selection

Birds

In the category Birds Christian Höfs won with the picture of a partridge on fallow land near Marburg, Germany in early summer.

Mammals

The photo of a herd of buffalo in Africa brought Jens Cullmann  out on top in the Mammals category.

Other animals

Sebastian Vogel photographed a snail on filigree grasses and won in the category Other Animals.

Plants and fungi

The first place in the category Plants and Fungi went to Antje Kreienbrink with an impressionist interpretation of flowering water lilies.

Landscapes

The category Landscapes was decided by Britta Strack with the mystic picture of a glacier at the foot of the Großglockner mountain.

Nature’s studio

In the Nature’s Studio category, Florian Smit was selected as winner with the photograph of a dead moth on Rio Tinto in Spain.

Urban nature

The special category Urban Nature was won by Silke Hüttche with her photo Scenes of a marriage who also was chosen as the overall winner of the competition.

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