{"id":28073,"date":"2023-06-01T15:29:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T13:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=28073"},"modified":"2023-06-01T18:26:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T16:26:32","slug":"belly-of-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2023\/06\/01\/belly-of-the-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"Belly of the beast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A close call with a pair of crocodiles led to a highly commended shot <\/p>\n\n

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GETTING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH a couple of powerful predators in their natural habitat is not for the faint-hearted. But it was a risk that photographer Laura Becker was prepared to take to capture this extraordinary image of two American saltwater crocodiles in the Jardines de la Reina National Park, also known as \u2018Cuba\u2019s coral garden\u2019 and a major intact marine protected area in the Caribbean. Its mangroves are home to a large number of these fearsome reptiles and Laura joined them underwater to get this shot. \u201cIt was quite an exciting experience,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n

Using only the available light as she snorkelled, Laura\u2019s photography proved to be quite straightforward, technically, but the resulting photo, titled \u2018Smile\u2019, was a big hit with judges in the German Association for Nature Photography (GDT) Photographer of the Year 2023 \u2013 one of the most hotly anticipated competitions in world photography. See more GDT 2023 images at discoverwildlife.com\/photo-galleries<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
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MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cI didn’t hang around\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main issue was staying head on with the crocodiles and keeping an eye on them at all times to avoid potential dangers. So, when I saw the second crocodile approaching, I was able to just quickly capture the scene with one shot and get out from under them before I got caught in the middle of what might have turned into a crocodile fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

LAURA BECKER\/GDT 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GETTING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH a couple of powerful predators in their natural habitat is not for the faint-hearted. But it was a risk that photographer Laura Becker was prepared to take to capture this extraordinary image of two American saltwater crocodiles in the Jardines de la Reina National Park, also known as \u2018Cuba\u2019s coral garden\u2019 and a major intact marine protected area in the Caribbean. Its mangroves are home to a large number of these fearsome reptiles and Laura joined them underwater to get this shot. \u201cIt was quite an exciting experience,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":28071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"10","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"10","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_10-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_10-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"June-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"June-2023","purple_external_id":"June-2023-10-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"June-2023-10-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087245||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087245||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.505","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.505","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.505","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.505","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-05-30T10:18:42Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"e173dd45-5cb0-454a-8020-085c1d56b294","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-06-01T13:50:46Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A4XPdRVywRUqAIAhcHVaylA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c.jpg",2048,1472,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c-300x216.jpg",300,216,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c-768x552.jpg",768,552,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c-1024x736.jpg",800,575,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c-1536x1104.jpg",1536,1104,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/05\/c0f3d8e8-1316-4734-bbc3-ac25fbe9519c.jpg",2048,1472,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"GETTING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH a couple of powerful predators in their natural habitat is not for the faint-hearted. But it was a risk that photographer Laura Becker was prepared to take to capture this extraordinary image of two American saltwater crocodiles in the Jardines de la Reina National Park, also known as \u2018Cuba\u2019s…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28073"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29559,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28073\/revisions\/29559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}