{"id":16170,"date":"2022-04-28T14:08:07","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T12:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=60886"},"modified":"2022-04-28T14:28:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T12:28:14","slug":"gdt-nature-photographer-of-the-year-2022","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/gdt-nature-photographer-of-the-year-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Tom Gilks\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 28 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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This stunning photograph, taken by 23-year-old Thomas Hempelmann<\/a> from Greifswald, Germany, of a kestrel on a branch full of cherry blossoms, has won the GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2022<\/a> competition.<\/p>\n

In Europe\u2019s premier photography competition, which considered by some to have even higher standards than the UK\u2019s Wildlife Photographer of the Year<\/a>, finding a winner is never easy. This year, Hempelmann came out on top with his picture, titled \u2018The Florist\u2019, in a field of more than 400 GDT members from 11 countries. Overall, 6,400 photographs were submitted.<\/p>\n

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About the GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2022<\/h2>\n
Every year the competition is exclusively run for the Society\u2019s members (unlike the competition GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, which is open to all photographers resident in Europe).<\/p>\n
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A shortlist was judged by Corinna Leonbacher, Carsten Ott and Florian Smit, before the GDT members\u2019 voted from ten images in each of the seven categories: Birds, Mammals, Other Animals, Plants and Fungi, Landscapes, Nature\u2019s Studio and this year\u2019s special category in co-operation with NABU Foundation for National Natural Heritage: Beech \u2013 Tree of the Year 2022. The beech is considered the ecologically most important tree species in Germany, hence the idea to dedicate a separate category to it.<\/p>\n

More related content:<\/strong><\/p>\n
How to photograph wildlife<\/a><\/li>\n
Why are there so few female wildlife photographers?<\/a><\/li>\n
How to win Wildlife Photographer of the Year<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
\u00a9 Graeme Green<\/p>\n
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Hempelmann was cycling home from an unsuccessful photo tour when he spotted the bird of prey sitting on a lamp post. He quickly stopped and got his camera out to take a few shots: \u201cThe pictures were not very special at all. But when the kestrel rose up and then settled between the white blossoms that I had already spotted from the corner of my eye, my heart began to beat faster as I had imagined such a situation many times before. While I was still pondering whether to take off my 2x extender to include more of the tree in the picture, he was already gone again. In the end, it was only a few seconds that made my day and I whistled loudly with joy all the way home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Below is a selection of images from this year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n
To view the images as a slideshow, click on the arrows in the top right hand corner of the photos below.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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