– It is very nice, primarily because this is indisputably the most important nature photography competition in the world, says Knut-Sverre Horn. He won in the “Urban Wildlife” category in the Wildlife Photographer of The Year photo competition. It is an international photo competition organized by the Natural History Museum in London. This year it will be held for the 59th time and on Tuesday evening there was an award ceremony in the big city. – Here you compete with people who do nothing but take nature photos and work for all the biggest clients, such as National Geographic. This is the biggest thing you can compete in, and of course it’s extra fun, he says. According to Horn, the competition is referred to as nature photography’s Oscar. His picture is one of 49,957 pictures from photographers from 95 countries. The winning photo from each category will be sent around the world on an exhibition tour. A book will also be prepared. Here you can see the winning photo: Not the first time he won Bilete til Horn was taken in Vardø in Finnmark, and shows silhouettes of crutches in the midnight sun on a glass plate full of bird droppings. – In an hour’s time around midnight, you get this effect and see the silhouettes of the crutches drawn on the glass fibres. He has tried to capture the image several times, but fog, light conditions and weather have meant that he must have been patient. – I have been back again and again. I have taken seven such midnight sun moments in the last three summers. It takes a lot to make it work, because the silhouettes will usually overlap, and it will be a terrible mess. You have to wait exactly for the tiny blink of an eye where clear silhouettes appear and you see what is actually going on, he says. Knut-Sverre Horn says that it is the contrast between the idyllic midnight sun and the slightly raw and dirty industrial, which makes it a special nature picture. Photo: Ole Martin Dahle But it is not the first time Horn has reached the top in Wildlife Photographer of The Year. In 2021, he had the best picture in the category “Natural Artistry”. – It’s great. You can get lucky once in your life and reach one or another competition. The goal is to come back and win one more time, and show that you have something to do together with all the best nature photographers in the world. Winning more than once makes it a little extra special. Norwegian photographers at the top of the world Head of Norwegian nature photographers, Roger Brendhagen, congratulates Horn on the award. He says the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award is one of the biggest you can win as a nature photographer. – He hangs high. Nature photographer and leader of Norwegian nature photographers Roger Brendhagen says Norwegian photographers deliver good quality nature photos in photo competitions. Photo: Jo Stenersen Brendhagen also says that Horn has really made it as a nature photographer. – He has a sense of humor in his photos that perhaps not everyone sees. He takes a picture that sticks out. Brendhagen himself sits on a number of juries for various photo competitions and he says they always look for something that stands out. – We are always looking for something we have not seen before. It could be that it is an exciting species, an interaction between animals, the light or the section that is special. Because in such competitions there are often several thousand or hundreds of thousands of pictures entered. According to the leader, Norwegian photographers are actually at the top of the world in nature photography. – We are quite a few nature photographers in Norway compared to other countries in Europe and the world, but Norwegian nature photographers have managed to assert themselves in the competition in the last 20-30 years because we have a lot of beautiful nature. We have many good photographers, especially in the north. Brendhagen is currently in Finland to photograph bears, and there he has met photographers from all over the world who are proud of the Norwegians. – And a bit of nonsense then they wonder “what are we doing in Norway”. After all, we deliver many images of good quality year after year. For the record: Knut Sverre Horn is a journalist at news Troms and Finnmark.
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Norwegian photographer tops in international nature photography competition – news Nordland
