Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award Winner

Back in November, the Natural History Museum, London, announced the winners of its 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. Now, after a few months of voting, the winner of the People’s Choice Award has been announced along with four “Highly Commended” entries. There were 25 finalists for the People’s Choice Award, which were selected from 59,228 entries from 117 countries and territories.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. Those in London can view an exhibition of the winning photographs in person through June 29, 2025.

Photo: Ian Wood (UK) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Image title: No Access

Caption: An ambling Eurasian badger, illuminated by a streetlight, appears to glance up at badger graffiti on a quiet road in England, UK. Residents of St Leonards-on-Sea had been leaving food scraps on the pavement for foxes, but Ian noticed that badgers from a nearby sett were also coming to forage. After seeing a badger walking along the pavement by this wall late one night, he decided to photograph it. He set up a small hide on the edge of the road to take this picture.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award Highly Commended

Photo: Francisco Negron (Chile) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Image title: Earth and Sky

Caption: A double lenticular cloud is illuminated at nightfall by the lava emitted from the Villarrica volcano, Chile. Villarica is in the town of Pucón in the south of Chile. It’s one of the country’s most active volcanoes and last erupted in 2015. Francisco takes regular trips to Villarrica to monitor its activity. On this visit, he stayed nearby for 10 nights. He says every trip is “quite an adventure – never knowing what the volcano might surprise you with”. Some nights are calm, others furious as in this photograph, where the brightness of the crater illuminates the night sky.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award Highly Commended

Photo: Francisco Negron (Chile) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Image title: Edge of Night

Caption: A ghostly barn owl exits the hayloft window of a derelict barn to hunt in fields outside Vancouver, Canada. Jess quietly watched the owl for several nights to understand its habits. He set up an invisible beam that would trigger a flash when the owl flew out of the barn. Simultaneously, a slow shutter speed gathered ambient light cast on the clouds and barn. On the tenth night, all the moving parts came together as the owl left to begin its hunt.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award Highly Commended

Photo: Michel d’Oultremont (Belgium) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Image title: Whiteout

Caption: A stoat sits up and observes its territory as it blends perfectly into a snowy landscape in Belgium. Michel had been looking for stoats in the snow for many years. The magic of snowfall fascinates Michel every winter. He wanted to take a photograph that showed how the stoats blend in with the whiteness of the landscape. He’d seen a few in Switzerland but never in his native Belgium. Then, finally his dream came true. He lay in the snow with a white camouflage net covering all but his lens. This curious stoat came out of its snowy hole and sat up from time to time, observing its territory just before setting off to hunt.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award Highly Commended

Photo: David Northall (UK) / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Image title: Spiked

Caption: A bloodied yet determined honey badger returns to finish off a Cape porcupine, which earlier had tried to defend itself. Found throughout Botswana, honey badgers are famously ferocious. They often chase animals many times their own size. This honey badger got an unpleasant surprise when it attacked the normally nocturnal Cape porcupine. The badger grabbed the porcupine’s right leg. In defence, the porcupine repeatedly backed into its attacker, piercing it with many quills. During a lull in the attack, the porcupine managed to shuffle away, its leg badly damaged. After a short retreat, the bloodied badger returned. It finished off the porcupine under a bush close to the original attack then dragged it into its underground den.

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It’s no secret that the Leica name demands steep prices. That holds true whether the gear in question is a camera or not, as is evident by a new collaboration between Lond-based performance apparel and guided expedition brand Shackelton and Leica Camera. The Frank Hurley Field Jacket was developed with Leica Camera and expedition photographer Levison Wood. The jacket’s name references the Australian photographer and adventurer, a member of the infamous Shackelton Expedition. As we would expect with the Leica name attached, it comes with a hefty $955 price tag.

Shackelton says waterproofing was the main focus when designing and testing this technical hardshell. As a result, it promises a fully waterproof design thanks to three-layer fabric and Aquaguard zippers to keep water out of pockets. It is interesting, though, that they skipped over well-known (and trusted) GORE-TEX materials for the shell, especially given the price tag. The Arc’Teryx or Norrøna offerings with Gore-Tex Pro certainly seem to make more sense for the price.

Image: Shackelton

Of course, this isn’t the first time Leica has teamed up with a clothing company to create a jacket. Back in October, a collaboration between apparel brand Aether and Leica was announced, offering photographer-friendly details like pockets for camera batteries and SD card holders. It is also the second time Shackelton has collaborated with Leica. Interestingly enough, both jackets notably lack the red Leica circle, which seems like it should bring the price down at least a little.

Like the Aether jacket, the Frank Hurley Field Jacket offers features specific to photographers, but it is more focused on cold and wet weather in this case. That includes insulated battery pockets to protect battery life when working in cold conditions and a memory card case pocket. There are large cargo pockets with double folds for security and protection. A dedicated pocket also has a branded lens cloth on a retracting lanyard.

Image: Shackelton

The Aether jacket was a limited edition and sold out pretty quickly, but the Shackelton Frank Hurley Field Jacket seems to be a more permanent offering. If you’re gearing up for a polar expedition of your own (or a trip down the streets of London), it can be yours for $955 from the Shackelton website.

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Nikon has announced an updated (albeit minimally) version of its P1000 24-3000mm equiv. superzoom compact. The Coolpix P1100 gains a USB-C socket, updated Bluetooth and a handful of relatively minor changes over the now-discontinued P1000.

When Nikon released the Coolpix P1000 in 2018, it offered something no other bridge camera did or has since: 125x optical zoom. That was well beyond the previous high water mark of 83x optical zoom in the Coolpix P900. The 125x zoom delivered an equivalent focal length of 24-3000mm from the camera’s 16MP Type 1/2.3 (6.2 x 4.7mm). It was bulky as a result of that lens, but the extensive reach made it a versatile choice for certain applications (though mainly for photographing the moon).

The P1100 provides the same reach as the P1000, making it feasible to take photos of the moon. Photo: Nikon

There was speculation that Nikon discontinued the P1000 because it wasn’t selling enough models due to smartphone competition. However, Nikon says that wasn’t the case, and it was selling enough units to make it worth continuing production, hence the new model. Zoom reach is one of the areas smartphones struggle to compete with, so it makes sense that the longest-zoom compact might remain comfortable in its niche.

Unfortunately, for fans of the P1000, the upgrades are minimal. The main focus of the P1100 is a USB-C port to meet the 2022 law that requires electronic devices sold in the EU to have the newer connector type.

Photo: Nikon

In addition to the port, though, there are a few other small upgrades. Most notably is that it modernized the camera’s connectivity, moving to WPA3-SAE Wi-Fi for greater security and Bluetooth 5.1. The P1100 also enables Fn button operation from the ML-L7 Bluetooth remote, which the P1000 did not.

A change in CIPA’s stabilization standard sees the P1100’s rating drop to 4.0 stops of correction vs. the P1000’s 5.0 stops, despite the performance being identical. The flash’s guide number drops from 16 to 12m. Nikon added a new Fireworks Show Scene Mode and Long Exposure NR.

The P1100 will be available in late February for $1099; this is $100 more than the 2018 launch price of the P1000 but a match for the increased list price it gained mid-lifespan.

Nikon Coolpix P1100 specifications

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