Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year opens this weekend at the Australian Museum

19 June 2024

This free exhibition, produced by the South Australian Museum, shines a light on the astonishing array of flora, fauna and landscapes found across Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea.

It features more than 95 exhibition finalists images selected from over 2882 submissions.

Australian Museum Director & CEO, Kim McKay AO, highlighted the exhibition’s importance of bringing into focus the natural world’s beauty, ferocity and fragility.

“With its strong environmental narrative, this exhibition offers visitors a new perspective by capturing powerful and profound moments in nature. Through these photographs we are asked to think more deeply about our natural world, and our footprint on the earth,” Kim McKay said.

“As Australia’s first museum, and as the steward of our vast collection, the AM is a leader in natural history and scientific research.

Not only are we devoted to exhibiting the natural beauty of our world, but we are also dedicated to highlighting environmental conservation, and raising awareness of the challenges the natural world is facing.”

“In bringing this iconic exhibition to the Australian Museum, we hope the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year inspires visitors to connect to the importance of preserving and protecting wildlife and the environment."

To coincide with the exhibition, the Australian Museum has developed a series of Digital Wildlife Photography Workshops, led by award-winning nature photographer and Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year finalist, Angela Robertson-Buchanan.

The interactive workshops for both beginner and intermediate photographers share the foundational and advanced techniques of ethical wildlife photography, and participants will be able to apply their new skills in photographing the AM’s taxidermy collection, as well as a selection of live native animals.

The exhibition includes a wide array of categories, including: Animals in Nature, Urban Animals, Macro, Landscape, Threatened Species, Monochrome, Astrophotography, Junior, Our Impact, and Portfolio.

Highlights include Matty Smith’s shot of male cuttlefish during courting season, which topped the Animals in Nature category, and Tom Owen Edmunds’s Urban Animals-winning iPhone 11 shot of a green tree frog at home in a steel toilet bowl.

The exhibition’s overall winning image, My Country Burns, which also won the ‘Our Impact’ category, was taken by NSW photographer Samuel Markham, who took the winning photograph while defending his home during the devastating bushfires of 2019.

"Nothing can prepare someone for being straight in the line of a pyrocumulonimbus firestorm with a built-in flashover and temperatures exceeding 1000°C," Markham said.