Wildlife photographer Tibor Kércz would spend a few nights each year camped out in a tent near a tree, hoping to capture photos of little owls and their nestlings. But just before nightfall on one fateful evening, three of the birds flew out onto a short branch. They landed and tried stabilizing themselves… but the owlet on the end began to fall.
“So I started to shoot in the right moment,” he told Gizmodo in a Facebook message. That series of photos won him the 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
The awards are meant to highlight whimsical, “possibly unpretentious” photography of wild animals doing funny things, according to their website. Some of the silliest images from past contests have gone viral, and this year’s certainly have the potential to do the same. Ultimately, the founders’ main goal is conservation.
“Well… you are now obviously going to go to your office, home, pub, club, or wherever and talk about the dire need for us all to be conservationists in our own little way,” the competition’s founders write on their website. The contest is affiliated with the Born Free Foundation wildlife conservation charity. But Kércz likes how it gives humans the chance to see animals in a more relatable light.
“It is a great initiative and [gives us the] chance to show people how funny and loveable these cute creatures are, like we are,” he said.
The contest received over 3,500 submissions, which were required to have been taken by the photographer, not of a pet or domesticated animal, and without being digitally manipulated. Also, term number 16 of the website’s Terms and Conditions is “16. You must think Bohemian Rhapsody one of the greatest pieces of popular music ever written, just kidding. No seriously….” So yeah.
Anyway, here are the pictures:
Overall winner: Tibor Kércz
Image: Tibor Kércz/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Tibor Kércz/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Tibor Kércz/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Tibor Kércz/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Winner, “In The Air” Category: Jon Threlfall
Image: Jon Threlfall/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
It’s a fart joke.
Winner, “Under the Sea” Category: Troy Mayne
Image: Troy Mayne/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Winner, “On Land” Category: Andrea Zampatti
Image: Andrea Zampatti/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Highly Commended
Image: Bence Mate/ Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Carl Henry/ Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Daisy Gilardini/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Daniel Trim/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Douglas Croft/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: George Cathcart/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Jean-Jacques Alcalay/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Katy Laveck-Foster/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Oliver Colle/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
Image: Penny Palmer/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards