The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition will open at the Museum of the Goldfields this Saturday, 19 March.

The annual Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition celebrates the unique beauty of the flora, fauna and landscapes of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea bioregions through the lenses of professional, emerging and junior photographers.

Every year the finalists and winners of the competition are featured in an exhibition produced by the South Australian Museum.

Museum of the Goldfields Acting Regional Manager Marta Perona said the exhibition provokes audiences to explore and understand the changing nature of the environment and appreciate the wonder of our extraordinary world.

“The photographers have shown impeccable skills to capture the diversity and beauty of the natural world,” Ms Perona said.

“What’s exciting is that the individual category winners and runners-up included many Western Australian photographers and photographs of our vast State.”

The overall winner was Scott Portelli of New South Wales for his photograph of a leafy seadragon that captures the wonder of this mysterious dragon of the ocean.

Mr Portelli took the winning photograph in March 2020 shortly after the COVID-19 nation-wide lockdown was declared. Over the course of six weeks, he had the opportunity to dive regularly and became acquainted with the resident dragons of Second Valley, South Australia.

“The photograph shows the intricate details of the Leafy Seadragon in a different way, I wanted to capture the essence of this delicate and vulnerable species that are only found in the South of Australia,” Mr Portelli said.

“The more we understand the ocean and its inhabitants the more people will feel connected and take action to protect our ocean creatures.”

Director of the South Australian Museum Brian Oldman said Mr Portelli’s photograph had been judged the winning entry out of a pool of 2,206 photographs – the second highest number of entries in the competition’s history.

“The past year has really encouraged all of us to reconnect with nature as we spent weeks and months in our homes. We were forced to stop and slow down the pace.”

“Mr Portelli’s image and his experience reflects just this. What started as a six week pause, became a once in a lifetime opportunity to capture this incredible image”.

“I think we can all agree that whilst the pandemic has brought many hardships it has also given us a reminder to be thankful for the natural world around us.”

Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, produced by the South Australian Museum, is a free exhibition and will be on display at the Museum of the Goldfields from Saturday 19 March to Sunday 1 May 2022.

Entry to the Museum is by donation.

https://visit.museum.wa.gov.au/goldfields/australian-geographic-nature-photographer-year

 

Media contact:
Yoshika Kon
yoshika.kon@museum.wa.gov.au