Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — The World Nature Photography Competition has revealed the winning images for 2022, which are a wonderful reminder of the beauty of the creatures that share life with us on this planet.
Among the stunning photographs honored at this year’s World Nature Photography Awards, a “family moment” of three long-tailed macaques warming each other during a hot day in Bali, Indonesia.
These animals display very similar behavior to humans, including enjoying each other’s company.
The owner of this image, which won the Gold Award in the Animal Images category, reveals that he sought to provoke a reaction – whether it was through joy, sadness, or inspiration – in the hope that these feelings would translate into concern for the environment, a sustainable way of life, and working from In order to effectively support nature conservation.
“As a conservation photographer, the goal in all my visual work is to create an emotional connection between the image, its subject and the audience,” said photographer Tom Ferris in an interview with CNN in Arabic.
For this particular photo, on that day 5 years ago, Ferus went to the Ubud Monkey Forest in Bali, Indonesia, a sanctuary and natural habitat for long-tailed macaques, to take photos of their intimate side caring for one another.
These animals, just like the rest of us, pursue similar goals in life, such as shelter, food, and social interactions, according to Ferris.
During the days prior to the day he took his winning photo, Ferrus had spent considerable time in the woods as he found his way around, quiet corners observing the caring behavior of the macaques.
Ferris points out that macaques are perfectly accustomed to humans and to interact with them, but he was looking for the quiet moments between them, that is, their normal lives.
Feros explains that the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest is the most important tourist attraction, the most famous of which is where many visitors flock to see the long-tailed macaques, which have learned over time how to get food from visitors, and often try to steal food if they can get it. .
During his 2017 visit, he knew that he would be able to get fairly close to the monkeys if he moved slowly and didn’t disturb them.
“I sat and looked in the opposite direction waiting for the macaques to get used to my presence while they continued their routine. After a while, I managed to capture this intimate photo of three macaques sharing a moment of peace with each other.”
As a conservation photographer, he documents the relationship and conflicts between humans and the environment around us, including all types of wildlife.
In many ways, Ferris argues, our overall way of life and our interactions with the planet have become highly unsustainable.
“Our separation from nature and wild animals is horrific and we can see it in many areas around the world,” he adds.
By capturing intimate moments like the ones in his winning photo, Ferris hopes to inspire positive change toward a more nurturing and sustainable lifestyle.
The photo, titled “Family Moment”, was praised and admired by social media pioneers.
“So far, the comments have been great,” he says. “It’s a great honor for me to have this photo chosen as a winner in the World Nature Photography Contest among so many other amazing and inspiring photos.”
“I would like to dedicate this win to the splendor of nature and sincerely hope that we all unite as a human race to find solutions to nurture our wonderful planet for many generations to come,” he adds.
Ferris has had many other unique encounters and unforgettable experiences over the years during his journey of documenting nature.
He says he lives in Fiji, where he is particularly interested in photographing underwater sharks.
“I’ve had some amazing encounters with over sixty sharks in the waters at Shark Reef Marine Reserve in Fiji, and have been visually documenting shark conservation efforts there for over 5 years,” he adds.
Feros is currently working on publishing a photo book focusing on the Fiji Marine Reef Sharks Sanctuary later this year.
Verus says that memorable encounters don’t have to be outlandish – sometimes just a sunset, more than enough to experience and deeply appreciate nature.
“We should all try to spend more time in nature,” he advises.