"I found this white rhino mother and calf resting in the heat of the day and returned to a nearby waterhole just before sunset hoping they might visit to drink. I realized there was the potential to create a dramatic image by shooting into the sun and underexposing to capture the backlit dust that would be kicked up as the rhinos walked past. So, having snatched a couple of shots of them drinking, I repositioned to get a view of the route I expected them to take when they left. With lots of trees in the area, the rhinos would only be in the open for a few seconds and if they left in a different direction, I wouldn’t get a single shot but fortunately, the gamble paid off. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of rhino poaching, I wanted to create an image that conveyed a sense of hope – a new beginning almost – as if these were the first rhinos being forged in a fire of creation. The effect of the backlit dust, which created a blurred shadow image, added to the ethereal effect. Botswana only started reintroducing rhinos to the wild in earnest in the early 2000s but despite initial success, poaching rates have soared in recent years. The situation was further exacerbated when Covid effectively closed the tourism industry for two years, leaving wildlife areas devoid of the network of watchful safari vehicles which acted as a deterrent to poachers in the past. As a result, Botswana’s rhino numbers have been decimated. Ultimately the only definitive way to stop rhino poaching is to somehow stop the demand for rhino horn. If by portraying the beauty of this unique species, this image stops just one person from buying rhino horn products, then that would be a small start."

"One morning I went to Valle D’Aosta and exactly to Valsavarenche. It started to snow when I saw an ibex with these beautiful rocks in the background. It looked like it came out of a cave, the scene hit me a lot and so I decided to take several photos."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"The photograph is of the fractured windshield of a vehicle that fell from a track and remained inside a laurel forest in the north of the island of Tenerife. Over time, new leaves fall from the different species of trees that are deposited on the surface of the glass. A pseudo slug (Plutonia lamarckii) moves between the leaves. At first, I went inside the vehicle to photograph from the inside, but I didn’t like the result because I was doing it through the glass, so I thought it would be better from the outside with the lighting from inside."

"The photo was taken during a night dive almost near my house – this place is called Malatapay (Negros Island, Philippines). I was on my way back when I spotted a pair of Shy Crabs during mating season. The depth is only 3 meters but the tank was almost empty and I had to save air. A pair of crabs formed an almost perfect circle with their bodies and my idea was to use optical snoot to highlight them without getting light on the bright sand, which in turn is backlit from behind. The crabs were not very willing to pose and were moving fast, but I still managed to capture the shot just as they started to burrow into the sand. I often shoot these funny crabs because their body shape and face are very expressive. That day I took my best shot."

"In the first days of May, I always return to a small canal near Izsák (Hungary), where the Hottonia palustris blooms in huge numbers. Unfortunately, flowering was delayed this year, only its leaves were still underwater. I was about to go home when I saw a tree fallen over the canal, and under his reflection, the plants are clearly visible, because here he covered the reflection of the sky. I found it a very exciting subject and played with it for a while."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"Once a year, in early spring, for just one week, a rare endemic frog comes down from the mountains to mate and lay its eggs. This year, I was prepared. It was a rainy day, and many frogs came down from the mountains to the river. The number of frogs coming down from the mountain varies, ranging from dozens to hundreds, but today they came in their hundreds. The frogs gathered in their favorite mating areas and the beauty of nature took place. After mating and laying their eggs, the frogs in turn returned to the mountains. I took this picture in the rain and fog in a place where the frogs gathered. The frogs slowly laid their eggs in front of me. I believe I was able to capture the raw atmosphere of this beautiful ecological behavior in the mountains of Mie, Japan."

"The Kittiwakes breed on a window till on an abandoned fish reception facility in Varanger, northern Norway. The shattered glass was replaced with a translucent glass fiber plate years ago; in daylight, you can only see a vague outline of the birds from inside the building. The midnight sun, though, will cast shadows on the plate, rendering two more or less overlapping contours of the birds, depending on where you put your camera. The Kittiwakes may rest for very long times at night, so nothing much will usually happen during the one or two hours with good light. And when the birds are active, there will more often than not be a cluttered mess of intersecting silhouettes with no visual impact. I have been back several times during the last few years, trying to get some shots that tell a story, while retaining some of the mystery of the scene. This is a straightforward shot with no flash or double exposure or anything, and with very little in the way of post-processing: No cropping, no local adjustments, no adjustments of color or contrast (save the standard profile in LR), a minimum of sharpening and a slight increase in texture (+10). The backstory of the picture is sort of sad, though. Quite a few Kittiwakes have been breeding on buildings in coastal communities for years, but the urban colonies have skyrocketed recently – as more and more Kittiwakes leave their natural habitat in the bird cliffs. This goes together with an increase in the population of white-tailed eagles. The eagles will to some extent prey upon the seabirds (not only Kittiwakes but also guillemots). Still, their main impact is by scaring the birds away, so that the eggs are vulnerable to predation from ravens and large gulls. This is a kind of predation pressure that the seabirds basically would have evolved to endure. Shortage of food, forcing them to take longer forage trips and leave the nest site with less protection, is believed to be part of the equation."

"In September 2018 I signed up for my first photography workshop, ‘Purple Heather’ with Peter Lambrichs at Brunssummerheide, that’s a nature reserve in the Netherlands. It was the very beginning of nature photography for me, so I wanted to learn and take pictures as much as I could. The alarm went off at 2 am that morning, I had about 2 hours to drive getting to the Brunssummerheide where the workshop started at 5 am. We were already there before the sun came up, to photograph that sunrise with the purple heather in the landscape. There was a nice layer of fog that morning and the sun turned the landscape into a kind of golden and mystical scene. It was a beautiful view, but when I saw a bird flying by, for me that gave just that little extra. I didn’t get to photograph that first one, so I waited for another bird to fly into the scene, and when I saw a black crow flying in the right direction, I took the picture that I had in mind and that I wanted to take. I was very happy with the result because I had it printed out and it hung on my wall for a long time. Who would have imagined it would now end up in the top 5 of a competition like NPOTY… not me, but I am so very happy that it did!"

"Planktonium is a photo project and short film about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. It is a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures. These stunningly beautiful, very diverse and numerous organisms are unknown to most of us because they are invisible to the naked eye. However, they are wandering beneath the surface of every water around us. They play an important role in the production of oxygen, the aquatic food web, and the carbon life cycle. I photographed and filmed the plankton through my microscopes, revealing the beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail. The critter on the winning photo is a water flea (Daphnia pulex), from a freshwater sample. It is carrying developing embryos. You can also observe a colony of peritrichs, hitchhiking with the Daphnia. "

"This is a 100 km river called Rio Tinto, in Huelva, southern Spain. The color of the river is like wine, hence its name, and this color is derived from minerals such as pyrite or iron + copper sulfide. The bacteria cause oxidation of the minerals and the acidity of the river is caused by sulfuric acid. Photographically it is a paradise for lovers of abstractions and creative photography. Sometimes it looks like an alien world. For four days I went to 40º and they seemed few to me."

"In the Bernese part of the Jura mountain range in Switzerland, there are forests of large beech trees. This is an ideal habitat for the Boreal owl (Aegolius funereus). I had the chance to observe young individuals thanks to an ornithologist friend of mine who took me one day to see a brood whose location he knew as part of a census. I was able to observe this young owl around its nest’s tree for a few minutes."

"It was probably experiencing its first flight in spring and must still have had some difficulty flying correctly as I found it on the ground when I arrived in the area. I first kept some distance and then approached gently and laid down on the ground near it. I took this opportunity to use the wide-angle lens to photograph it in its environment and with the sunset in the background. I didn’t stay long at all and then moved away from it to avoid disturbance. The little owl seemed surprised and disoriented to be on the ground. The number of Boreal owls is decreasing in Switzerland. That is why the census and the implementation of measures such as the installation of nest boxes are very important to protect this species. I took this picture in a valley near the city of Biel, in the canton of Bern."

"I’ll be the first to admit, I was never much interested in salmon as a photographic subject. A trip to Alaska changed that. We spent several days getting skunked looking for salmon sharks. Eventually, we conceded defeat and went into a mountain creek looking for salmon. Two days of salmon photography and I was hooked. It was another year before I was able to photograph salmon again, this time in British Columbia. A friend was kind enough to bring me to a remote spot that was loaded with Pink Salmon in various stages of their breeding cycle. Dead and dying salmon were everywhere, healthy salmon were paired up on redds, and thousands more were still fighting their way upstream. I spent several hours at the base of a small waterfall, surrounded by fish. The environment is chaotic so I chose to use slow shutter speeds to exhibit this. I captured some nice images but decided to slow the shutter speeds, even more, to let the bubbles from the waterfall turn into long streaks. Part of the fun with this technique in that environment is every single frame looks different as you can never be sure how the bubbles will arrange themselves while the shutter is open."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"At the time when this picture was taken, I was walking with my photography class co-students in the forests of Normafa (Budapest), looking for interesting macro subjects. It was autumn and the forest was full of little Cyclosa spiders. I tried to find an angle that is quite unusual and interesting. As these spiders are part of the orb-weavers, they usually look downwards so I had to find one which is high enough to position myself under it and catch the spider from the front at a vertical upward angle. I luckily found one in the perfect position and took the shot. I had to be very careful in order not to harm its web. I love how this angle makes the spider look like it is in a tiny tent, waiting for some little flies to get trapped in its web. It is a typical orb-weaver “stand-by mode” position. The fun fact is, that at the time the picture was taken, I was just between two macro lenses (already sold my old one, waiting for the new one to arrive), so I had to reach back to the combination I used a lot at the beginning of my macro photography attempts: the “nifty-fifty” with extension tubes. Once again, this combo did not disappoint me."

"This type of photo was in my mind for a long time and this time it was possible to have that click. After the winter most of the farmers burn their crop waste and because of the fire insects fly to save their lives and black drongos take the advantage of this situation while this was happening, I had this click that seems to be like a wing on fire painting….. Idea – I got it in my mind when I saw some farmers burning their fields and birds flying across them. I thought about the picture frame and that the photograph should become a dramatic event in itself because the dark red/orange flames and a bird hunting insects with it should be a great masterpiece."

"The species (black drongo) is known for its aggressive behavior and fearless birds, and although only 28 cm in length, they will attack much larger species that enter their nesting territory, including crows and birds of prey. This behavior led to their former name king crow. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting black drongo. They are capable of producing a wide range of calls. The photo was taken near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India."

"Many hours of preparation preceded this image. In this Soerel forest (nearby Nunspeet), which borders a meadow and a highway, there are two giant beeches. Especially during fall, these trees look fantastic. A little further down this same forest, a badger sett is located. I came up with the idea to take a picture of a badger during its nighttime walk in between the two beeches. I wanted to capture this with a wide-angle lens and used a 17-40 mm zoom lens. Of course, such a lens deforms a bit at 17 mm, but it also results in a great perspective. Later I even used an 11 mm. To give you an idea: the badger is about 1.5 meters away from my camera setup (camera on the ground). The beeches are about 3 meters apart."

"Taking photos at night is a challenge. The biggest problem is not seeing your subject in the dark. I used an infrared viewer to keep an eye on all activity. The most important thing is to illuminate everything properly. For this, I used four Speedlite flashes. For every flash, I can regulate the output individually. The main light is the flash that causes the beautiful backlight. This flash is located behind the tree on the left; the distance to the beechers is about 20 meters. This flash is hanging in the tree at about 2 meters from the ground and I put a Better Beamer flash extender on the flash head. This extender generates a narrow beam pointing exactly where the badger is walking. A second flash is placed next to my camera and is equipped with a flash diffuser. This one generates a beautiful soft-fill light. Behind the right beech, a third flash is located; I make this one flash straight up along the trunk of the tree. A fourth flash is on the ground on the right side of the image. These latter two flashes illuminate the foliage. One night I tested and evaluated the entire lighting plan. I wrote down all information about the camera and flashes and got to work the next day. I focused the camera on the spot where the badger paused and subsequently switched off the autofocus. To see the badger in the dark, I used a night viewer. I take the picture from a shelter tent about 25 meters from the subject."

"This photo was taken during the blackwater dive in the Anilao sea. This is done by the photographer drop in the middle of the deep sea and keeping the depth from 5-20 meters. A group of reference lights attached to a buoyant floating ring or basket. You will find plenty of plankton and larvae will migrate from the sea bed to the surface for feeding during the night time. This is one of the biggest animal migrations in the ecology system called diel vertical migration. Many kinds of behaviors could be observed during the blackwater dive and the critters change from season to season. It was common to find an amphipod attached to a salp to gain locomotion during the blackwater dive. In this photo, I removed the flashes diffuser when engaging the subjects. Removing the flashes diffuser could a bit boosting the photo contrast and the flashlight penetration power. It would enhance the clarity of the skeleton intra-structure of the salp. I keep my maneuver and shoot from the plan view and it makes the photo look like a tumor or intruder into a human lung. "

"I was on a trip to Ranthambhore National Park (India) with a friend, at the end of March 2021. Our trip also coincided with a Hindu Festival called Holi, also known as the festival of colors. Many Hindus visit temples at this time to take blessings from God. Ranthambore National Park is famous for its tigers, but just outside the park is also the location of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Ranthambhore Fort. I believe it has been built during the 10th Century. The Fort also houses a famous Ganesh Temple. Given the Holi festival, thousands of devotes throng the temple."

"We had finished our morning safari and had gone to the outskirts of the park to explore the buffer areas of the Jungle. Around 1.30 pm we were heading back to enter the main area of the park. We entered the road leading to the Park, also known as the Temple road. To our shock, there were hundreds of people walking on that road, some on bikes and some in their private cars. As we were going closer to the gate, we heard Langoor (Indian Monkey) alarm calls. My guide asked his driver to stop the vehicle. There was a small pond on the left side but was mostly covered by thick bushes and trees. We could see some ripples in the water. My guide whispered: “Sir, it is a leopard, get ready, it can cross the road”. I got ready with my camera, and in no time the leopard jumped from the bushes onto the main road to quickly cross the road and get to the other side of the jungle."

"Unfortunately, exactly at the same time, there was a bike with two pillion riders that was coming down the slope. The leopard crashed onto the bike, the bike rider lost control, and skidded down with the leopard coming under the bike and the three persons. We were all in shock, but my photographer instinct ensured that I captured the entire event on my camera with multiple shots. Within seconds we saw the leopard emerge from the back, rushed to the other side, and vanished into the jungle. Fortunately, all four escaped with minor injuries. We reported the incident to the forest authorities, and for some time they even restricted the free access to people on the temple road, and the Park authorities started to provide transport for devotees. But sadly the old practice has come back again. Humans have been constantly encroaching into the animal territory, which is resulting in the Human – Animal Conflict. If this would have been a tiger and not a leopard, the accident could have been fatal for the three humans. I sincerely hope that this photograph of mine brings some change."

"When I fly a drone, I try to get not only beautiful landscapes but also interesting shapes, and textures. From the top perspective, we can get a lot of exciting photos. By the middle of winter, the temperature in Hungary will drop so much that the lakes will freeze. We can see very interesting formations if we look at them from above. Around the place where I live there are a lot of ‘mine lakes’. This means that after mining activity the abandoned pits filled with water forming lakes. These are small and very deep. I checked almost all of them looking for interesting textures and I saw many miracles. One of them is the lake of Sajószöged, flying over it I saw these exciting shapes."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"I live very close to the Sierra de Urbasa, in Navarra, where the photograph was taken. For me, it is one of those nearby paradises that I think all nature photographers keep with love and visit frequently. Its lowlands, karstic labyrinths, aquifers, and beech forests offer many hours of fun for those of us who like to enjoy nature. The scene corresponds to the beginning of spring when winter still does not want to leave completely. Given the forecast of snow at low levels, Imanol Zubiaurre and I decided to go up to enjoy the unique sensations offered by a walk through a snowy forest. That particular branch caught my attention. In a forest with a pattern of vertical lines like a beech tree, it broke with that pattern, and also kept its leaves after a long winter. An example of resistance… I was playing, looking for the photo and, coincidentally, at that moment the blizzard caught us, providing an atmosphere that moments before we did not have. After trying different options, I lay down on the snowy ground, trying to find a blur in the lower part that would add to that environment. This happened just for a few minutes. Shortly after the blizzard left and the scene changed completely."

"The picture shows an adult Capercaillie (Tetrao Urogallus) cock in its classic playtime, lek time, pose. Trying to show out as attractive as possible for hens to mate with. Typical voicing, posing, jumping, and sometimes also fighting are all part of that ritual. Birds are strongly connected to their so-called playground in the old (mostly 80-120 years) pine forest in lek time. They have been using the same area for many years, maybe even hundreds of years. During mating season every cock is trying to keep the best plot of it to attract hens. Capercaillie’s habitat in Estonia is strongly connected to bogs and older forests, which both are just diminishing, and so does the population of capercaillies and other species connected to those habitats. Only about 1300-1600 capercaillies cocks live in Estonia now. Just about 50-60 years ago it used to be a regular numerous hunting bird, but mostly due to human activities such as deforestation and so-called “land improvement”, draining bogs, etc, their population dropped dramatically and has still dropped dependence. Capercaillie lek in the spring, the second half of April, is one of the year highlights for me. I follow that already for years. I also take part in the surveys. This specific lekking spot is one of my favorites because there is pretty good visibility, not very high undergrowth and it offers good light options as you see also in that picture. Again, the forest has given and shown me something beautiful, thanks. I`m very grateful for that."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"This story is the work of two young Dutchmen joined by their love for Romania, who have traveled back and forth for four years between work and university in order to document one of the last places on this overpopulated continent that has still true wilderness to offer. With this photo story, they aim to document a beautiful but often overlooked part of Europe and one of the many challenges it faces.

"In villages that lie in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains, the presence of bears is clearly felt. Due to the illegal logging of the old-growth forests, their habitat and food become increasingly scarce. In search of food, they have to migrate from the ancient forests down to the villages, which regularly leads to conflicts with the inhabitants."

"However, in several towns around Transylvania bears are worshipped every winter through the traditional Ursul dance. A dance to fertilize and cleanse the earth, chase away evil spirits, and welcome the new year."

"The exceptionally dense bear population in Romania is a result of the communist era when Nicolae Ceausescu was in power and banned bear hunting a ban from which only he and his guests were exempt. As a result, Romania now has around 6000 bears, which is half of the European population. The problems of the coexistence of bears and humans have now become a priority on the political agenda, but the debate on the right course of action is very complex due to the many parties involved. And while discussions continue, conflicts keep arising: Shepherds lose sleep trying to protect their sheep, and bears continue to break through fences to feast on scraps."

"Countless times I was already lucky enough to witness super exciting montane conditions of a thrilling interaction of the sun and some fast-moving clouds, but this one was probably among my favorites so far, because, besides the lovely colors, the mountain ridge created a spectacular shadow into the sky. Needless to say, I was happy, that this kind of wheatear posed for a second in front of the spectacle. The photo was taken during one of my alpine ibex trips to the High Tauern National Park in Austria."