Best of 2024

Adrien Sutter - FR

After a long hike in the Alps, I completed my journey by the edge of a river swollen by the melting of the last snows. The beauty of the place immediately captivated me: the water meandered between sharp peaks, drawing the eye toward the horizon. I quickly stopped walking, struck by this scene that presented itself as an undeniable masterpiece. The sky, heavy and threatening, heralded the end of the day, while the curve of the river intensified the image's impact, making it one of my finest achievements of the year. 

To capture the entirety of this scene before me, I decided to create a panorama composed of five vertical images.

Emilie Talpin - USA

Walking in the forest, I always feel like I witness an explosion of colors during fall foliage. To capture this feeling, I used Live ND and moved my 150-400 zoom back and forth to create the illusion of fireworks. Live ND is a great option to create ICM images and capture more abstract images. 

Jonathan Stenvall - SE

After many hours of hailstorm the weather finally cleared up. I trekked out in to the night together with loads of others with the same goal - to watch the sunrise at Mardi viewpoint in the Annapurna area. It was a 3 hour trek and I was already late because of the hail. Even though I was feeling quite stressed I had to stop and put up my tripod after only a short walk, I could see all the trekkers walking up the steep mountainside with headlamps. I used my OM-1 Mark II with live composite to create an image of the holy Machapuchare (fishtail) mountain with the lights moving upwards in the foreground. 

Marcin Dobas - PL

In the scorching sun of Yemen, against the pristine blues of the Gulf of Aden, I came across unique, endemic crabs from the island of Socotra. They looked like inhabitants of another world, with bulging eyes on stalks and large asymmetrical claws. They scurried quickly along the beach, occasionally entering the water. I decided to capture the moment of transition from the terrestrial to the marine environment up close. 

I attached an 8-25 wide-angle lens and held the camera a few millimeters above the ground, moving it along the crab's path and waiting for the right moment, which was when the crab entered the sea foam. A fraction of a second later, the crab and my camera setup were already underwater. The crab was probably happy about it - I was less so. This is another example in my work where trusting the weather sealing allows for bolder photography. After wiping off the excess water from the camera and lens, I looked at the display with satisfaction. The frame was full of energy and dynamism, with foam floating around and the crab looking straight into the lens - I knew it was worth it. Unfortunately, later I had to painstakingly clean the equipment from the ubiquitous fine sand and salt residues from the seawater. 

Naia Pascual - ES

The White-Throated Dipper, my favorite bird, is an incredible species that inhabits shallow, fast-flowing, and unpolluted rivers, acting as a bioindicator of river health. It is distinguished, among other things, by its chubby build, its characteristic "squats," and its remarkable diving ability.  

In this photo, I chose to shoot handheld from a slightly elevated angle to capture the power of the water and the bird's resilience, with swirling currents around its legs. I used a shutter speed slow enough to convey the dynamism of the water but fast enough to maintain the subject's sharpness. 

Rob Cottle - UK

This image takes me right back to a summer visit on Skomer Island in West Wales. No matter how I feel when I start off, I know that as soon as I enter the bay, my mood will be lifted. After working out the best place to stand for flight, background and light, before I took one shot, I watched mesmerised, as hundreds of puffins flew past like feathery fireworks, a kaleidoscope for the senses, that bettered any human aerial display. This image makes me smile; nature does that to you. 

Melanie Többe - DE

This photo was taken during my hike up Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala. We spent a night at the base camp and from there, we could see the Fuego Volcano erupting. I had never witnessed anything so intense — the raw power of nature shooting into the sky. Every 20 to 30 minutes, we watched the volcano erupt, with glowing red lava lighting up the night.

I find it remarkable that we can observe such forces of nature up close, a humbling reminder that while the world continues to evolve and modernize, nature in its purest form remains steadfast. We are part of it, and we live alongside it.