My photo "Whale and Raven" won this year's National Geographic competition in the category Europe from the air. It was among the best 10 photos selected by the jury from over 8,000 thousand photos submitted to the competition.
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this success and voted for me, kept their fingers crossed and supported me every day.
During the voting, many people asked me what exactly was in the photo, because not everyone noticed a whale and a raven at first glance :)
The competition jury justified their choice in the following way: "From among several hundred submitted photos, we selected those that inspire with geometry and space that cannot be captured from the ground level. The creativity of the photo results from its ability to balance between a realistic image and abstraction, creating an atmosphere of mystery that opens up the field for individual interpretation."
The photo was taken from a drone from a height of about 30 m. It shows the thawing surface of one of the Milicz ponds. What you see on it are shapes created by nature, the slow process of thawing. Where the ice is thinner, the light reflects differently, which creates incredible shapes - something like neurons. It is a huge space for interpreting what we see.
Here I see the shape of a whale or a frogfish (a deep-sea fish), but someone else might see a chameleon, a stain from spilled coffee or just plain daubs...
While I was admiring these strange shapes on the ice, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a raven flying in, which was sitting nearby. It flew perfectly over the photographed object.
It is worth following your dreams. One of mine was to have my photo in National Geographic. And it worked.
The most important thing is to do what you love and not give up, to take small steps forward. Everyone can take photos and be successful, it all depends to a large extent on our imagination and on how much we want to open ourselves up to seeing "something" more....
#NationalGeographicAwards #NaturePhotography #JakubWencekPhotography #Poland #Milicz
