Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: Emotive polar bear image by amateur UK snapper wins top people’s vote prize
An amateur photographer from the UK has won a prestigious Wildlife Photographer Of The Year award with this emotive shot of a polar bear sleeping in a makeshift bed carved into a small iceberg.
Nima Sarikhani captured the image off Norway‘s Svalbard archipelago after spending three days “desperately searching” for the animals through thick fog.
After his expedition vessel changed course, he eventually encountered two polar bears – and witnessed the smaller male bear making his bed before falling asleep.
The picture, titled Ice Bed, has been crowned the winner of the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer Of The Year people’s choice award, after being whittled down to a shortlist of 25 from almost 50,000 entries from around the world.
More than 75,000 people cast their votes – a record number – to name Nima this year’s winner.
Organisers praised the “breathtaking and poignant” image, saying it “allows us to see the beauty and fragility of our planet” and acts as “a stark reminder of the integral bond between an animal and its habitat… a visual representation of the detrimental impacts of climate warming and habitat loss.”
Nima said he was “honoured” to win the award.
“This photograph has stirred strong emotions in many of those who have seen it,” he said. “Whilst climate change is the biggest challenge we face, I hope that this photograph also inspires hope; there is still time to fix the mess we have caused.”
Four photographs were highly commended and will be displayed alongside Ice Bed online and in the accompanying exhibition at the Natural History Museum in west London until the end of June.
The runners-up
The Happy Turtle by Tzahi Finkelstein, from Israel
This image of a Balkan pond turtle sharing a moment with a northern banded groundling dragonfly was taken from a hide in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Tzahi was photographing shore birds when he spotted the turtle, but only turned his full attention to the reptile when he saw the dragonfly heading its way across the murky waters. When the insect landed, rather than snapping it up for dinner, the turtle appeared playful – leading to the perfect shot.
Shared Parenting by Mark Boyd, from Kenya
A pair of lionesses devotedly groom one of their pride’s five cubs in this early morning image taken in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Photographer Mark Boyd said he had witnessed them the evening before, leaving the cubs hidden overnight in dense bushes while they went out to hunt. Returning from their mission, they called the cubs out on to the open grassland for a bit of sprucing up. “Here the youngster was clearly enjoying the moment of affection and attention,” Mark’s entry said.
Starling Murmuration by Daniel Dencescu, from Germany/Romania
A murmuration of starlings is always mesmerising, but when the huge, swooping mass forms itself into one giant bird you make sure to reach for your camera. Having seen the birds gathering in Rome after returning from foraging each day, Daniel Dencescu caught this image after spending hours following them around the city and its suburbs. “Finally, on this cloudless winter’s day, the flock didn’t disappoint,” he said.
Aurora Jellies – Audun Rikardsen, from Norway
Illuminated by the aurora borealis, moon jellyfish swarm in the cool autumnal waters of a fjord outside Tromsø in northern Norway in Audun Rikardsen’s image. Sheltering his equipment in a self-made waterproof housing, he used a single exposure as well as his own system for adjusting the focus and aperture to capture the reflection of the sky’s colours on the surface of the water – and at the same time, light up the jellyfish with flashes.
The people’s choice award follows the winner of the overall Wildlife Photographer Of Year prize, which is decided by judges and was awarded to underwater photographer and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta in October.
The last UK winner for the people’s choice award was Sam Rowley, whose image of two fighting mice was voted the favourite in 2020.
A UK photographer last won the main competition in 2007, when wildlife and landscape photographer Ben Osborne picked up the prize for a picture of a large bull elephant kicking and spraying mud in Botswana.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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