Photography

Spectacular Shortlist Entries of the 2022 Earth Photo Competition

A picture is worth a thousand words. Now more than ever, photography has the power to celebrate the natural world and create conversations about our environment.

Developed in partnership by Forestry England and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Earth Photo is an international competition and exhibition which rewards photographs and videos that tell stories about our planet, its inhabitants, its beauty, and its fragility.

Yevhen Samuchenko, “At The Pink Planet – 1 Car And 2 People”, 2019, Ukraine. Category: Place. Yevhen Samuchenko says: “The first time you see the pink salt lakes of the Kherson region in Ukraine it feels as though you are looking at another planet. During the summer months, microscopic algae causes the water to turn pink and red”. (Photo by Yevhen Samuchenko/Earth Photo 2022)

More: Earth Photo

Hannah Maule-ffinch, “Wild Swimmers”, 2020, Hinksey Lake, Oxfordshire. Category: People. The series Wild Swimmers explores how humans are strongest when coming together in the face of adversity. In this photo, Emma and Emma have an amazing bond and friendship, built through their daily ritual of cold swimming in often bracing conditions. (Photo by Hannah Maule-ffinch/Earth Photo 2022)

Pål Hermansen, “After the Trip”, 1998, eastern Greenland. Category: Nature. This image was taken after a long day’s sledging with inuits in eastern Greenland close to Ittoqortoormiit. The thin ice is creating problems for the inuits, who are not able to live their traditional life as they did before. (Photo by Pål Hermansen/Earth Photo 2022)

Chris Eggleton, “In Their Natural Habitat”. Category: Place. A portrait of the accumulated disposal of unwanted objects within a river estuary in Kent, revealed at low tide. (Photo by Chris Eggleton/Earth Photo 2022)

Barry Webb, “Maturing Comatricha”, 2022, south Buckinghamshire. Category: Nature. From the series Developing Stages of Comatricha, this group of comatricha are at the short-lived coral pink stage. Within hours, they will have matured to a dark brown colour. (Photo by Barry Webb/Earth Photo 2022)

Sandipani Chattopadhyay, “Wedding Night”, 2021, Midnapur, West Bengal, India. Category: A Climate of Change. It was Malati’s wedding night. The Keleghai River broke the dam due to the tropical cyclone Yaas and took up an invitation as an unwanted guest. (Photo by Sandipani Chattopadhyay/Earth Photo 2022)

David Bart, “Only 1 Left In Stock”, 2015, Iceland. Category: A Climate of Change. David Bart questions the relationships between humans and the world, in particular how the Anthropocene, a new geological era characterised by the impact of human activities on the biosphere, refers to metaphysical issues concerning the fragile balance of the world and its impermanence. (Photo by David Bart/Earth Photo 2022)

Romain Loubeyre, “Unearthed”, 2021, Iceland. Category: Nature. Romain Loubeyre says: “The Fagradalsfjall volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2021 was one of those rare occurrences that capture, utterly, the attention of the viewer. I spent 12 days documenting the volcano, going back and forth 20km every day in all weather conditions, unable to stop myself. I saw the volcanic site change, expand inexorably day after day, and was impressed forever by the force of nature, the noise, the heat made by the process of creating new earth”. (Photo by Romain Loubeyre/Earth Photo 2022)

Fatma Demir, “Fog in the City”, 2020, Istanbul, Turkey. Category: Place. Fatma Demir says: “In the early hours of the morning, fog covered the whole city. I went at sunrise to take this photo”. (Photo by Fatma Demir/Earth Photo 2022)

Mohammad Rakibul Hasan, “Climate Crisis”, 2021, Satkhira, Bangladesh. Category: People. Motiar Rahman Gazi, 60, says: “We are left with one bucket of rice and some vegetables for our 21 family members. Since the virus hit, we are no longer allowed to go fishing … There is little drinkable water left in the area and now the devastation of this pandemic is going to kill us with the scarcity of food. Our children are hungry all the time. When again will we be able to eat a proper meal? We do not have any idea”.Scientists forecast that seawater will drown the whole coastal belt of Bangladesh around the Sundarbans by 2050. (Photo by Mohammad Rakibul Hasan/Earth Photo 2022)

Pål Hermansen, “Insect Diversity”, 2014, Ski, Norway. Category: Nature. Pål Hermansen says: “These insects were found in a lamp that had had an unintended opening during the summer. I realised that this rich collection of insects had to be documented. These are creatures that are around without us realising their important existence. The insects were placed on a light table”. (Photo by Pål Hermansen/Earth Photo 2022)

Martin Bernetti, “Fast Fashion Contamination”, 2021, Chile. Category: A Climate of Change. The dangerously high environmental cost of fast fashion is impossible to ignore in this image. It shows at least 39,000 tonnes of discarded clothes dumped in Chile’s Atacama desert, equal in weight to about 85,000 grand pianos. (Photo by Martin Bernetti/Earth Photo 2022)

Marc Casanovas Felix, “Symbiosis”, 2021, Tossa de Mar, Spain. Category: Nature. A small prawn, a Mediterranean moray eel and their symbiotic relationship. (Photo by Marc Casanovas Felix/Earth Photo 2022)