Honorable Mention

Giraffes drinking
DESCRIPTION
This is a photo taken in November 2024 in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The two giraffes are drinking in symmetrical positions in front of a photo-hide. To fit the two in the photo with part of the reflections of the animals and the surroundings, a wide-angle lens of 18 mm was used. AUTHOR
I was born 1967 in Finland. I have been photographing since I was a teenager. My first interest those days was nature photography. Later on I went to study medicine and I became an ophthalmologist. That is what I still do when I am not on photography trips or doing something else related to photography. After my divorce 2008 I started taking my photography more seriously again and became involved in many photography groups and activities. I went back to College, this time to study photography,I graduated as a photographer from the Vocational College of Lapland, Tornio, Finland, in 2015.
I started as a street photographer but moved soon to more documentary style, especially photographing everyday life of people in different cultures. Mostly in Latin America and Eastern Europe. After the covid-pandemic I have moved more to nature photography, closing the circle that started when I got my first real camera when I was a school boy, I guess 13-years old. Traveling especially in Africa I have also kept my older interests for street and documentary photography alive on the side,
Mostly, I feel I'm shooting for myself and I hope my pictures will tell preferably optimistic stories about the world, even in the midst of all kinds of gloom. There may be a little humor in them.
I am a member of the Finnish Professional Photographers ant the Finland nature photographers.