Breathtaking Images Are On Display In 'The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year', Now Open At NHMLA

Our world is absolutely breathtaking. And it’s also intense and catastrophic and full of wonder.

A really great photographer can capture a single moment in our world, which can lead us to smile, laugh, stare, cry, ache, question, doubt and absorb. The Wildlife Photographer of The Year is an exhibit full of still images that will move to all of those feelings and more. The display, on loan from London, is now open at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. It will be up and running through January 6th, 2019.

This year’s contest drew in 50,000 entries! That’s incredible…as are the images that were selected as winners for this display. Believe it or not, some of the most amazing photos you’ll see in this exhibit are from kids as young as 5 years old!

In celebration of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, NHMLA will host its own first-ever L.A. Student Nature Photo Contest, which calls on Los Angeles County K-12 students to show off their nature photography skills by observing and capturing the natural world. From July 11 through September 30, 2018, students are encouraged to explore their surroundings and take photographs anywhere, including outside of L.A. County, and submit their best snaps to the competition.

The competition will have four winning categories, divided by grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12, each with the opportunity to win first place, runner up, honorable mention and people’s choice. The four first-place winners will receive a one-year family membership to the Natural History Family of Museums, an invitation to Haunted Museum and a Member souvenir package. The four runner-up winners will receive a wildlife-themed gift basket and a Member souvenir package, the four honorable-mention winners will receive a Member souvenir package, and the one people’s choice winner will receive a “Dinosaur Experience” Museum insider tour. All entrants will receive a complimentary student general admission ticket to the Museum and the exhibition upon online submission.

Photo submission begins July 11 and goes through September 30, 2018. The judging panel is comprised of NHMLA staff members and outside artists and photographers, including renowned National Geographic wildlife photojournalist Steve Winter and fine-art photographer Catherine Opie, and will take place October 3 through 12. The photo contest results will be announced at the end of October, and contest winners’ photographs will be displayed in NHMLA’s exhibit store for Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and all submissions will be looped on digital signs throughout the Museum.