Photo Contest

Photo Contest: Our Staff’s Turn

Staff from The Nature Conservancy tend to be outside. Here are some of their top images.

Close view of the eyes of a baby gorilla framed by vegetation.
Baby Gorilla Baby gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Honorable Mention in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Lauren Ludi/TNC

The Nature Conservancy is made up of dedicated people who every day are helping the organization achieve its mission.

Some of them work outside for a living. Others spend their weekends enjoying the natural world they work to protect. Many of them bring a camera along to capture some inspiration from the great outdoors.

Every August, we celebrate the power of photography through The Nature Conservancy’s annual Global Photo Contest.

Since our staff aren’t allowed to win prizes in that contest, we held a little photo contest of our own. Here are a few of the images that stood out from TNC staff:

Toby Hayman

boy jumps into a waterfall
Jumping in the water A boy jumping into the water in Ithaca, NY. Grand Prize Winner - 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Toby Hayman/TNC

Hayman’s son leaps into the seemingly unknown from a diving board at Robert Treman State Park in Ithaca, New York. This photo, encapsulating the idea of “the decisive moment,” took the grand prize.

Joseph Wraithwall

raven flies by tourists and delicate arch in arches national park
Crow at Arches National Park A crow landing at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. People's Choice winner in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Joseph Wraithwall/TNC

A raven swoops by sandstone near Delicate Arch in Utah’s Arches National Park. Wraithwall’s image took the people’s choice award in our staff contest.

Jacqueline Ferrato

cluster of maximilion sunflowers over a prairie meadow
Maximilian Sunflowers Maximilian sunflowers at Clymer Meadow Preserve. Honorable Mention in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Jacqueline Ferrato/TNC

Maximilian sunflowers are clustered at Clymer Meadow Preserve, one of TNC’s properties in Texas where Ferrato works as a field biologist. Her camera is never far when she's in the field working on avian conservation or even ocelot telemetry, and her photos convey a strong sense of place.

Michael Fuhr

alligator with its eyes and part of head above water
Alligator in Low Country An alligator swims in the Low Country part of South Carolina. Honorable Mention in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Michael Fuhr/TNC

An American alligator on the hunt seems to come out of nowhere in South Carolina’s lowcountry. In Fuhr’s photo, the water acts as a white canvas, giving the image a peaceful quality.

Daniel White

hiker with backpack and poles stands on rocky crag of a mountain overlooking a valley
Virginia Getaways A hiker pauses at an overlook on Little Stony Man, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. Honorable Mention in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Daniel White/TNC

A hiker stops to admire the viewpoint at Little Stony Man in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park. White waited until the lighting was perfect off of the rocky crag.

Lauren Ludi

baby gorilla looks through vegetation
Baby Gorilla Baby gorilla in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Honorable Mention in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Lauren Ludi/TNC

The baby gorilla’s eyes draw the viewer into this photo from Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Ludi uses a shallow depth of field to blur the foreground leaves and keep the focus on those eyes.

Ethan Kearns

man looks at snowcapped mountains, grassland and stars
Night Sky in New Zealand Honorable Mention in the 2019 Staff Photo Contest. © Ethan D. Kearns/TNC

A man admires the snowcapped peaks and vast landscape near Mt. Sunday in New Zealand, where Kearns was completing a fellowship. It was Kearns’ first night shoot.