Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Franz Josef Kovacs (Austria)

Moonrise over the Badlands

'I had a full week to scout the landscape and find my favourite composition before the full moon. The shot I wanted was the moon rising over the desert horizon. But when the moment came, I had just one minute when the shadows and the pink afterglow were perfect. I managed to take just two images of the glorious scene.' The Bisti Badlands are an extraordinary landscape of colourful, eroded rocks in the northwest corner of New Mexico, USA. A geologist's dream, the multicoloured formations are made from layers of coal, silt, shale and mudstone combined with sandstone. The rocks contain the fossils of a range of organisms including plants, fish, turtles, mammals and dinosaurs. They provide a valuable window in to the way life and the landscape have changed over millions of years.

Linhof Technikardan 45s + 4x5 Schneider Apo-Symmar 210mm f5.6 lens; 8 secs at f22; Fuji Velvia 50; 0.6 + 0.9 hard-graduated neutral-density Lee filter; Gitzo tripod.