Richard Robinson's Image

Richard Robinson (New Zealand) captures a hopeful moment for a population of whales that has survived against all odds.

Hindered by poor visibility, Richard used a polecam- a camera on a crane - to photograph the whales gradually moving towards his boat. Pushing his camera to its limits in the dark water, he was relieved to find that the image was pin-sharp - the moment of copulation crystallised in time.

When ready to mate, the female southern right whale rolls onto her back, requiring the male to reach its penis across the female's body. Known by the Māori as tohorā, the New Zealand population of southern right whales was hunted to near extinction in the 1800s, so now every new calf offers new hope.

Roz Kidman Cox, chair of the judging panel, writer and editor said 'To glimpse, let alone photograph, in one single composition the finale of the courtship of these balletic giants - southern right whales - is a photographic first. But the true value is the symbolic promise of new life for this New Zealand population, hunted to virtual extinction and now slowly increasing.'