Visit the exhibition
Discover 100 award-winning photographs from the world’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition.
Tickets on sale now.
Audun Rikardsen's Image
Audun Rikardsen (Norway) witnesses feeding time around an Atlantic fishing vessel during a polar night in northern Norway.
Audun managed to photograph this chaotic scene of gulls attempting to catch fish trapped by nets.
The gulls have learnt to follow the sound of the boats to find a herring feast.
Audun’s work aims to draw attention to the ongoing conflict between seabirds and the fishing industry.
Many birds drown in or around these purse seine nets each year.
Various fisheries and researchers are trialling solutions. These include sinking the nets more quickly to make them less accessible to the birds.
Behind the lens
Audun Rikardsen
Norway
Growing up in a small fishing community in northern Norway, Audun developed a lifelong fascination with the Arctic’s landscape, culture and wildlife – both above and below the ocean’s surface. While he remains a part-time photographer, he’s a full-time professor in biology at the UiT Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. There he uses this combination to integrate photography into his scientific fieldwork and to inspire and share his scientific results with the public.
Image details
- Canon EOS R5
- 15–35mm f2.8 lens at 15mm
- 1/200 at f4.5 • ISO 10000 • Canon Speedlite 600EX II flash • LED torch
- Kvænangen Fjord, Skjervøy, Norway
Copyright in Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition photographs remains the property of the respective photographers. You may not copy, share, reproduce or republish the photographs except as expressly permitted by copyright law. For media image usage enquiries, please contact us.
More images from Audun Rikardsen
View all
Support our important work
Help us harness the power of photography to advance scientific knowledge, spread awareness of important issues and nurture a global love for nature.