European nature photographer award

[Thomas Stellwag]

the winner comes from.....what else is possible.....Norway

https://www.gdtfoto.de/seiten/gdt-european-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-results-2016.html?lang=English

[Jakov Minić]

Phenomenal images, thanks for sharing!

[elsa hoffmann]

Amazing (I cant spell fenominal)

[Akira]

A very high-level competition.  Thanks for sharing, Thomas!

[armando_m]

Thanks for the link, impressive mages!

[PeterN]

wow. very impressive and humbling.
Thanks for sharing.

[Woodley Willie]

When a photograph no longer looks like a photograph, is it still a photograph?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Of course. Taken  by a lens and camera makes it automatically a photograph.

If you refer to the winning photograph, the assertion makes little sense however. It is easy to understand why it looks this way.

I read through an interview with the winner, Audun Rikardsen, and learned the background for the scene. He has also been on national TV in several series showing in utmost detail how he works, so there is little mystery behind his magnificent captures.

[Asle F]

I read through an interview with the winner, Audun Rikardsen, and learned the background for the scene. He has also been on national TV in several series showing in utmost detail how he works, so there is little mystery behind his magnificent captures.

Here is one program with him: https://tv.nrk.no/serie/ut-i-naturen/DNPR65008515/23-08-2016
I think it can be entertaining also for those that do not understand norwegian.

[Akira]

Here is one program with him: https://tv.nrk.no/serie/ut-i-naturen/DNPR65008515/23-08-2016
I think it can be entertaining also for those that do not understand norwegian.

Amazing.  Simply amazing.  Thanks for the link, Asle!  The videographer who shot Audun working is equally amazing!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

So, you could view the TV series abroad, Akira. Good to know.

The winning picture of an orca whale in frost fog was actually taken some 700 m outside his house. He was watching the whales in the fjord and saw an interesting potential for visualisation so fired up the boat and snapped the shot with (I believe) a Canon camera and 70-200 Canon lens. Such images of blowing whales are usually captured against the setting sun, this was unusual because it was done in frost fog, but otherwise not that remarkable. A lot of his other images are better in my opinion.

[Akira]

Bjørn, yes, I could watch the whole program from here in Tokyo.  I figured that there are superimposed captions because of three official languages of Norway?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Such programs usually are not texted unless you choose it yourself.

His northern Norwegian dialect should be understandable to most Norwegians whatever main language they use.

[John Geerts]

Stunning, and some spectacular nature to work in. Also fascinating to see how he creates his tailor-made tools.

[Woodley Willie]

A reply to Number 8.
Actually the photo that elicited my query was the photo of the two hummingbirds.  They look peculiarly unreal to me, while doing their best to be good hummingbirds. 
I guess it is a lot about what the individual response to an image is...I'm not interested in slight of hand.  I am interested in images that tell me more or that drop me off in an unknown realm to wonder.
Most of the photos do that in the above link.  A few do not, and strangely, I just looked in on another list of awards for wildlife, http://petapixel.com/2016/10/18/10-best-wildlife-photos-2016/?trk_msg=OI8B7A4D8O44N1690KRLASLPSO&trk_contact=OT73OGTMJT6AJB2OVUSTR1DF54&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Photo+Blog&utm_campaign=Need+a+Heavy+Double-sided+Luster+Paper%3f+%7c+How+Long+You+Should+Let+Your+Inkjet+Prints+Dry+%7c+Digital+D, and felt exactly the same about some of the images.