Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017

To celebrate what’s sure to be another hilarious round of shots, the organisers have shared with us all the finalists of 2016, as well as giving us an insight into what inspired them to start the whole thing. Scroll and enjoy!

A Message of Conservation

Conjour spoke to founder Paul Joynson-Hicks about what drove him to kick the competition off.

“We want to create awareness of conservation issues around the world through a humorous and entertaining medium of excellent quality wildlife photography!” he says, before admitting that although that sounds impressive, they also just “want to have fun judging.”

This tongue-in-cheek style is, fittingly, natural for Paul – just check out the website – but his mood is less jovial when it comes to the state of wildlife and conservation.

“Tragic,” he says, when asked for his view on the current plight of our environment. “Everywhere you look wildlife areas and wildlife is under stress; from massacred elephants and rhinos in Africa to struggling bird species in the ever reducing forests of South America. The world is overpopulated, which means our natural resources are being consumed too quickly; both in terms of what’s on the ground and what’s under the ground and what’s in the air.”

Despite this, there is still joy to be found in the life of animals, as co-founder Tom Sullam highlights in the 2017 press release:

“Raising awareness through photography [is the purpose], getting people involved and using humour as a positive reinforcement of the good things, rather than focusing on the negative imagery that has historically been used – which does have its place in the fight to raise awareness.”

Here are all the other finalists of last year’s competition:

Entrants to this year’s competition can submit up to three images into each category and up to two video clips of no more than 60 seconds into the video clip category. Prizes on offer include a one week safari with Alex Walker’s Serian as well as two free flights with Kenya Airways, plus some amazing Think Tank gear.

Pretty cool for a funny photo! Head to their website at https://www.comedywildlifephoto.com/ to enter your amazing images, and check out the work of the artists credited below to support their work!

Captions and credits for images, from top-down, and left-right:
– Feature Image: Two-headed Rhino: George Balan courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Bear with wings: Adam Parsons courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Zebra laughing: Alison Mees courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Fox in snow: Angela Bohlke courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Lizard on guard: Anup Deodhar courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Smiling toad: Artyom Krivosheev courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Pacing owl: Austin Thomas courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Riding turtle: Brenden Simonson courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Shy meerkat: Brigitta Moser courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Headless penguins: Charles Kinsey courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Grizzly fishing: Rob Kroenert courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Smiling owl: Edward Kopeschny courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Swinging mouse: Henrik Spranz courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Blind elk: James Mitson courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Owl behind camera: Megan Lorenz courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Mouse on sticks: Michael Erwin courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Penguin and fish: Nicolas de Vaulx courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Baby monkey: Nicolas de Vaulx courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Stretch: Olivier Steiner courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Leopards fighting: Ross Couper courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Buffalo toilet: Tom Stables courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Chipmunk mouthful: Barb D’Arpino courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Two-headed Rhino: George Balan courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2017 – All Rights Reserved
– Confused owlets: Mario Gustavo Fiorucci courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Hysterical lioness: Austin Thomas courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Angry fish: Jim Chen courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– See no, hear no birds: Ashish Inamdar courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Big-horn sheep dance: Patricia Bauchman courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Running owl: Austin Thomas courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Sad cheetah: Vaughan Jessnitz courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Messiah bird: Gunter Lenz courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Baby elephant: Markus Pavlowsky courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Eagle: Ross Couper courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Laughing hyena: Yaron Schmid courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Dancing grizzly: Alex Jevon courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Conductor: Perdita Petzl courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Waving bear: Philip Marazzi courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Toilet trained lizard: Caroline Tout courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Peeking eagle: Will Saunders courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Foot in mouth: Andy Howard courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved
– Fighting ants: Usman Priyona courtesy of Comedy Wildlife Photography – All Rights Reserved