Bear fight became the photo of the year in the seventh edition of Czech Nature Photo

10/05/2023

The winners of the Czech Nature Photo competition for nature photographers were announced at the Czech Photo Centre gallery at the award ceremony. The international jury was clearly impressed by the image of Slovak photographer Miroslav Ondrus, who captured a duel of bears, and awarded him the title of Photograph of the Year. The winner was selected by an expert jury with the participation of Spanish photographer Roberto García-Roy from more than 2,400 photographs. 254 photographers from the Czech and Slovak Republics submitted their work to the competition. The third edition of the competition for pupils and students Czech Photo Junior attracted 157 entries; they submitted almost 1500 images.

 

The seventh edition of the Czech Nature Photo exhibition will be held in two places this year. The outdoor exhibition will be presented mainly by students and pupils of primary and secondary schools. The latter is located at the exit from the Nové Butovice metro station on the boulevard in the direction of Poliklinika Lípa and will lead visitors to the Czech Photo Centre gallery, where award-winning and selected images by professional photographers will be exhibited. The exhibition will be open to the public from 11 May.

"The photograph of the wrestling bears was unanimously chosen as the winning one by the entire jury. It captures the moment when a mother bear defends her cubs. It is technically brilliantly executed, it exudes emotion, is action-packed and shows a unique moment of animal behaviour in the wild," says Petr Slavik, the jury chairman.

"The photo was taken unplanned in the middle of a very hot and dry summer in Veľká Fatra. I waited in a folding photo booth almost until dark. At the moment I started packing, a bear of about 150 kg was slowly approaching through the massive trees. The exposure showed borderline usable values, but I was ready for a few documentary shots if he happened to come close. But there was no way to prepare for what unfolded in front of the lens. The familiar sounds of a bear family started coming from the opposite side than the bear was coming. The cubs were running around, squealing here and there as they fought together, with the occasional educational growl from the female bear. Suddenly the female bear stood on her hind legs and began to look around - probably to watch where the cubs were, and then suddenly ran towards the surprised male. They clashed in a wild and furious fight that lasted only a few dozen seconds. After about half a minute, it was over and the female bear returned to her cubs. At this point I began to shudder at what had just unfolded before my eyes," says the author of the photo of the year.

Miroslav Ondruš was very close to nature from an early age and spent most of his free time there, which lasted his whole life. He graduated from the Faculty of Forestry in Zvolen and has been working in forestry ever since. Photography is his great hobby; although he has attended several photography workshops, he considers himself self-taught. In his childhood he used a Zenit camera and tried to document the beauty of nature. He has always been fascinated by the life of wildlife, especially large carnivores. His work brought him to Liptov, where he started photographing beasts. Every encounter with a bear, a wolf or a lynx is an unforgettable experience for him. Nowadays he works as a forest manager and is in the forest every day, he carries his camera with him all the time. Now he is no longer just photographing wildlife, but also nature, from the details of flowers to the landscape.

The traditional voting for the best photo from the competition according to the readers of Lidé a Země magazine took place throughout April, and this year it was won by Ondřej Prosický for his photo On watch.

The full programme will be published on the website www.czechphoto.org.

   

Results of the Czech Nature Photo 2023 competition:
 
MAMMALS:

1st place: Miroslav Ondruš / When the bear defends the cubs

2nd place: Jaromír Daněk / Musk Ox - measuring of forces

3rd place: Matěj Šmucr / This is my lunch

BIRDS:

1st place: Tomáš Grim / "Why a bullfighter?!"

2nd place: Pavel Vítek / Ducks in ice circles

3rd place: Ondřej Prosický / On guard

LIZARDS, AMPHIBIANS, AND UNDERWATER LIFE:

1st place: Vít Lukáš / Desperate female

2nd place: Petr Bambousek / Marine iguanas

3rd place: Rostislav Štefánek / Vegetarians

INVERTEBRATES:

1st place: Vít Lukáš / Snail in the rain

2nd place: Vít Lukáš / The Circle of Life

3rd place: Radim Hlaváč / Up to the Moon

PLANTS AND FUNGI:

1st place: Václav Sojka / Hasivka orličí

2nd place: Petr Bambousek / Windy Night

3rd place: Svitlana Mehela / Velvet-legged warbler

LANDSCAPES:

1st place: Jiří Soural / Matterhorn

2nd place: Daniel Franc / Ice galaxy

3rd place: Václav Sojka / Landscape of Burnt Forest

ANIMALS IN HUMAN CARE:

1st place: Michal Turek, Seznam Zprávy / Education of birds at the Jinonice Rescue Station

2nd place: Vít Lukáš / Scarecrow

3rd place: Jan Molinský / Rest

PRIZE FOR THE BEST PHOTO OF CZECH NATURE:

1st place: Vít Lukáš / Reversed role

2nd place: Jan Pokluda / King of the Oak

3rd place: Patricie Robenková / Lord of the Forest

SERIES:

1st place: Radek Karko / Back to freedom!

2nd place: Tomáš Grim / Life of Feathered Townsmen

3rd place: Vojtěch Herout / The oldest

NATURE IN PRAGUE:

1st place: Jaromír Daněk / Pheasant and cranes

2nd place: Jiří Hřebíček / Under the Bridge

3rd place: Tomáš Grim / Emotions

ANIMALS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT:

1st place: Tomáš Grim / Dynamic World of Townspeople

2nd place: Pavel Fiala / Mt. Cook and kea in symbiosis

3rd place: Ondřej Prosický / Comfort in the lee

   
CZECH PHOTO JUNIOR 2023:
Category younger pupils:

1st place: Jakub Jelinek - Duel

2nd place: Anežka Veselá - Hair from Africa

3rd place: Tereza Hospodářová - Toadstool

Category older pupils:

1st place: Matyáš Mutina - Lampion

2nd place: Michal Bogár - Bee

3rd place: Šimon Martínek - Jellyfish

Category high school students:

1st place: Eliška Panáčková – Blue Flash

2nd place: Kristýna Velnerová – Polar Bear

3rd place: Vojtěch Gregor – Courtship

     

The exhibition will open on 11 May and run until 3 September. Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 11.00 to 18.00 and on weekends from 10.00 to 18.00. The basic entrance fee is 100 crowns and the reduced fee is 50 crowns. The Czech Photo Centre Gallery is located 100 metres from the Nové Butovice metro station at Seydlerova 2835/4, Prague 5.

The CZECH NATURE PHOTO 2023 competition and exhibition is organised by the Czech Photo Centre

The event is held under the auspices of the Ministry of the Environment

The project is implemented with the financial support of the City of Prague and under the auspices of the City of Prague

And under the auspices of the Prague 13 municipal district

General partner: Trigema

Partners: Cewe, Ptáček, Laufen, Soliter, Siko, Fomei, Canon, Samsung, Berlitz, Pictoart, Newton Media, Econtest, Prague Zoo, KRNAP, NP ŠUMAVA, Botanical Garden of the Capital City of Prague, Forests of the Capital City of Prague. Prague, f-stop

Media partners: Radio Praha, National Geographic, Prima ZOOM, Lidé a Země

Contacts and further information: www.czechphoto.org

Public relations: Anna Vacková, +420 777 093 690, vackova@czechphoto.org

Press release for download in format .PDF

Location overview with photos in downloadable format .PDF

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