Wild Nature

Wild Nature

Publication date: 29 April 200818 January 2024

From 30th April you can see phenomenal wild nature photographs in the Polish Maritime Museum. The international showcase is made up of pictures which won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 award organised by the BBC Wildlife Magazine and Natural History Museum in London.

The competition has been organised annually since 1964 and with time it has become one of the most recognised and appreciated awards granted for the very best photographs featuring natural subjects. Each time the winning photographs tour worldwide, and now it has arrived for the fifth time in Poland.

This year’s edition consists of 90 photographs awarded in many categories made by 79 photographers from 29 countries. The awarded works have been selected among almost thirty-three thousand photographs taken by 2973 authors from 78 countries.

The objectives and ambitions of the organisers of the competition and the exhibition may be generally described in the following way:

to raise the position of the wild nature photograph to the level of contemporary art,
to make the event the most serious forum for the wild nature photograph, presenting to the world the best pictures of nature,
to inspire young generations of photographers to create visionary and expressive interpretations of wild nature,
to present the works to people all over the world to show them the magnitude, drama and diversity of life on Earth and to inspire them to take care of it’s future.

The objectives are pursued very successfully, attracting a growing number of visitors to the exhibition. If we count all of them, each year the exhibition is visited by over one million people, including about seventy thousand in Poland. Similarly to the previous years, the 2008 exhibition will visit twelve cities. Gdańsk is the fifth city in Poland after Warsaw, Szczecin, Kalisz and Bytom. After Gdańsk the exhibition will go to: Kołobrzeg, Zakopane, Połczyn Zdrój, Wschowa, Wrocław, Bydgoszcz and Bielsko-Biała.

For the fifth time in its history, a Polish photographer has contributed to the exhibition – Michał Budzyński, awarded for his entry in the youth category (11 – 14 years old).

Honorary patronage over the exhibition: the Culture and National Heritage Ministry and the Environmental Ministry.

Organisers: