Tilakraj Nagaraj/Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2019As we continue to be inundated with worrying stories about climate change; forest fires, plastic in the ocean and the ice caps melting, here’s some nature content to put a smile on your face.
The finalists for the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have just been announced, and while the skill of the photographers is undoubtedly impressive, it’s the wild animals who steal the show.
The competition is open to all photographers around the world, and is free to enter. This year it’s judged by photographers and founders Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, along with wildlife presenter Kate Humble, comedian Hugh Dennis, and a number of other wildlife experts and photographers.
Anyway, here are some hilarious pictures. Chestbump!
Thomas Mangelsen/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019I’d love to know what this guy is listening to on his airpods:
Martina Gebert/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Mate, your head, what did you eat? You ok? Seriously, you’re glowing, your head is literally glowing:
Co Grift/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019The look of someone who’s just been told not to turn around:
Charlie CocksedgeThis will make you think twice about having kids:
Sarah Skinner/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019‘Yes mate! And what? Bring it on bro! Right here!’ This is a mood. Zero fucks given:
Ryan Jeffereds/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019While the competition provides some much-needed, light-hearted relief, it also highlights the extremely important message of wildlife conservation in an engaging and positive way.
Founder and judge Paul Joynson-Hicks said:
Every year we do this competition, it gets more and more exciting seeing how people visualise the funny sides of wildlife in the wild. And each year we see a wider variety of species doing funny things.
Of course, the other aspect of our funny competition is letting people know what they can do at home to be conservationists. Our planet is in distress, we all know that, now we just need to know what to do. Hopefully, we can provide a few small tips to get people started.
All natural, all wood:
Willem Kruger/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019The CWPA have shared a few tips on how to be a ‘conservationist at home’, such as shopping responsibly – don’t buy products with palm oil in, for example, or products with non-recyclable packaging.
They also suggest restricting your water use at home, by having shorter showers, watering your garden less, and not flushing the loo every time (within reason). For more ideas on how to become a ‘wild influencer’ – someone who really cares about the environment and wants to actively help – head to the CWPA website here.
Anyway, back to the photos, and every relationship ever:
Vlado Pirsa/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Another mood:
Eric Fisher/Comedy Wildlife Photography Wildlife Awards 2019Play it cool, Dave, play it cool:
Eric Keller/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019I call this move ‘the stinkbomb’:
Alastair Marsh/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Zoomies:
Bob Carter/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Don’t worry about those hands just look at my hands ok:
Pablo Daniel Fernández/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Busted:
Peter Haygarth/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Come on Terry, the finals are next week, we have to get this move right:
Adwait Aphale/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Go home deer, you’re drunk:
Mike Rowe/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Gotta get that figure-skating practice in:
Andre Erlich/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019I love the smell of dandelions in the morning:
Geert Weggen/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019Hi, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour?
Kevin Sawford/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019The rest of this year’s finalists can be found here.
The winners will be announced on November 13, with the overall winner walking away with a one-week safari with Alex Walker’s Serian in the Masai Mara, Kenya, as well as a handmade trophy from the Art Garage in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.As well as the awards themselves, a Comedy Wildlife Photography book is being released next month, and is available to pre-order here.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.