New Field Museum Exhibit Showcases World’s Best Nature Photographs

Having spotted walruses from his dinghy off the coastof Svalbard, Norway, photographer Valter Bernardeschi slipped into icy water to photograph them. He captured these young walruses with his camera on a float.

Photo credit © Valter Bernadeschi - Wildlife Photographer of the Year

By Mike Krauser, WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- From simmering volcanoes to the whiskers on a walrus, a new exhibit at the Field Museum showcases 100 of the world’s best nature photographs.

“Wildlife Photographer of the Year,” produced by the Natural History Museum in London, opens Friday to the public at the Field Museum. It is based upon a competition that has been running since 1965.

The photos of animals, landscapes, and plants were taken by 100 people - professionals and amateurs - some as young as 10-years old, who each captured something special. An international panel of experts selected these images from over 45,000 entries from 95 countries.

“It’s a long-running competition, an annual competition, that usually garners about 45,000 entries...it’s really an amazing showcase," said Field Museum Curator Richard Ree.

There's a fox in the ruins of a building at Chernobyl and a favorite of Ree's, a crow on a chimney spewing smoke. Guests can "trek through China’s mountains among endangered monkeys and glimpse owls in a bustling Indian city. Experience the many sides of life in the wild—at times surprising and even devastating, but also heartwarming and humorous," the museum said in a description of the new exhibition.

Ree talks about the photo of the crow: "It's fumigating it's feathers, getting rid of parasites by sitting on top of this pollution. It is also kind of a visually striking photograph obviously in a Game of Thrones type way."

He said there's a dramatic effect seeing large back-lit photographs in the darkened exhibit space.

“These large back-lit panels really increase the visual and sort of the emotional impact of the photographs because the luminosity and the depth, you really feel like you can almost walk into some of these photographs and I think that’s a really powerful aspect of this exhibit," he said.

Ree said as a scientist he seeks to capture truth with photographs and he said those in the exhibit do that and more.

“Obviously the aesthetic aspect is much more emphasized in this kind of exhibition, but really the fundamental motivation is the same: to deepen our understanding of life on Earth as well as deepen our appreciation of it and love for it through its intrinsic beauty.”

Jan English, Head of Touring Exhibitions at the London Natural History Museum, said, “'Wildlife Photographer of the Year' celebrates the very best nature photography, and it is consistently one of our most successful touring exhibitions, enjoyed by millions every year. These images tell thought-provoking stories about our planet that prompt us all to think differently about the natural world and the future we want to create.”

The Field Museum's “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” exhibition opens Friday, March 22 and will run through Jan.12, 2020, presented in both English and Spanish. Entry to the exhibit requires an All-Access or Discovery Pass. The Field Museum is open 364 days a year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with last admission at 4 p.m.