"Highly Commended"
Wildlife Photographer of the Year — 2019
Natural History Museum, London UK
Jason Leo Bantle is one of only 100 photographers worldwide to be recognized by the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition. More than 48,000 entrants vied for this honour, the most prestigious of all wildlife photography awards. Jason’s commendation signifies his dedication to the highest standards in his art, where each photograph you see is exactly what he saw at that moment, the result of countless hours, days and even years of painstaking preparation. It is true nature —untouched and unaltered.
To learn more about the WPY contest, and to view the other winning images, click here. Keep watching our website and social media for updates on Jason’s trip to London for the awards ceremony, and for details on the Canadian exhibition dates.
It was Lucky Break that resulted in Jason's being recognized by the WPY contest, earning him the "Highly Commended" distinction in the Urban Wildlife category.
The abandoned 1970’s Ford Pinto was in the forest adjacent to our All in the Wild trust land in the Sonningdale area. A rusting piece of metal scrap, it would have been a useless blemish on our natural world, except for the resourcefulness of a mama racoon who turned it into a safe place for her babies – a “repurposed ride.” The only access into the car is through the small smashed hole in the windshield, thus preventing coyotes (a racoon’s main predator) from getting at her young. While the photograph celebrates the ingenuity of a wildlife species to adapt to human intrusion, it should also serve as a stark reminder that not all species are as resourceful and need us humans to respect and preserve natural habitat.
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