‘Horrific and beautiful’ whale rescue image wins photography prize

Just moments after Miesa Grobbelaar photographed this endangered humpback whale being freed from a chain, the whale “paused and looked at us, as if saying thanks”, she said. The picture of the rescue effort, which was taken near the coast of Ha’apai, Tonga, won the Grand Prize in the Nature Conservancy’s 2025 Oceania Photo Contest.

Grobbelaar and her team of rescuers had answered a distress call about an entangled humpback whale, arriving to find a “heavy rusted chain cutting deep into her tail”, said Grobbelaar in an announcement about her win. They worked “carefully and silently” to free her, until the chain finally snapped, she said.

While humpback whales as a species are no longer considered endangered, with overall numbers having recovered from low levels seen in the mid-20th century due to excessive whaling, there are still some populations at risk, including those found off the coast of Tonga. These still number in the low thousands, which is around 30 per cent lower than before widespread whaling.

“It’s horrific and beautiful, it’s humanity’s relationship with nature at its worst and humanity caring for nature at its best, all at the same time,” said Jarrod Boord, one of the competition’s judges, in the announcement.

The contest, which was open to photographers from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, also awarded prizes in other categories, such as this enchanting picture (above) of a Pluteus velutinornatus mushroom, which grows on wood, that won the Plants & Fungi category. Photographer Nic Wooding spotted the hazel-coloured fungi just before it had opened, returning a couple of days later to find it in “immaculate” condition.

Scott Portelli took first prize in the Lands category for his kaleidoscopic time-lapse of stars above a rock face (above) in Windjana Gorge National Park in Western Australia, known for its distinctive red rocks. It took more than 600 photos to show the stars moving during the night sky, from dusk to dawn.

This vibrant photo (above) of a female peacock mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus), taken in Bali, Indonesia, by Peter McGee, was awarded third prize in the Water category. The shrimp is guarding her precious cargo of red eggs, while scanning the waters around her.