Photographer Tobias Baumgaertner explained the two Fairy Penguins, who had lost their respective partners, had been watching the ‘dancing lights’ of the Melbourne skyline together when he snapped the winning shot.
Viral penguin photo wins community choice photography award
A viral picture of a pair of widowed penguins staring into the distance and comforting each other has won a prize at Oceanographic magazine’s Ocean Photography Awards 2020. The touching moment captured by photographer Tobias Baumgaertner features two fairy penguins standing side by side upon a rock, surveying the Melbourne skyline. The picture went viral last year.
The image has become a symbol of togetherness and love
Sharing the heartbreaking story behind it, photographer Tobias Baumgaertner explained the two penguins had apparently lost their respective partners, and had been watching the ‘dancing lights’ of the Melbourne skyline together. What makes the scene so poignant is that penguins mate for life.
“These two Fairy penguins poised upon a rock overlooking the Melbourne skyline were standing there for hours, flipper in flipper, watching the sparkling lights of the skyline and ocean,” Baumgaertner wrote on Instagram.
Then again in November, Baumgaertner wrote:
I posted this image of these two Fairy penguins a little more than half a year ago and since then it has circled the globe, it has been seen by millions and I have received thousands of messages and comments of how these two little guys have touched and mended broken hearts, brought joy, hope and love into your lives.
It has become a symbol of togetherness and love. Times are still not easy for many of us, thus I repeat what I wrote back then “During times like this the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love most.”
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
About The Ocean Photography Awards™
The Ocean Photography Awards™ are a celebration of our beautiful blue planet, as well as a platform to highlight the many plights it is facing.
Ocean photographers of all disciplines and experience levels – amateurs and professionals alike – are invited to submit their most impactful imagery to be judged by a panel of some of the world’s leading ocean photographers, including International Photography Hall of Fame inductee Paul Nicklen, founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers, Cristina Mittermeier, and Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Shawn Heinrichs.
A total of six categories were judged, with the overall winner crowned the 2020 Ocean Photographer of the Year™ in November last year. — OceanographicMagazine.com
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You can find Ocean Photography Awards on the Web: Website | Facebook | Instagram
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