Hayden Turner, Into Your Soul (ANIMALS 2025)

When a chimpanzee in the wild looks into your eyes, time dissolves. There is something ancient and wordless exchanged in that gaze... curiosity, awareness, maybe even a quiet knowing. Sometimes I forget to raise my camera, transfixed by the sheer weight of being seen by them. In those moments, I feel more alive than anywhere else on Earth. They allow us, briefly, into their world, a world we so often exploit and destroy. But here, in this fleeting stillness, nothing else matters. So often, this is where I want to be. He allowed me that moment.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.