Michelle Lawford, Penguins Retreating (ANIMALS 2026)

Web:

www.wild-photography.com.au

It was such a thrill to photograph porpoising gentoo penguins in Antarctica. Porpoising is a swimming technique where penguins rapidly leap in and out of the water in short, shallow arcs. Situating myself behind a pair of penguins gave me a bird’s eye view and an appreciation of how closely and uniformly they follow each other in what otherwise looks like a chaos of splashes and confusion.

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