The South Australian Museum’s 2024 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition has given a whole new meaning to having a whale of a time.

This year’s winning image Bubble-net by Scott Portelli (pictured below) depicts two humpback whales bubble-net feeding, a common hunting strategy used by humpback whales. As the whales surround a school of small fish, they disorient and corral the fish into a “net” of bubbles.

The aerial drone image shot by Western Australian photographer Scott Portelli was taken as part of a sailing expedition to Antarctica last year.

Portelli was on a small 60-foot yacht when he took the winning image.

“There was one day where the weather was shifting between overcast and snowing," he said.

"I sat and watched these whales bubble-netting for about six hours, but trying to capture that moment when they break the surface came down to persistence and timing.”

As the overall winner, Portelli receives a cash prize of $10,000 and a holiday prize.

This is second time lucky for Portelli, who also won the competition in 2021 with an image of the elusive leafy sea dragon taken at South Australia’s Second Valley.

Portelli heads up a high-calibre field of 10 category winners unveiled by South Australian Museum Chief Executive Dr David Gaimster in an online ceremony, before the annual exhibition of all 91 finalists opens to the public on Saturday 31 August.

Now in its 21st year, the competition – which is owned and produced by the South Australian Museum – drew 1856 entries from 442 photographers across 12 countries in its search for the best wildlife and landscape photographs taken across the Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea bioregions.

The other categories in the competition are Animals in Nature, Aerial, Macro, Landscape, Threatened Species, Monochrome, Our Impact, and Astrophotography.

There is also a People’s Choice prize, voted by visitors to the exhibition, and Junior category for budding photographers aged under 18.

Dr Gaimster congratulated this year’s winners.

“The world around us has always been a natural subject for photographers," he said.

"But the advent of photography has also coincided with nearly two centuries of unprecedented biodiversity loss.

“This makes the work of nature photographers all the more urgent and inspiring, and once again, the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition and exhibition has brought together another stunning group of finalists, capturing nature at every scale and in every corner of our unique bioregion.”

The exhibition will open to the public at the South Australian Museum (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) from Saturday 31 August until Sunday 5 January 2025. Tickets are available now via Humanitix. (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) To view the full gallery, click here. (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site)