[imagesource: Tomasz Szpila / Nature TTL]

Staring into the eyes of a predator is one way to round off your Thursday.

That lion above, nestled in flesh and fur, had just hunted a buffalo in Botswana and was in the midst of digging in when Tomasz Szpila snapped the shot.

His ‘I See You’ photo saw Szpila crowned the Wild Portraits winner in the 2022 Nature TTL Photographer of the Year Competition.

Nature TTL, one of the world’s leading nature photography resources, per PetaPixel, just announced the winners of its annual photography competition, from 8 000 entries across eight different categories.

Top prize was awarded to US photographer Dennis Stogsdill thanks to a creature just as fierce and fancy, a caracal hunting a flamingo in Tanzania:

The BBC reported that Nature TTL founder Will Nicholls says that this shot represents nature at its most “raw”:

“The caracal is soaked from chasing the flamingos through the waters but has come out on top. The contrasting colours against the dark surroundings really make this image pop – a wonderful scene to have been able to observe, no doubt, let alone capture exquisitely on camera.”

Stogsdill bagged £1 500 (just under R30 000) for his image of the cat “walking off with its prize”, as the winner in the Animal Behavior category, as well as the overall winner.

An African elephant in Tanzania landed Michael Snedic the runner-up prize in the Animal Behaviour category:

Geoffrey Reynaud, the winner in the Camera Traps category, snapped this grizzly shot of a bear in Canada:

The runner-up in the Camera Traps category was Sascha Fonseca for this stunning take of a snow leopard in Ladakh, India:

Mauro Tronto was the runner-up in The Night Sky category with this fantastical shot from Iceland:

The runner-up in the Urban Wildlife category was Josselin Coronou for this Studio Ghibli-esque ‘Glow worms in Australia’ shot:

In the world of little critters, two moths have wowed.

One of them was captured in Hungary, with Tibor Litauzki taking top prize in the Small World category:

The other was a micro-moth found in the UK, captured by Tim Crabb, the runner-up in the Small World category:

For more, head here.

That should do for your daily dose of nature.

[sources:bbc&petapixel]