Magdalena Herrera, Chair of the jury

Magdalena Herrera is the director of photography for Geo, France. As head of the photodepartment, Magdalena is responsible for choosing and commissioning photographers, proposing stories, and managing a team of photo editors, as well as controlling the photography budget of France’s biggest-selling photo-reportage monthly.

Born in Havana to a family of artists, Magdalena Herrera left Cuba as a child to settle in Paris, where she studied fine art and art history at the Sorbonne before starting her career as a photographer and art director. She has worked in books, print, and magazines, spending ten years as art director and head of the photo department at National Geographic France before joining Geo France as Director of
Photography. Parallel to her journalistic work, Magdalena Herrera teaches workshops and seminars around the world organized by the World Press Photo Foundation and the Fokal fondation in Haiti.

She is an experienced judge when it comes to (nature)photo competitions. Previously she was member of the jury of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and was president of the jury of the World Press Photo in 2017 and 2018, member of the jury of the GDT competition, amongst many, many other competitions. If there’s one thing you can say about Magdalena, it’s that she’s got a keen eye for a great image!

Christian Ziegler

Christian Ziegler is an internationally known photojournalist born in Germany and specializing in natural history and science-related topics. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine and has been widely published in other magazines such as Geo, Smithsonian, and BBC Wildlife.

A tropical ecologist by training, he has worked in tropical rainforests on four continents, and since 2001 has been Associate for communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama.

Conservation is the ultimate motivation for all of Christian’s work and he has been collaborating with many NGS’s. He is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP.com).

Christians work has been awarded prizes in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitions, and in 2008, he has was honoured with the Vision Award by the North American Nature Photography Association. His photo of a southern cassowary won the nature section of the World Press Award 2013, and his bonobo story was awarded a World Press Award in 2014.

He judged many competitions like World Press Photo, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, GDT and many others. We are pleased that he will judge our Nature Photographer of The Year (NPOTY).

Tin Man Lee

Tin Man Lee is an internationally well-known nature and wildlife photographer. He was born in Hong Kong and lives in the United States. Tin Man Lee teaches photographers to take sharp images, photos that inspire, and to speak out for wildlife who doesn’t have a voice. He believes animals have feelings. 

Currently, he has over 600 students. And his students have won awards such as WPOTY, NBP, Audubon, NANPA, Share The View, and numerous prestigious publications. 

The photos of Tin Man Lee have made covers in NANPA Expression, NBP, Wild Planet Photography Magazine, Smithsonian Calendar, and Alaska Magazine. His photos have also been featured in Nature’s Best, WPOTY, NANPA, Smithsonian Earth, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Peta Pixel, and Nik Softwares. 

He’s the grand prize winner of Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International and also the winner of the wildlife category of that contest. In 2014, he held an invited solo exhibit of 48 photos at HKUST, Hong Kong for 5 months. His photos have also been displayed at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC and G2 Gallery.

 Tin Man Lee is an experienced photographer and member of the jury of photo contests. Previously he was also an invited judge of Nature’s Best Photography Asia and Viewbug. We are pleased that Tin Man Lee will judge our Nature Photographer of the Year-contest (NPOTY).

Marco Gaiotti

Marco Gaiotti was born in Genoa in 1983. In 2007 he discovered the wild spaces of Southern Africa, and along with them the passion for nature photography that pursues him to explore year after year the wildest environments of our planet. In 2009 Marco spent a whole month in Alaska, camping and hiking alone in such magnificent wilderness. After this experience he decided to give a more professional target to its photography, which is put into effect on an expedition to Svalbard Islands in early autumn, just before the arctic night: following the expedition, its arctic images were published on international newspapers and journals worldwide. Marco Gaiotti currently self supports its photography projects working as associate professor of shipbuilding at the University of Genova.

International awards include the overall winner of the Memorial Maria Luisa in 2018, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the year, Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice Awards, Oasis, Asferico, Montphoto, SONY WPA (shortlisted), Glanzlichter, Nature Photographer of the Year, Bio Photo Contest, Siena International Photo Awards, Global Arctic Awards and others…

Marco;

“To me, nature photography represents a strong interaction between wildlife and the surrounding environment. In my picture I like to include the habitat as much as possible, which becomes a fundamental element of the composition. For this reason, when a species can be approached safely for both the photographer and the animal, I like using wide angle lenses instead of long telephotos, in order to depict wildlife and its natural environment…”
https://500px.com/marcogaiotti

Tony Wu

Tony Wu’s lifelong association with the sea started when he was a child. A crab pinched his toe, and it was love at first ouch. Now that he’s (somewhat) a grown-up, Tony devotes most of his time to researching and documenting rarely seen marine animals and environments, spending more days at sea than he does on land. Tony owns more pairs of fins than he does shoes.

In recent years, Tony has devoted the bulk of his time to the challenging pursuits of photographing large cetaceans such as humpbacks, sperm whales, and blue whales, as well as documenting spawning aggregations, which are essentially orgies involving thousands of sex-crazed fish. His latest project is exploring the varied and diverse marine environments of Japan, which encompass everything from tropical to arctic environments, as well as many unique habitats in between.

Tony’s philosophy for observing and documenting nature is encapsulated in his motto ars gratia scientiae, which translates from Latin as art for the sake of knowledge. When not at sea, Tony invests much of his time reading books, articles, and scientific papers relevant to his chosen subjects. He records observations and shares information with researcher friends. Tony also writes about nature and engages in public speaking often (in English and Japanese), preferring when possible to invest time interacting with children.

Tony has received a number of prestigious awards, including Grand Prize in Japan’s largest underwater photography contest, the prize for Best Book of the Year at the Festival of Marine Images in Antibes, and first place in the Underwater and Behaviour: Mammals categories of the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. 

He was for instance member of the jury of Big Picture, World Press, the Biographic, Ocean Art, Wetpixel, DEEP Indonesia, and Wildscreen. We are pleased that Tony Wu will judge our Nature Photographer of the Year contest (NPOTY).

https://www.tony-wu.com/
https://www.instagram.com/tonywu98/