Name: Paolo Della Rocca
Picture title: Games between siblings
Category: Mammals
Nationality: Italy
Occupation: I’m close to becoming a full-time photographer
Technical information
Camera: Canon Eos R5
Lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
EXIF: 1/800sec at F10 – ISO 1600
Accessories: Tripod
WINNER CATEGORY MAMMALS + Overall Winner NPOTY 2024
Paolo Della Rocca | Games between siblings
Name: Paolo Della Rocca
Picture title: Games between siblings
Category: Mammals
Nationality: Italy
Occupation: I’m close to becoming a full-time photographer
Technical information
Camera: Canon Eos R5
Lens: Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
EXIF: 1/800sec at F10 – ISO 1600
Accessories: Tripod
Paolo Della Rocca says:
In northern India lies Spiti Valley, a land of rugged beauty and home to one of the most elusive creatures on Earth: the snow leopard. For me, this journey has been a lifelong dream, as the snow leopard has always been my favorite wild animal.
This year, my dream came to life during an unforgettable encounter with a pair of sub-adult snow leopard siblings. I had the privilege of observing and photographing them at various moments in their lives, capturing their grace and playfulness through my lens.
The pinnacle of this extraordinary adventure came on the first of February. Achieving the image I had envisioned was no easy feat. I waited for over six hours at the edge of a canyon, braving temperatures plummeting to -25°C and a relentless snowstorm that chilled me to the bone. The two siblings had been resting in a cave, and I could only hope they would eventually emerge.
When the storm subsided and calm returned, they began to stir. What unfolded next was beyond my wildest imagination. They climbed upward, chasing each other along snowy slopes, playing with a joy and vitality that left me awestruck. I remember whispering to myself repeatedly, “This can’t be real, it’s too incredible to be true!”
And then came the moment. A frame so perfect, so alive, that even in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined capturing it. This image, and the experience behind it, will forever remain etched in my memory as one of the most magical days of my life.
Paolo Della Rocca
Italy
Nature and wildlife photographer from northern Italy. Paolo lives in the Italian Alps and feels lucky to live in a place where he can admire every day the big treasures that nature offers us and its precious biodiversity. Love and respect for biodivesity are the glue of this photographs, in which descriptions of reality and search for a poetic component converge.
The long waits before the shot become a temporal space through which to perceive sounds, smells, shapes and colours of nature, nourishing an emotion that is expressed at the moment of the final image.
He is particularly attracted to the cold and boundless territories of the North, as his latest photographic expedition to the Indian Himalayas in search of the elusive snow leopard proves it. In his future plans there is the desire with photography to bring people closer and raise awareness of nature through conservation projects and themed books.
