First place, The Beauty of Plants. “There are many stages of lotus growth on display at the Aquatic Gardens, but to come across twotwisted dancing stems of nelumbo nucifera was unexpected and quite magical”. (Photo by Kathleen Furey/The Guardian)

Girls sits on a bench during summer at the Central Park in New York, United States, 2011. (Photo by An Rong Xu)

A little red flying fox dips a toe in a lake at the mouth of Katherine gorge in the Northern Territory, Nitmiluk national park, Australia on September 20, 2017. (Photo by Glenn Campbell/AAP)

Miss Vanjie performs during the LA Pride 2019 on June 09, 2019 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

A model presenting a creation from Andres Sarda's Fall/Winter 2016 collection prepares to pose for a portrait backstage during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Madrid, Spain, February 21, 2016. (Photo by Susana Vera/Reuters)

British model Jourdan Dunn poses on the red carpet at the Fashion Awards 2021 in London, United Kingdom on November 29, 2021. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

Student of Meiji University Yuki Hou licks a screen of Taste the TV (TTTV), a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate the flavours of various foods, during its demonstration at the university in Tokyo, Japan, December 22, 2021. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Tim Laman is a field biologist and wildlife photojournalist. His pioneering research in the rain forest canopy in Borneo led to a PhD from Harvard and his first National Geographic article in 1997. Since then, he has pursued his passion for exploring wild places and documenting little-known and endangered wildlife by becoming a regular contributor to National Geographic. He has eighteen articles to his credit to date, all of which have had a conservation message. Some have focused on endangered species such as Orangutans or Hornbills, while others, such as a series of articles on Conservation International’s Biodiversity Hotspots, have highlighted regions under intense pressure.