Alum Awarded Top Prize In Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Competition
Using a macro lens, Karine Aigner (COM’96) captured the flurry of activity as a buzzing ball of cactus bees spun over the hot sand in south Texas. After a few minutes, the pair at its center—a male clinging to the only female in the ball—flew away to mate. Photo by Karine Aigner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition Awards BU Alum Top Prize
Karine Aigner (Com’96) Captures a “Rarely Photographed Behaviour” in Cactus Bees
Photographer Karine Aigner came across the cactus bees in south Texas by accident. The dramatic photo she captured—a ball of male bees vying to mate with a single female—won her the top prize in the 58th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition last fall. Aigner was the 2022 Grand Title winner in the competition—developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London—for her photo “The big buzz.”
“I was driving around a Texas ranch and was passing what looked like a field of ant hills,” Aigner (COM’96) wrote in her entry. “After stopping to see what kind of ants I was looking at, I realized I wasn’t looking at ants at all. I was looking at individual bees.”
“I love the choice of wide-angle macro for this image,” one jury member wrote of Aigner’s photo. “It really brings the viewer into the action, as though we’re standing on the ground next to these bees and observing it in person. Aside from that, it’s a rarely photographed behaviour and something I’ve never seen photographed in this way before.”
After stopping to see what kind of ants I was looking at, I realized I wasn’t looking at ants at all. I was looking at individual bees.
Aigner is only the fifth woman in the competition’s 58-year history to be awarded the grand title. She also won the competition’s Photojournalist Story Award for “The Cuban connection,” six images exploring the relationship between Cuban culture and songbirds.
Aigner is an associate fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers and a member of the North American Nature Photography Association and Girls Who Click, a nonprofit that offers free photographic workshops to inspire teen girls to pursue careers as wildlife photographers. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, GEOlino, NatureConservancy, WWF, and BBC Wildlife magazines.
Brandon A. Güell (GRS’20,’23) waded through murky water in Costa Rica to document a rare tree frog breeding frenzy. These mass breeding events occur only a few times a year in remote locations around the world. He was awake at four in the morning for days to try to capture one. Photo by Brandon A. Güell
In the waters off Monterey Bay, Calif., Russell Laman (CAS’22) was stung countless times by sea nettles as he got into position to photograph a sea lion carcass— when a live sea lion came to investigate. Photo by Russell Laman (CAS’22)
Two other alums had photos chosen in the competition: Brandon A. Güell (GRS’20,’23), a PhD student studying biology, and Russell Laman (CAS’22), who earned a dual degree in marine science and in conservation ecology and conservation biology. Güell’s “Tree frog pool party” was awarded Highly Commended in the “Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles” category, and Laman’s “Oceans: past, present and future” won a Highly Commended in the “Oceans: The Bigger Picture” category. The images were selected from nearly 40,000 entries from 93 countries.
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