Med serien «Life at the surface» er Audun Rikardsen tildelt The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio Award 2015. For en naturfotograf, og ikke minst for Rikardsen, er denne prisen det samme som en skuespiller som vinner en Oscar. Det er noe av det aller ypperste man kan oppnå av heder og ære. De fleste trenger en rekke forsøk, men Rikardsen klarte det på sitt andre, noe han selv synes er ganske uforståelig.
Det er kanskje vanskelig å tro, men Rikardsen kjøpte sitt første speilreflekskamera høsten 2009. Siden den gang har han utviklet seg raskt til å bli en av verdens beste naturfotografer - en fotograf som er kjent for naturbilder som skiller seg ut og som er kreative.
Det er særlig den arktiske kysten og dyrelivet i krysningen mellom hav og land som fasinerer, men også landskap, kystkultur og ulike friluftsaktiviteter.
Rikardsen hadde to kriterier da han valgte ut bildeserien «Life at the surface»: Bildene skulle være relatert til den lille millimeteren som skiller verden over og under vann, og av dyr som på en eller annen måte er avhengig av denne tynne hinna. Bildene skulle være tatt lokalt og vise fram Nord-Norge, det vil si i nærheten av Tromsø eller hjemplassen i Steigen (Ørna).
Sjekk ut TV2 for hvordan Audun tar bildene sine
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Her kan du gi din stemme til det bildet du synes er best.
Audun Rikardsens hjemmeside
Audun Rikardsens Facebook-side
Det er kanskje vanskelig å tro, men Rikardsen kjøpte sitt første speilreflekskamera høsten 2009. Siden den gang har han utviklet seg raskt til å bli en av verdens beste naturfotografer - en fotograf som er kjent for naturbilder som skiller seg ut og som er kreative.
Det er særlig den arktiske kysten og dyrelivet i krysningen mellom hav og land som fasinerer, men også landskap, kystkultur og ulike friluftsaktiviteter.
Rikardsen hadde to kriterier da han valgte ut bildeserien «Life at the surface»: Bildene skulle være relatert til den lille millimeteren som skiller verden over og under vann, og av dyr som på en eller annen måte er avhengig av denne tynne hinna. Bildene skulle være tatt lokalt og vise fram Nord-Norge, det vil si i nærheten av Tromsø eller hjemplassen i Steigen (Ørna).
Sjekk ut TV2 for hvordan Audun tar bildene sine
Sea eagle snatch
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
Having spent many summers as a youngster helping to ring white-tailed eagles, Audun had long wondered how their deadly aerial strikes appear to their prey. To find out, he attached a camera to the sea floor and tethered a floating fish nearby as bait. After three years refining this set-up, Audun finally captured this millisecond moment. When hunting, white-tailed eagles swoop low over the water looking for fish, hovering just for an instant before snatching their find in their talons. Small spikes, called spicules, on the underside of their feet give added grip on the slippery prey.
Dark Dive
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
Raised in a fishing community in northern Norway, Audun has always been fascinated by the Arctic coast’s wildlife. In 2009, he started taking pictures, such as this humpback whale, in the region of Tromsø, where he now lives. As a professor of biology at the University of Tromsø, he brings his fieldwork experience to his photography. He is a recognised wildlife photographer in Norway. In winter, humpbacks linger in the fjords of Norway. As the giant mammals dive, they sometimes, albeit briefly, reveal the unique fingerprint pattern on the underside of their tail. To scientists such as Audun, these patterns of pigmentation and scars are like a name-badge, used to identify individual whales.
By the light of the moon
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
Audun knew exactly when in autumn the brown trout congregate to spawn in this Arctic river. Struggling with the ice forming on his equipment and his skin, he used flashes beneath the surface and his camera positioned just above to capture this fish hanging in shallow water, bathed in moonlight and the northern lights. After years at sea, this brown trout will have returned to the same river it hatched in order to spawn. Gathering in the shallows in late summer, the trout create nests in the gravel to release their sperm and eggs. They spawn at night, to avoid predators such as eagles, which gather along the river bank at this time.
Deep sleeper
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
A call from a friend’s son told Audun of a creature bobbing around in a fjord outside Tromsø. Investigating by boat, he found this bearded seal snoozing at the surface, its distinctive whiskers dried into curls in the midnight sunshine. It seemed surprisingly trusting, taking one brief peek at him before nodding off again. Bearded seals commonly sleep head up in the water, floating vertically, a practice known as bottling. Further north this is thought to be a tactic to avoid predation by polar bears. When hauled out on the ice they tend to be wary and remain near the edge, head facing the water ready to escape.
The last rays
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
The low-lying Sun strikes the waves, bursting through as though along a faultline. This light show was accompanied by a symphony of killer whale whistles and songs as one of the pod surfaced for a breath. The day after Audun took this, the polar winter began, and the Sun disappeared altogether for more than two months. Killer whales work co-operatively to hunt herring. They force the fish into tight groups by circling them, flashing their white bellies and emitting a cacophony of clicks and whistles. One whale will then surge into the shoal, performing underwater tail slaps, stunning the herring motionless to be snapped up by the pod.
Splash-time with Buddy
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
Audun developed a firm friendship with this young male walrus, nicknamed Buddy, who spent several months hanging around the beach outside Tromsø. Audun would often join it in the water to play. ‘I could tell whether it was having fun, teasing me, splashing water at my face and talking to me, or whether it was grumpy,’ he says. Despite their thick, bristly appearance, a walrus’s whiskers are incredibly sensitive. They use them to search for their main prey of clams on the sea floor. After clearing the soft substrate away with their flippers, they suck the clams out of their shells, sometimes consuming thousands in a single sitting.
Bildet nedenfor er med å kjempe om publikumsprisen i konkurransen.
Her kan du gi din stemme til det bildet du synes er best.
Audun Rikardsen / Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015
Audun Rikardsens hjemmeside
Audun Rikardsens Facebook-side
Audun Rikardsen
Tine Marie Hagelin
