The Big Picture 2019
Each year, the California Academy of Sciences’ renowned BigPicture Photography Competition celebrates some of the world’s best photographers and the year’s most striking images. Judged by an elite panel of nature and conservation photography experts, including Suzi Eszterhas and bioGraphic contributing photo editor Sophie Stafford, the competition’s winning images highlight Earth’s biodiversity and illustrate the threats our planet faces. Each photo, in its own way, inspires viewers to protect and conserve the remarkable diversity of life on Earth. Below, we present some of our personal favorites from this year’s competition.
by Audun Rikardsen

by James Gifford
It’s no exaggeration to say that André Bauma, the head caretaker at the Senkwekwe Center for orphaned gorillas in Virunga National Park, risks his life daily for the animals in his care. In recent decades, more than 170 rangers have been killed in the park, and the Senkwekwe Center has been overrun by rebels on multiple occasions (learn more in the bioGraphic photo essay Gorillas on the Mend). Even in these moments, Bauma has never abandoned the Center’s gorillas. “Gorilla caretakers with those gorilla orphans? We are the same family,” he says. “They know we are their mums.”
Bauma is raising the orphans with the goal of eventually releasing the animals back into the park. In the meantime, though, the gorillas treat Bauma and his team as their family. “While I was watching from a distance,” says photographer James Gifford, “one of André’s charges enveloped him in a hug, giving me the chance to capture their remarkable relationship. I have never before witnessed such a close and natural bond between any wildlife species and a human."

by Daniel Dietrich

by Piotr Naskrecki

by Jinggong Zhang

by Armand Sarlangue

by Julie Fletcher

by Buddy Eleazer

by Pier Mané

by Chiara Salvadori

by Mikhail Korostelev
