Round Seven: The Best of the Rest
Amateur Photographer
|December 30, 2025
The APOY judges choose their favourite images that didn't make the top ten of our Animal Kingdom category
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Peter Dench, acting features editor, chooses The Great Migration by Martin Bundy, Leslie, Fife
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 100-400mm at 100mm, 1/1600sec at f/5, ISO 250
Peter says: 'The great wildebeest migration is a well-documented destination on the wildlife photographer's bucket list, but this frame still stops you in your tracks. It has the density and detail of a delirious charcoal sketch. A frantic mass of bodies rendered in looping lines, stripes and horns. Taken on the photographer's very first safari, it captures the moment a vast column of wildebeest and zebra funnel down a steep embankment and into the Mara River. It's so chaotic it drifts into abstraction. Stare at it long enough and Bridget Riley patterns emerge in the foreground and within the tangle of wildebeest on the far bank. The dust softens the scene. The image is laced with raw drama, crocodiles and lions stalk the confusion. The photographer has cleverly distilled the crossing into a single astonishing tableau with minimal post-processing but maximum impact.'
Jessica Miller, deputy online editor, chooses Thinking Baboon by Manfred Meintjes, Rümlang, Switzerland
Canon EOS R7, 100-400mm at 248mm, 1/250sec at f/8, ISO 125
This story is from the December 30, 2025 edition of Amateur Photographer.
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