2015 Favourite Moments (and the pictures that came from them)

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[NOTE: This post is more about sharing a few favourite experiences and their accompanying images than simply sharing a gallery of favourite pics from the year…if you want to skip the stories, you’ll find 10 favourite pictures from each of us on our 2015 Favourites page.]

2015 has been one incredible year for us in the Launstein family! It’s certainly been exciting to see the recognition and awards that Jenaya and Josiah received in the past year, but much more important than the accolades are the moments spent together in the field. Read more

Jenaya Awarded for 2nd Time in Nature’s Best

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It’s our pleasure to announce that Jenaya has been awarded in the 2015 Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards. This is her second win in this competition, having been named the Youth Photographer of the Year in 2013.

This year’s awarded image was taken outside of Kamloops, British Columbia on a photography trip looking for Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep (formerly known as California bighorns), a species-at-risk. We were rewarded in finding a great group of rams, and Jenaya, Josiah and I (John), headed out–and up–in search of good angles for some animals-in-their-environment images of them. Read more

Jenaya & Josiah awarded in Por el Planeta

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This past summer Jenaya and Josiah both received a pretty exciting email from none other than acclaimed conservation photographer, Cristina Mittermeier. I (John) was in town with Josiah when the email came through, telling us Josiah had been awarded in Por el Planeta, and I reached for my phone to share the news with Jenaya only to read an incoming message from her saying, “Guess what?!?!”

It turns out both my talented young photographers had made it through the thousands of entries (28,578 to be precise) to each have an image awarded as Specially Commended in this prestigious and important competition. Read more

Josiah awarded in 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

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We are so excited to share that Josiah has had two images awarded in the oldest and most prestigious wildlife photography competitions in the world, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition put on by the Natural History Museum (U.K.) and BBC Wildlife.

This year’s competition saw over 42,000 images submitted from 96 countries, and the competition in the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year categories has never been stronger. This is Josiah’s second year entering the competition, and he has had multiple images selected for the final round both times, but we were certainly not expecting him to end up with two of the top 100 images! Read more