Exhibition
A moment in time
In March 2020, beneath the waves of St Vincent Gulf — an inlet of the Great Australian Bight that laps at the shores of the Fleurieu Peninsula — a 30cm Leafy Seadragon was becoming accustomed to the presence of a stranger from a different world. The stranger, in diving gear and carrying a large, spider-like contraption, was renowned nature photographer Scott Portelli. He visited regularly to observe the seadragon, as is his practice, and the picture he eventually took became the winning photograph of the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. Nature photography is not only an exercise in showcasing the beauty and diversity of our ecosystems. It also serves as a kind of citizen science, whereby photographers create a data point every time they capture an animal: that seadragon displaying those behaviours in this location on that date, is a record that becomes part of the archived body of knowledge about that species. “The images that appear in the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition represent people's efforts to go out and capture the nuances of nature. We encourage it, because the records that are documented are important to science,” says Professor Kris Helgen, Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute.
Meet Scott Portelli, overall winner of the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. 24
Visit the 2021 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, a South Australian Museum exhibition until 30 January
