Last night more than 200 lucky Time Out readers and guests gathered at the Australian National Maritime Museum for our sneak peek of the 52nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards. To kick off the night we heard from the Museum’s director Kevin Sumption, followed by a special appearance from intrepid photographer Scott Portelli. He gave us a fascinating glimpse into the story behind his entry into this year’s exhibition – a vignette of giant cuttlefish in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf. The cephalopods migrate en masse each year to mate – the process is so rigorous, virtually every creature dies after the migration. His image – which captures the alien-esque creatures in situ – was selected from 50,000 entries into the exhibition.
Photograph: Scott Portelli 'Collective Courship'
Guests then got to peruse the exhibition and see more than 100 nominated photographs spread across three rooms, along with a special selection of Museum curated Indigenous artefacts that were weaved throughout. It showcases some of the globe’s most fierce, fascinating and ferocious creatures of the land air and sea – jungle dwelling orangutans, sneaky suburban foxes, bug-munching birds and cautious cheetahs. The wild guys from AuxJax were on DJ duties, spinning everything from John Farnham to Kendrick Lamar, and they were even decked out in animal onesies to match the exhibition’s starring creatures.