Joe Kahlo
The year 2020 has produced many beautiful and powerful photographs.
But a shot of two widowed penguins appearing to comfort one another in Australia has been picked out as a winner in the Oceanographic magazine’s Ocean Photograph Awards.
The photo was taken by Tobias Baumgaertner in Melbourne.
The photo in which the penguins appear to comfort one another while staring into the distance at Melbourne’s St. Kilda Pier has gone viral on social media, winning hearts.
The German photographer won the magazine’s Community Choice Award.
“A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left,” said Mr Baumgaertner.
“Since then they meet regularly, comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city.”
The photographer spent three nights with the penguin colony before being able to catch this photo, he said.
“Between not being able or allowed to use any lights and the tiny penguins continuously moving, rubbing their flippers on each other’s backs and cleaning one another, it was really hard to get a shot,” he said.
“But I got lucky during one beautiful moment.”
What an amazing story!
