The author of this photo captioned it like this: “Look how high I jump”. And by the looks of it – or the companions looking at it – it’s a more than impressive leap. It would be, too, if animals expressed their feelings through facial expressions and gestures, as we do.
We humans are androcentric, there’s no getting around that. In other words: We tend to project our own emotions onto the world around us. This also means that we read emotions from the faces of animals that are obviously incapable of expressing them. As pointless as this may seem, it leads to some hilarious images, as the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards show.
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards describe themselves as the funniest and most popular photography competition in the world and are now in their 16th edition. The winning images from this year’s competition have already been announced on BBC London‘s “The One Show” and we’ve picked our favorites among them.
OUCH!
Of the 7000 hilarious images submitted to the judges, this photo was chosen as the overall winner in all categories. And it’s easy to see why – the pain is almost too real. But who would have thought that a monkey would be such a good successor to Chaplin and Buster Keaton?
Favorite among Affinity users
We’ve all been at this point in our lives – the turning point of a miserable day. At least in this case, there’s no risk of a pigeon dropping on your head and completely ruining your day. Or does it?
This photo is a favorite among Affinity users and is also a winner in the “Creatures of the Air” category.
Time to go to school
This image was the winner in the ‘Creatures underwater’ category under the title ‘Time for school’. But it could just as easily have said: That’s enough water for today, you’re going to catch a cold.
Most praised
Photographer Jakub Hodan called this monkey ‘Treehugger’, which is also a derogatory term for ecologists in the US. The poor animal clearly seems to have fallen in love with the tree, but we can’t see how that’s in any way despicable. Although it would be no surprise if he turned out to be the toughest ecologist around.
Another of the most praised shots is of these three raccoons gossiping in the neighborhood. Maybe they’re talking about the tree-hugging monkey. It’s not everyday you see an animal kissing a tree.
“I got you” is the title of the last photo in our selection. It was also awarded for being one of the most popular with the public. However, in our humble opinion, the title is missing an exclamation mark. When you catch your best friend as he or she is falling out of the air, whispering doesn’t give much confidence.