About Nature Photo Contests
I built this site because contest information and winning images were too scattered to use well.
I'm Steffen Foerster, a wildlife photographer, biologist, and educator. I created Nature Photo Contests first as a way to keep track of deadlines, rules, fees, file specs, and results.
It also grew out of my own effort to develop as a photographer by entering nature photography contests, studying what gets recognized, and learning from the results.
Why this site exists
Keep the details current. Make the contest record easier to study.
The first job of the site is simple: keep track of contests so photographers do not have to rebuild the same spreadsheet every season. Dates move. Rules change. Submission requirements hide in PDFs. A useful resource should keep those details current and easy to find.
The second job is to preserve context. Winning images are often published in galleries that are hard to search, awkward to compare, or eventually disappear altogether. Bringing those images together makes it easier to study what different contests have rewarded over time.
The larger goal is learning. Once deadlines, rules, placements, categories, images, and contest histories sit in one place, photographers can ask better questions. Which contests fit the work I am making? Which images are worth entering? What can I learn from the images that place, and from my own results over time?
My background
A lifelong passion for nature and photography.
I got my first camera at eight, and nature has been the subject ever since.
I went on to become an animal behavior scientist, and eventually earned a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University. That foundation changed how I see animals in the field. I am not just watching for a composition, I am reading and anticipating behavior to capture moments worth making.
But understanding animals and making a photograph that connects with viewers are two different things entirely. The creative process behind a successful image is varied and can itself be informed by how our brains work. I quite enjoy this combination of science and art.
I am especially drawn to moments where animal behavior feels familiar. A gesture or a look or a posture can make an animal feel less distant. It can even make viewers feel emotions, and emotions can lead to a deeper connection, more curiosity, and care for the world.
Workshops and mentorship
I work with photographers who want to make stronger wildlife images, not just choose better contest entries.
In workshops, the focus is on fieldcraft, animal behavior, light, timing, and composition. Much of the work is learning to see more: to recognize situations with potential, notice compositions others may miss, and respond to animal behavior without forcing the scene.
Mentorship goes deeper and continues over time. We work across the full photographic process: planning future shoots, reviewing sequences, selecting stronger frames, refining edits, improving post-processing, preparing contest submissions, and building a more coherent body of work.
2026 jury member
For the 2026 season, I am serving on the jury for Nature Photographer of the Year.
NPOTY is one of the leading international nature photography contests, attracting more than 27,000 submissions from around the world. Being part of the conversations that shape the final selection is both an honor and a responsibility I do not take lightly. It also gives me a current and firsthand understanding of what separates images that win from those that do not, at the highest level of the discipline. That understanding will inform how I develop this site, and will carry directly into my workshops and mentorship work.
View the NPOTY judging panel