Lion photos resting on international awards

With a photo of a lion resting on a rocky cliff in Serengeti, Nick Nichols (USA) won the highest prize in the Wild Nature (WPY) Award 2014.

Nick Nichols said he followed the monks for six months before shooting this beautiful photo.

The picture covers the horizon and the impressive African sky beyond. The depth of the image is also increased when Nichols uses infrared to reduce the fog.

Nick Nichols' lion photo resting

Judge Magdalena Herrera - responsible for the image of French magazine GEO and former photo editor of French National Geographic magazine, said the photo "has all the elements of a perfect photograph".

"The picture speaks of the behavior, the photography technique today, and shows you the relationship between animals and the environment , " she told BBC News on October 22. "The photo is not just a portrait, but a story inside. Also, black and white has a feeling of reporting for the photo."

The "story" she mentioned is about female lions in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. They were sleeping with the lion cubs in the late afternoon after having chased a curious couple of male lions. Nichols took this picture from the hood.

The BBC said three female lions in the flock were killed a few months later when the lions lost their way to a land outside the park.

Below are the winning photos in other categories:

Carlos Perez Naval (Spain) won the young wild photographer award of the year when he was 8 years old.The photo of a golden scorpion exposed in the sunlight at the end of the day shows that he is more technical than many adults.

Photo won the Earth Environment award by photographer Francisco Negroni (Chile).The photo captures the moment of lightning flashing around the volcanic dust cloud erupting at the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex.

Photo of the 'love' moment of a pair of frogs winning the 15-17 year old category of Anton Lilja (Sweden)

Alex Badyaev from the United States won the Mammal category, with a picture of a North American white-footed rat standing on top of a mushroom in western Montana.

Will Jenkins (United Kingdom) wins 11-14 year old category with a picture of a salamander near the lake of a hotel in Costa Rica

Roger Dowdeswell won a digital photo award