Nature is intense and peaceful in the Australian photography competition

Giant whales die at the seaside, luminescent mushrooms in deep forests, billowing waterfalls in the flood season . Photos won the Australian photography competition leaving viewers with much emotion.

The 2019 "Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year" contest, one of the most prestigious photography competitions, has just released the final result, with the highest award to photographer Mat Beetson from Western Australia for the photo. The photo shows sharks surrounding the body of a nearby whale in Cheynes, near Albany, Western Australia.

Sharks surrounded the body of a nearby whale in Western Australia - (Photo: MAT BEETSON)

This is the first time the award has been given to a flycam photographer.

"Despite seeing millions of natural photos in the past decade, we've never seen anything like this picture," the jury said of Mr. Beetson's photo. "Unique and interesting, it shows the incredible beauty of death."

Meanwhile, Melissa Williams-Brown's flycam photograph haunts the viewer from the environmental degradation: a kangaroo lying dead on arid land, beside the lake has dried up. He won the category "Human impact on nature".

"The spectacle choked me , " Melissa Williams-Brown said.

Stunning images of nature and wildlife in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and some Pacific islands also won in categories: landscape photos, animal portraits, behavior of animal.

Drought in Menindee Lake, Australia caused many species to die - (Photo: MELISSA WILLIAMS-BROWN)

Lightning storm in New South Wales - (Photo: FLLOYD MALLON)

Crab species in the Lembeh Strait, off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, "borrow" sponges, seaweed . to disguise and ward off enemies - (Photo: ROSS GUDGEON)

Oriental gray kangaroo in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales - (Photo: CHARLES DAVIS)

Flushing water in Barron, Queensland waterfall during flood season - (Photo: NEIL PRITCHARD)

The Adelaide lizard and its reflection - (Photo: ETIENNE LITTLEFAIR)

The mother and son of the cape go through the cave of a neighbor in New South Wales - (Photo: CHARLES DAVIS)

Humpback whales swim through the dolphins to find their partners in the waters off Tonga - (Photo: SCOTT PORTELLI)

Photoluminescent fungus in pine forest on Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia - (Photo: MARCIA RIEDERER)

A crested horn shark is eating eggs from other sharks - (Photo: PETE MCGEE)