CALL OF THE WILD

Nature’s Best Photography co-founder Steve Freligh ’71 on the deep impact of the living world

Growing up in McLean in the ’60s, then considered rural Virginia, Steve Freligh fell asleep with the whippoorwills and woke to the sound of the songbirds. In class at The Potomac School, he saw nature all around him as well. “Science teachers took us on trails. I collected tadpoles for Mrs. Foster’s science class and learned about rabbits and birds in the lower fields,” says Steve. From the moment his art teacher, John Hebeler, simplified the concept of shutter speed, Steve was capturing images and stories off the grid, eventually tracking grizzly bears and bald eagles from a remote cabin in Yellowstone. “The camera became an important tool in documenting my research and eventually led to me selling photos to magazines and traveling to places around the world,” he says. “I was hooked.”

After a college internship, he worked his way up to the role of director of photography at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the country’s largest private nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization. About 15 years into this work at the NWF, though, Steve went searching for his own narrative. In 1995, he launched Nature’s Best Photography magazine with his wife (and art director), Deborah, and with support from Nikon and an editor at National Geographic.

Thirty years later, Nature’s Best Photography is more than a visually stunning magazine: It has also become the host of a premier global competition, the prestigious Nature’s Best Photography International Awards, and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that gives shutterbugs of all levels and backgrounds a platform for their work while offering its audience an intimate connection to nature.

“What we have treasured over the years is the immediate and long-lasting effect that a single image or film instills, inspiring discussions, new perspectives, and a greater understanding and appreciation of nature.”

Below is a selection of Nature’s Best Photography past award winners.

American Bison and Calf by Lara Ferraro

Once widespread across the grasslands and prairies of Alaska and northern Mexico, herds of American bison at one point faced extinction from overhunting, railroad expansion, and policies aimed at restricting Indigenous populations. But the resilient, shaggy, horned beasts—North America’s largest land mammals, weighing an impressive 2,400 pounds— are now returning to their prairie habitats through reintroduction. Lara Ferraro snapped this photo of a bison and her calf one misty morning on her drive through Yellowstone National Park after waiting at a distance patiently until, from the sleeping herd, the hungry little calf awoke and started nagging at its mom for milk.

Atlantic Puffin and Wild Iris by Megan Lorenz

The beak of an Atlantic puffin, sometimes called a horny bill, becomes as orange as a parrot’s during breeding season. Megan Lorenz captured this “clown of the sea” in Newfoundland while perched on the edge of a cliff trying to overcome her fear of heights. When you slow down with wildlife, the unexpected happens. “I watched this puffin pull a wild iris from the ground and walk along the hillside toward me. He stopped for a moment, giving me just enough time to capture him with blue sky in the background before he dropped the flower over the side, where his mate was waiting at the burrow entrance,” she recalled in a story published in the magazine.

⌃ Polar Bear and Cubs by Daisy Giardini

Every February and March in Canada’s Wapusk National Park, polar bears emerge from their dens with their new cubs in minus-58-degree winds that can be unbearable for a human. Bundling up and shivering was a small price to pay for a moment like this for photographer Daisy Giardini. Growing up in Switzerland, she imagined herself as a veterinarian, but it was running her own accounting firm that freed her up to go into the wild with her camera before becoming a full-time photographer focused on the polar regions.

Giraffes by Thomas Nicholson ⌄

< Tundra Swan by Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin traveled to Oregon’s Klamath Basin to photograph bald and golden eagles. He left with this photograph of their prey: a swan escaping them in flight.

RING-TAILED LEMURS BY ANDY ROUSE

Lemur pups are playful and rambunctious, always curious about the environment around them—that is, Madagascar. Found nowhere else in the wild, these adorable, feisty little critters, which have an almost feline-like appearance, are now endangered after a population drop of 50 percent in the past 30 years. An estimated 2,000 remain on the world’s fourth-largest island, and Andy Rouse managed to find them.

EMPEROR PENGUINS BY STEFAN CHRISTMANN

Stefan Christmann left for Antarctica with a team of scientists to learn about climate and the ocean. He came home with hundreds of photos of emperor penguins, which found their way onto a desk at the BBC Natural History unit. Stefan was asked to join a three-person BBC Natural History documentary film crew to track a colony of emperor penguins for an entire year. These unique creatures, endemic to Antarctica, are the world’s largest birds and are born right on floating platforms of ice. But their homes are melting. Emperor penguins face the threat of extinction from the effects of climate change, making this photo even more incredible. “One of the most crucial moments during the emperor penguin life cycle is the passing of the egg [so the female can] return to the sea to feed and regain energy,” explained Stefan in an article published in Nature’s Best Photography. “If the egg is left on the ground for too long, the embryo inside will be lost. We found this emperor couple seemingly practicing the egg pass with a snowball instead of a real egg.”

Kit Foxes by Brian Clopp

The desert kit fox hides out so it can raise its pups away from predators in the shrublands of the Southwest and northern Mexico. These nocturnal animals, the smallest fox in North America at just 5.5 pounds, keep a low profile thanks in part to their digestive tract, of all things. Not requiring as much water as the rest of us—they absorb every drop they drink—keeps them safe. For this photo, Brian Clopp masterfully tracked down these little guys in Utah.

To see more, visit NaturesBestPhotography.org

This article appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of The Term.

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Nature’s Best Photography co-founder Steve Freligh ’71 on the deep impact of the living world

Nature’s Best Photography co-founder Steve Freligh ’71 on the deep impact of the living world

“What we have treasured over the years is the immediate and long-lasting effect that a single image or film instills, inspiring discussions, new perspectives, and a greater understanding and appreciation of nature.”

Below is a selection of Nature’s Best Photography past award winners.

American Bison and Calf by Lara Ferraro

Green Sea Turtle by Montse Grillo

Atlantic Puffin and Wild Iris by Megan Lorenz

⌃ Polar Bear and Cubs by Daisy Giardini

Giraffes by Thomas Nicholson ⌄

< Tundra Swan by Robert Irwin

RING-TAILED LEMURS BY ANDY ROUSE

EMPEROR PENGUINS BY STEFAN CHRISTMANN

Kit Foxes by Brian Clopp

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