x1-flight_bw1-1764980095

Flight Lines

Holly Kirkland

United States of America

x1-holly-1-1767794941

A flock of flamingos skims the surface of Lake Natron, pulling ribbons of sediment into delicate lines behind them. Their movement becomes mark-making — strokes and curves traced by feet and wings. In this brief alignment of light, behavior, and shifting sediment, nature creates its own calligraphy.

x1-inktrailsbw-1a-08162-1764979745

Bronze

Honorable Mention

Calligraphy

In the stillness of midday, with only a narrow patch of shade on an open plain, the moment felt both simple and precise — a brief alignment of light and form under a vast Mara sky.

x1-giraffetreebw-00856-1764979754

Nominee

Two Shapes, One Rhythm

An aerial moment of a zebra herd in motion, carving temporary paths through dust and shadow. In black and white, their stripes and dust turn into pure pattern—an instinctive geometry, fleeting and wild. This is the shape of escape, photographed from a helicopter at appropriate distance. Kenya 2025.

x1-zebras1ft-1764979787

The Shape of Escape

Photographed above Lake Magadi, flamingos lift off, their bodies forming loose diagonals across dark water. In flight, the flock becomes a study in rhythm—wings catching light in brief, alternating intervals crossing the frame. Movement becomes pattern, rendered in stark contrast from the air.

Gold

A giraffe calf stands beneath its mother, learning the contours of her presence and the reassurance of her touch. In the stark midday light, their overlapping patterns reveal a fleeting moment of recognition — early lessons that will guide the calf through its earliest days on the Maasai Mara.