The Wildest Shot: Inside Nature's Best Photography

For photographer Megan Lorenz, the most compelling shots are those intimate moments animals share undisturbed in nature. Waiting morning to night on a rock on the Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland, Lorenz's submission to the Nature's Best Photography contest captures the perfect moment where a romantic puffin bestows a wild iris upon its mate.

Last year during a hike under clear Alaskan skies, photographer Cheryl Opperman stumbled upon a flock of dall sheep native to the region. Their unpredictable behavior led to her capturing a tender moment worthy of the Nature's Best Photography award.

While on vacation in Pelican Island, Florida, Spencer Cox woke up early to take photos of dragonflies. Following one, a lizard caught his eye, and with a knack for composition and lighting, Cox captured a delicate moment that earned him the Youth Photographer of the Year award in the Nature's Best Photography competition.

After a particularly tough trip to Montana's Glacier National Park, Thomas Haney was ready to call it quits and head back home. But a sunrise view of Lake McDonald proved too serene to abandon, and Haney captured his award-winning shot for Nature's Best Photography as the light broke through the clouds.

Tin Man Lee always wanted to see a bear in its natural habitat--and he spent six days in the Alaskan wilderness at Katmai National Park before he got a chance. By submerging himself in icy water with the camera lens barely above the surface, Lee captured the majesty of a wild bear hunting salmon that won him a Nature's Best Photography prize.

When photographer Sally Eagle filmed a jaguar stalking a caiman in the Panantal of Brazil, she became a witness to nature in its purest form. Her award-winning video from the Nature's Best Photography competition captures an apex predator in the moment of a lifetime.