SA Museum: Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
A “beautiful and haunting” image has won its photographer the SA Museum’s top national competition. See the photograph and gallery of winners.
Broome-based professional drone photographer Matt Deakin has been named the 2026 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.
The Western Australian won with Ethereal Encounter, a ghost-like photograph of a critically endangered green sawfish swimming with a green turtle, captured in waters off the Pilbara in the far north of his home state.
South Australian photographer Dave Sanderson won the Our Impact award in the 23rd year of the South Australian Museum competition – Australia’s most prestigious nature photographic contest.
Junior winner Aaryan Dhakal from Victoria won the section with a moody image of a pelican, taken at West Lakes in Adelaide.
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“My drone was about 2.5km away, the light was fading and the battery alert was beeping, and then this sawfish came out of deep water and I just said ‘wow’,” Deakin said about his winning image.
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“It swam directly through four or five turtles – most quickly swam away but one stayed. I pushed the drone as long as I could to get the pictures.
“People keep asking me if it’s AI. That’s not an insult though, because it just doesn’t seem real.”
This year the South Australian competition attracted 2,129 entries from 501 photographers in 17 countries.
It was Matt Deakin’s first entry and his stunning image was snapped with a Hasselblad L2D-20c aerial camera mounted on a DJI Mavic 3 Pro drone.
The category winners:
- Animals in Nature: Colin Chan, NSW (Just in Time)
- Animal Behaviour: Nathan Watson, WA (Worm Wars)
- Botanical: Ben Alldridge, Tas (Alchemy)
- Threatened Species: Matt Cornish, Qld (Resilience – A fight for survival)
- Our Impact: Dave Sanderson, SA (Neglect)
- Landscape: Wayne Sorensen, Qld (Flicker)
- Macro: Georgina Steytler, WA (Insect Trails)
- Monochrome: Natalie Murray, Qld (Flight of Fancy)
- Portfolio: Lewis Burnett, WA (Our Island Ark)
- Junior: Aaryan Dhakal, Vic (Silent Grace)
SA Museum director Samantha Hamilton described Matt Deakin’s “winning image is both beautiful and haunting,”
“The picture is serene and the colours beautiful, but both animals are at risk of extinction,” she said.
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Hamilton said last year’s exhibition at the museum attracted nearly 25,000 visitors “and this year’s collection is just as impressive. These photographs have the power to inspire, educate and spark important conversations”.
Entries came from photographers Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea, with Arts Minister Kyam Maher praising the quality.
“Their work has captured the essence of the competition. The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year showcases the natural world and highlights the importance of protecting it,” Maher said.
A public exhibition featuring the 100 shortlisted images opens at the South Australian Museum on Saturday, August 29, and runs until Sunday, February 14, 2027.
A People’s Choice award will be announced in early January, and the exhibition then travels to Sydney, Brisbane and Kalgoorlie.
The overall winner’s prize was $10,000 and a cruise with Coral Expeditions while winners of the 10 open categories received $1500 each.
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