ASFERICO 2012 the silhouette of some gelada baboons against the incomparable background of the Simien Mountains Highly Commended in the Mammals Category
His hairstyle, crowned by a magnificent mane, gets male of gelada baboon the prominence of the large groups of these primates. This exclusive inhabitants of the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia retire to sleeping ledges of the cliffs to get safety from predators. However their silhouettes with a golden colour because of the dawn breaking and the background of the Simien Mountains were the elements that I framed in my image which has been considered Highly Commended in the International Contest Asferico 2012 in the Mammals Category.
PICA D’ESTATS 2012 International Press Award given by the Lleida Provincial Council
I do not ever get used to the spectacular mountain scenery of the Aigüestortes and San Maurici lake National Park. A captivating and wild landscape which is always attracting the attention of the newcomers as much as those experts on mountain trails and nature visions.
The Lleida Provincial Council at its 23rd call of the International Touristic Press Award Pica d'Estats also has been mesmerized by this mountains because has given the Press Specialized in Travel and Tourism award to the story 'Aigüestortes and San Mauricio Lake. The Heart of the Pyrenees' published by the Spanish magazine Landscapes from the Train. In which my photographs have been published with these of Jorge Sierra and Quim Farrero and text of the journalist Use Lahoz.
NARAVA 2011 International Contest of Digital Photography. Honourable Mention PSA (Photographic Society of America) Nature Category
There is no doubt that Aurora Borealis arouses a great magnetism among the nature photographers. Juan Carlos Muñoz was eyewitness of their spectacular performance of the 2011 wintertime on the Icelandic boreal lattitude where he took this exceptional picture. As has been recognized by the PSA (Photographic Society of America) with an Honourable Mention in the International Contest of Digital Photography NARAVA 2011 Nature Category
At the same time another of his pictures, a river landscape with a suggestive aerial eye view, has become a Finalist in the Open Category
First Prize GLANZLICHTER 2011 The Art of Camouflage Category
The photographer Juan Carlos Muñoz has been awarded first prize in the prestigious GLANZLICHTER 2011 International Competition of Nature Photography.
Through this award he has received the highest recognition within the category ‘The Art of Camouflage’ with a photograph of a ptarmigan hidden among the snow and some bushes. First Prize GLANZLICHTER 2011 The Art of Camouflage Category
Photograph from the WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE project, prize winner in the GLANZLICHTER 2011 International Photographic Competition
“I had no doubt” states Juan Carlos Muñoz, “as soon as I checked the pictures of the red kites which I had taken on that cold day in Wales, I knew that this picture captured the magic of snow falling. It was winter and while the cold had half of Europe in its grip, and Welsh roads were blocked, I was there carrying out a mission on this species on behalf of the Wild Wonders of Europe project.
So for me, capturing the combination of the majestic flight of the bird with the beauty of the snowfall seemed a moment of intense visual experience. The jury of the prestigious Glanzlichter International photographic competition 2011 must have thought the same, since they chose it to be among their ten best photographs in the category ‘Artists on Wings’. Glanzlichter 2011 International Photographic Competition Category Artists on Wings
The chromatic simplicity of the taiga, Prize Winner in the GLANZLICHTER 2011 International Photography Competition
The bare birches of winter with their stylized silver trunks are hiding nothing... at first glance. But a Great Grey Owl, even with its remarkable size, can go unnoticed, although not hidden, among the branches. However, in the GLANZLICHTER 2011 Photography Competition they noticed it and awarded a prize to this photograph, taken in the Finnish boreal forests. GLANZLICHTER 2011 Prize Winner The Art of Camouflage Category
NAMUR NATURE Festival 2010 Jury’s Grand Prix EMOTION AILES International Competition
A miniseries of photographs by Juan Carlos Muñoz, chosen under the title ‘Brushstrokes of Nature’ was awarded the Jury’s Grand Prix at the 2010 ‘Emotion Ailes’ competition which reaches its climax during the Namur Nature Festival celebrated annually in Belgium. Jury’s Grand Prix Award EMOTION AILES 2010.
Highly Commended FOTOCAM 2010 Landscape Category
“It looks more like candelabras made of snow than a forest”, comments Juan Carlos Muñoz about his photograph, which was a prize-winner in the 2010 FOTOCAM Nature Photographic Competition. The scene was captured in a Finnish conifer wood. FotoCAM 2010 Landscape Category
First Prize ASFERICO 2010 Mammals Category
One of the most prolific prize-winners at the ASFERICO 2010 International Nature Photographic Competition was Juan Carlos Muñoz. His indefatigable work in the field of photography was recognised with first prize in the ‘Mammals’ category, thanks to a pair of musk oxen running across an autumnal landscape in the Norwegian tundra. ASFERICO 2010 Winner Mammals Category
He also obtained a second award in the same category with a photograph of family of proboscis monkeys in a mangrove on the island of Borneo, Malaysia. ASFERICO 2010 Finalist Mammals Category
Finally in the ‘Birds’ category he was also a prize-winner for his photograph of a little owl which passes unnoticed thanks to the twisted branches of an old tree. ASFERICO 2010 Finalist Birds Category
Fifth Prize EURONATUR Nature Treasures of Europe 2010
Euronatur, the most important foundation for the protection of European Natural Heritage, has awarded a prize to Juan Carlos Muñoz’s photograph showing two white-tailed sea eagles, deeming it one of the most striking images of European nature of the year. EURONATUR 2010 Awarded images
First Prize NATURE’S BEST 2009 Category Endangered Species
A lovely image of two young examples of giant pandas photographed in their natural habitat during a snowstorm by Juan Carlos Muñoz was judged worthy of international praise in the 2009 NATURE’S BEST International Nature Photography Competition, unanimously being awarded the First Prize within the ‘Endangered Species’ Category.
Thanks to this, the work has been exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History located in Washington D.C. in the U.S.A. NATURE'S BEST 2009 First Prize Endangered Species Category. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Exhibition
Second Prize BBC WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2009 Endangered Species Category
“I photographed this male pygmy elephant from a boat in the river Kinnabatangan, in Borneo, during torrential rain while he was eating hidden behind the riverside vegetation. My surprise was as great as his animal curiosity, on my part for having discovered an example of one of the most iconic species in world nature, because of its endangered situation, and he at seeing these human beings who weren’t particularly at ease as the heavy rain filled up their boat, putting the photographer and his cameras in danger,” states Juan Carlos Muñoz about his photograph, which was a prize-winner in the BBC WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2009 International Competition. It obtained the second prize, from a record entry of 43,135 photographs, in the renowned Gerald Durrell category for endangered species. The Museum of Natural History in London, organisers of the photographic competition put postcards on sale with the image of the pygmy elephant.
GDT EUROPEAN PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2009 Honourable Mention Landscapes Category
“To approach an active volcano is always an exciting experience for a nature photographer. All the more so if you can do it with a mythical volcano like Stromboli.
It is a unique experience, even allowing for the short time that it’s possible to remain near its crater because of the violent explosions,” states Juan Carlos Muñoz about his prize-winning image in the GDT European Photographer of the Year, 2009 in the Landscape Category.
First Prize MARIA LUISA Memorial MOUNTAIN AND NATURE International Contest 2009 Nature in Movement Category
The musk ox, with its prehistoric appearance, similar to a bovine creature, is an animal which passes most of its time grazing in the solitary pastures of the arctic world. Juan Carlos Muñoz declares, “For this reason, when I saw these two adult examples running, it seemed an exceptional photographic opportunity to me. The low speed and the autumnal colours of the bushes of the tundra are photographic elements which I included to reinforce that movement which reminded me of a stampede.” MARIA LUISA Memorial MOUNTAIN and NATURE International Contest 2009 First Prize Nature in Movement Category
Jury’s Grand Prix EMOTION AILES International Competition 2009 Festival NAMUR NATURE
The symmetry of two gulls on a frozen lake is the image by Juan Carlos Muñoz which gained the Jury’s top award in the 2009 ‘Emotion Ailes’ competition held during the Namur Nature festival in Belgium. EMOTION AILES International Competition 2009 Jury's Grand Prix.
2009 FOTOCAM Finalist Landscape Category
The FotoCAM International Contest 2009 has highlighted the common effort of flight of a flock of Lesser Flamingos that Juan Carlos Muñoz took of one of the Rift Valley lakes in Kenya. The amplitude of the angle of view and the wild sensation that comes from the blend of color and textures of the natural landscape display a picture free of artifices. Primitive beauty which makes so fascinating the continent of Africa.