2022 Photographer of the Year – we have a winner!

6 December 2022 Forests in photos

From International Day of Forests until World Environment Day, we asked photographers and forest lovers around the world to show us their best forest photos. We received 7,500 stunning images showing magical forest landscapes, playing animals and people living and working in the forest.

We are excited to announce that the jury chose Beate Magedin with her photo ‘Small Woods in a Big Forest’ as the 2022 PEFC Photographer of the Year!

“My husband, our dogs and I are nearly every day in the woods, and we love to be there and enjoy the peace and the sounds of nature. We together hold our noses in the wind and absorb the power of nature,” she told us.

“And while we are lying on our backs and on our bellies, we can see the small world of the mosses, ferns and horsetails and other ground covering plants which are as important for the life and the preservation of the forest as the large trees,” she continued.

“Most people photograph either the complete landscape, or the macro world. I do something in between.”

Photographer and jury member Lukas Prins loved the image. “There’s scale, there’s detail, there’s vignetting, which brings you into the picture,” he commented.

“It’s a fabulous picture and a worthy winner.”

We announced the winner in a Facebook Live session in which we discussed each of the photos in the finals. Watch it here! 

Our top 12 photos

Choosing a winner was not easy, as all our top 12 photos are gorgeous and worth seeing! Thank you to the thousands of photographers that took part in our contest, and a big congratulations to our 2022 PEFC Photographer of the Year and the other finalists!