07/22/2025
For just the second time in the 20-year history of the Wildlife in North Carolina Photo Competition, a youth category photographer has won the Grand Prize.
Henning Bergeton of Chapel Hill won this year’s Grand Prize with a photograph of a marbled salamander that he entered in the Youth 13–17 category. His winning photo was selected out of more than 1,000 entries and is featured on the cover of the July/August issue of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine.
Bergeton on his prize-winning photo:
"On a late winter afternoon, I was out flipping logs in a local forest to look for some common salamander species. I turned up a marbled salamander along with a few other species. To photograph it, I carefully placed the salamander on a patch of moss right next to its log. I positioned my camera to capture the sunset in the background and set my lens to a focal length of 24mm. It took a few test shots before I got the settings just right. After a quick photo session, I let the salamander crawl back under its log."
(Nikon D7100, Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18–55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, f/13, 1/100 of a second, ISO 400, Godox V860II flash, Modified LumiQuest Softbox III diffuser)
