Widowed penguins comfort each other, photograph wins Community Choice Award

A picture of two widowed penguins comforting each other has won the Community Choice Award at Oceanographic magazine's Ocean Photography Awards 2020. The image went viral after the first coronavirus lockdown. Captured by photographer Tobias Baumgaertner, the image shows two beautiful penguins holding and comforting each other. According to the caption of the image, the two were standing on a rock for hours, overlooking the Melbourne skyline. 

Penguins comfort each other 

The caption says that a person came to the photographer and told him that the white penguin was the elderly one and had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male on the left. The photographer wrote that these penguins would meet regularly since then and it took him three days to capture the moment, without disturbing them. He wrote, “Between not being able or allowed to use any lights and the tiny penguins continuously moving, rubbing their flippers on each other’s backs and cleaning one another, it was really hard to get a shot but i got lucky during one beautiful moment. I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did”. He also revealed the details of the camera that he shot the image with. He used Nikon Z6, Nikkor 50mm 1.4, ISO 8000, 50mm, f/1.4, 1/60 sec. 

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Netizens react 

Completely awestruck with the image, netizens took over the comment section. One Instagram user wrote, "Thanks to the volunteers! Whoever they are. They are the ones who observed the behaviors of these penguins regularly". Another person wrote, "look at these penguins giving each other a hug looking at the lights". Instagram users can be seen tagging their friends in the comment section. 

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(Image Credits: Instagram/tobiasvisuals)