Penguins comforting each other wins best picture of the year – and deservedly so

"Flipper in flipper, watching the sparkling lights of the skyline and ocean..."

It was a picture that captured millions hearts around the world; two widowed penguins with their flippers wrapped around each other gazing at the Melbourne skyline. The picture instantly went viral when photographer Tobias Baumgaertner posted it back in March, and has now been awarded a prize at Oceanographic magazine's Ocean Photograph Awards 2020. When Tobias was shortlisted for the award he said: "It has been an honour to be selected as one of the five images and I cannot express my gratitude towards everyone who has supported me and my penguin image up to this point! THANKS A MILLION, you guys are the best!" The picture was taken at St Kilda Pier, Melbourne and apparently the penguins stood there for hours gazing at the skyline. The photographer shared the picture at the end of March, at the start of lockdown. The caption read: "During times like this the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love most. I captured this moment about a year ago. These two Fairy penguins poised upon a rock overlooking the Melbourne skyline were standing there for hours, flipper in flipper, watching the sparkling lights of the skyline and ocean." When he was taking the picture he was told by a volunteer who was familiar with the penguins that both penguins had recently lost their other halves. "A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left," he said. The volunteer revealed that the two penguins "meet regularly comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city." When he was taking the pictures, Tobias was with the penguins for a few days and documented everything. "I spend three full nights with this penguin colony until I was able to get this picture," he said. "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." What a beautiful moment to have captured.