First of all, a few words on what the “Environment Objective” special Sentry Award by SSI is. The “Environment Objective” special Sentry Award, established by the Italian Speleological Society from this edition of SpeleoFotoContest, aims to recognize photographs that best represent the themes related to environmental protection of caves. This award highlights the importance of preserving the natural beauty and biodiversity of underground environments, which are often threatened by human activities such as tourism, mining, and pollution. By promoting the “Obiettivo ambiente” award, the Italian Speleological Society encourages photographers to capture the beauty and fragility of caves while also raising awareness of the need to protect these unique and precious environments. Through their photographs, photographers can help to increase public awareness and appreciation of cave ecosystems, while also inspiring action to protect them. We continue now to discover the winning photos and the people who took them: from France, Christian Roustan with the photo “With hairy legs” wins the special SSI Environment Objective Sentry Award and the Biology category.

I am 61 years old and live in the south of France with my family. I am an electronics engineer at a small medical company. (I am a self-taught photographer) I am passionate about caving and have been practicing this activity since I was 14 years old. I soon felt the desire to bring images of this fascinating world to the surface and became passionate about photography. To share my passion for the underground world, I created several presentations at a time when the use of film and bulky equipment was the norm. In 1987, I won first prize at the International Festival of Caving Presentations. Then the years passed, I started a family and found myself very busy with my work and simply didn’t have time for photography. It was in 2002 that I bought my first digital camera, a small compact one. A few years later, I bought a Nikon D200 and it was after this date that I started taking many photos in caves. More and more motivated, I try to highlight the beauty and richness of caves with my modest images. My only ambition is to bring some images to share my passion for this world that I particularly like. More than photography, it is above all a human adventure. I really enjoy taking photos in caves, but in this activity, the images are the result of teamwork. So, I want to thank all my caving friends for posing, helping and simply sharing time in the caves. Let’s never forget that cave photography is a team effort and the photographer must be modest. Even if the team remains in the shadows, it is with them that everything becomes possible. A big thank you to all the teams that support photographers. That day, we had planned a macro session in a very well-concreted cave in the south of France. Just past the narrow entrance, while my friend was passing me the bags, I saw this little bat hanging on a string. We unpacked the equipment carefully and delicately without making any noise. After taking some shots of the entire bat and since our little friend was calm and not moving at all, we decided to try a close-up of its legs hanging from their tiny support. With the 105mm macro set to a 1:1 ratio, I approached gently, stopping to breathe to take some shots while my friend handled the lighting. Not wanting to abuse the bat’s patience, we put away the equipment to continue our photo session a little further. Undoubtedly, this unexpected encounter enchanted us for the rest of the day.