"This was the first jaguar I'd ever seen, but I wasn't there to photograph one", admits HIPA 2025 category winner Karine Aigner

Photograph titled Jungle Keeper, by Karine Aigner of the USA, winner of the General (color) category in the 14th season of the HIPA (Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award) photography competition. Image description: In Yasuni National Park, a majestic male jaguar prowls through a clay lick in the lush Amazon depths, its muddy paws leaving soft imprints on the mossy bank. In the humid gloom, the jaguar's spotted coat gleams against rugged rocks and shallow, rippling water. Even from over 100 feet away, its piercing gaze commands awe, a rare public appearance before quietly slipping back into the dense forest.

Karine Aigner's photograph of an elusive jaguar in Ecuador saw her win the General – Color category in the fourteenth season of HIPA (the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award), themed 'Power'.

With a prize pot of US$1 million [£739,550/AU$1,490,000] HIPA is the world's richest photography competition so its category winners are able to fund upcoming personal projects.