The photograph that won
Owls' Road House shows barn owls, Tyto alba, in an abandoned concrete building at Hof HaSharon in Israel. Bechler worked in natural light with a Nikon D7500 and a Tamron 18-200mm lens, at 1.3 seconds and f4.8, ISO 4000. The long shutter is what produced the red and white traffic trails that cut across the frame while the owls stayed sharp.
The museum's competition gave him the Young Grand Title for 2023, the top award across the whole young categories, as well as the category win. Kathy Moran, the editor who chaired the jury, said of the image: 'This photograph has so many layers in terms of content and composition... It simultaneously screams habitat destruction and adaptation.'
A car as a hide
The method was as ordinary as the result was not. Bechler had spotted an owl at the building the previous year, returned with his father, and used the family car as a hide, a standard field technique that works because birds tolerate a vehicle far closer than a person on foot.
Nothing about the setup was expensive or remote. A roadside ruin, a mid-range camera body, a superzoom lens, patience and a parked car. That combination beating professional-grade expeditions is the part of the story photographers repeated most.
What the prize is
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is run by the Natural History Museum in London and is the largest competition of its kind; the annual winners are published in its gallery and toured as an exhibition. NPR covered the 2023 results on 11 October, showing the winning images and describing a set of pictures about both the beauty and the precarity of nature.
The Young Grand Title is the single top award for entrants under 18, drawn from tens of thousands of submissions worldwide each year. One image takes it. Bechler's did, at 17.
Where Carmel Bechler is now
The sources gathered here end at the 2023 award. No later exhibition, commission, study place or professional assignment is documented in them, and none is asserted on this page.
What can be said is that the image remains in the museum's permanent online gallery for 2023, where the technical data and the jury's comment sit beside it. That page, not a secondhand summary, is the record to check.
What is documented and what is not
Documented: the 2023 Young Grand Title and category win, the location at Hof HaSharon, the species, the camera settings, the use of the family car as a hide with his father present, and the chair of the jury's assessment.
Not documented here: his exact date of birth, his school, whether he has since worked professionally, and any prize money or equipment award. The museum's page lists his age range rather than a birth date, so this profile treats the reported age of 17 in 2023 as the firm figure and the birth year as an estimate drawn from it.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| P. Karthik | India | Winner, Doodle 4 Google India 2015, aged 9 | Age 9 |
| Elisabeth Anisimow | United States | Living paintings sold at 11 for $2,500-$5,000 each | Age 11 |
| Carmel Bechler | Israel | Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 | Age 16 |
| Andrea Dominizi | Italy | A beetle in the corner of the frame, logging machinery behind it, and a wo | Age 17 |
| Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas | Germany | Winning Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won the Young Grand Title, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023, at 17
- Winning image Owls' Road House, barn owls at Hof HaSharon, Israel
- Shot on a Nikon D7500 with a Tamron 18-200mm lens, 1.3 sec at f4.8, ISO 4000
- Jury chair Kathy Moran praised the image's layers of content and composition
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Exact date of birth is not published; the birth year here is an estimate from his reported age
- No documented activity after the 2023 award
- No detail on his schooling or any professional work
Questions people ask about Carmel Bechler
How old is Carmel Bechler?
He was 17 when he won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year title in October 2023. His exact date of birth is not published in these sources.
What did Carmel Bechler photograph?
Barn owls inside an abandoned concrete building at Hof HaSharon in Israel, with traffic light trails from a long exposure.
What camera did he use?
A Nikon D7500 with a Tamron 18-200mm lens, exposed for 1.3 seconds at f4.8, ISO 4000.
How did he get so close to the owls?
He used his family's car as a hide, having spotted an owl at the building the year before and returned with his father.
What prize did he win?
The Young Grand Title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023, run by the Natural History Museum in London.
Is Carmel Bechler on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article is recorded for him. The museum's gallery page for Owls' Road House is the primary reference.
Where is Carmel Bechler now?
No later activity is documented in the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Carmel’s story?
What is in Carmel Bechler's winning photograph?
What did he use as a hide?
Which institution runs Wildlife Photographer of the Year?
Sources
- Owls' Road House | Wildlife Photographer of the Year — Natural History Museum, 2023-10-01
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners show the beauty and the precarity of nature — NPR, 2023-10-11
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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