Scientific researchers sometimes can’t help but pause to look up and admire the beauty of their field sites. Luckily, it sometimes happens when they have a camera in hand. Here, we feature some photos from scientists at work in the mountains of Honduras, vacationing abroad in the Maasai Mara, or just trying to take a ride in a boat. Though researchers often have to chase down wild animals for their photos, sometimes the animals just get in the way of the lens and wait to be photographed.

The images come from the eleventh annual contest held by LSA’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, in which faculty, students, and staff submit photos they’ve taken during the year and vote for the winners. The contest honors the memory of EEB’s “photographer at large,” David Bay, a staff member for 35 years who passed away in 2009.