The Natural History Museum in London is a humbling place. Hundreds of thousands of years of natural history are condensed into the vast Victorian halls, allowing visitors to stroll through the past on a scale that is almost impossible to comprehend - an entire ice age squeezed into one staircase, or a corridor containing the evolution of man. It does make you feel small.

In comparison, stepping into the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year special exhibition feels like a spot of light relief. The subdued lighting of the smaller exhibition room is very different to the vaunting architecture of the rest of the museum, and the effect is calming.

Captivating, even. The photos are, as you would expect, magnificent. They are also accompanied by an anecdote from the photographer and a concise description of the pictured animal’s habits and habitat. It is like walking through the stills of a wildlife documentary, where the mesmerising spectacle of the animals is enhanced by the information being delivered to reveal an inaccessible world.

And this, for me, was the most compelling aspect of the exhibition. The power of photography to freeze a moment in time can transform the most mundane scenes into works of art. In amongst the expected catalogue of hunting tigers and lurking crocodiles were eye-catching portraits of the most everyday of animals. A fieldfare, for example, startled to flight out of a snow laden rowan tree, and photographed at just the right moment, when the subtle colours of its feathers and beak correspond perfectly with the muted backdrop. Such pictures offer an intimate glimpse into the beauty of nature, allowing us to savour a moment that would otherwise be over in a clatter of wings.

The photos are arranged by category, with the winner and runner-up accompanied by other highly commended entries. A particularly memorable category was the ‘Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year’. Here, competitors were asked to submit a small collection of photos which tell a story of some sort. The winning entry is especially bleak. Shocking pictures of the natural world being abused by humans culminate in a scene of illegal ‘bear farming’ in China. An Asiatic black bear lies sedated on the floor of a dirty basement, its bile being pumped slowly pumped through a series of tubes, with its forelegs outstretched in a parody of a crucifix.

Disturbing pictures like this are on display throughout the exhibition, reminding visitors of our species’ myopic contribution to declining fish stocks, diminishing rainforests and damaged habitats. While it may strike some as obtuse to include such a liberal sprinkling of upsetting images (we already know that man is damaging the environment, don’t we?), these pictures also encourage us to see the exhibition as a whole. The shocking images remind us of how fragile the environment can be, while the others remind us of what we risk losing.

Often, this means the visitor must draw links between seemingly unconnected pictures. A gruesome photo of shark fishermen severing the fins from live catches compliments a magnificent scene of a broiling Scotia Sea, Falkland Islands. Black headed gulls swoop and dive against an oily sky, playing above massive waves. The photographer’s anecdote tells of how his ship was battered by storms and in serious danger of capsizing, while all around the gulls were in their element. Taken together, these two pictures show that, despite our propensity to abuse nature, we are the outsiders when things turn wild.

The Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is held at the Natural History Museum, London, and runs until 11th March, 2011, open daily 10.00 – 17.50. Student tickets are £4.50.