40 Stunning Photographs of Nature, Up Close and Personal
The breathtaking results of this year’s Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition
The winners of the second annual Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition were chosen from over 6,500 submissions from 52 different countries. The competition seeks to reward the very best close-up, macro, and micro photographs that “help us see the world anew,” and this year it awarded prizes in multiple categories, including “Animals,” “Insects,” “Plants and Fungi,” “Micro,” “Intimate Landscape,” and “Young.”
The overall winner was a photograph by French marine molecular ecology professor Galice Hoarau, who captured a stunning image of eel larva near the Indonesian island of Lembeh during a blackwater dive. Each of the featured images uses close-up photography to show the natural world in a new light, uncovering the hidden beauty of plants, animals, and natural phenomena that are often ignored or neglected. The following photographs are selected from among the top 100 contest winners.
“Running on Water” by Svetlana Ivanenko
Finalist, “Animals”
Raft spiders can be found in bogs and pools, but they also inhabit the water margins of ditches, ponds and slow-moving streams. To catch prey, they “walk” on water with their appendages outstretched, sensing vibrations that will help them to detect potential victims. I found this lovely specimen on the surface of a marshy pool in Plesheevo Lake National Park, Yaroslavl region, Russia.
“Red-spotted Newt Courtship Behavior Underwater” by Steven David Johnson
Finalist, “Animals”
I made this image in the early days of a long-term series about vernal pool life and the fascinating creatures that inhabit temporary ponds in the southern Appalachian Mountains and…
