The total winner and runners up of this 12 months’s Close-up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) have been revealed, with the highest prize going to Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon for his gorgeous picture of a cauliflower tender coral, captured in Indonesia.
Now in its seventh version, CUPOTY shines a light-weight on the extraordinary worlds typically hidden in plain sight, utilizing the ability of macro, micro and close-up pictures to remodel how we see nature.
This 12 months’s competitors attracted greater than 12,000 entries from 63 international locations, with a panel of twenty-two professional photographers, naturalists and editors deciding on the winners and Top 100 pictures throughout 11 classes.
“This was the toughest competition yet,” says CUPOTY’s co-founder Tracy Calder. “The winning image embodies everything close-up photography can achieve – it shows us a perspective we’ve never seen before and reveals hidden beauty in a familiar subject. The judges were captivated.”
Close-up Photographer of the Year gallery
Invertebrate Portrait, 1st Place – Good Boy by Laurent Hesemans
“I love any opportunity to spend time with members of the Bombycid family,” says Hesemans. “Incredibly photogenic, the large eyes and antenna positions of these moths always lend their portraits a somewhat melancholy feeling.” – Photo Credit: Laurent Hesemans / CUPOTY
Insects, 1st Place – Blue Army by Imre Potyó
Danube mayflies (Ephoron virgo) swarm in Szentendre, Hungary. – Photo Credit: Imre Potyó / CUPOTY
Insects, Finalist – Little Speleologist by Valeria Zvereva
A springtail (Collembola sp.) travels by the thickets of a fungus (Hydnum coralloides) on a fallen tree within the Moscow area, Russia. – Photo Credit: Valeria Zvereva / CUPOTY
Invertebrate Portrait, 2nd Place – Thomisus Onustus on Guard by Wayne Sayers
A feminine heather crab spider (Thomisus onustus) guards her lately laid eggs in Dorset, UK – Photo Credit: Wayne Sayers / CUPOTY
Fungi, Finalist – Entomopathogenic Fungi Taking Over Blue Bottle Flies by Raghuram Annadana
Blue bottle flies (Lucilia sericata) overwhelmed by fungi in Bengaluru, India. – Photo Credit: Raghuram Annadana / CUPOTY
Underwater, Finalist – Ghost of the Reef by Simon Biddie
A ghost goby (Pleurosicya mossambica) on coral in Marsa Alam, Egypt. – Photo Credit: Simon Biddie / CUPOTY
Insects, 2nd Place – Love Under the Stars by Valeria Zvereva
Mating video games of mosquitoes (Limoniidae) on a fallen tree within the Moscow area, Russia – Photo Credit: Valeria Zvereva / CUPOTY
Insects, Finalist – Bug Invasion on a Sunny Day by Bernard Van Elegem
Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) having fun with a snack in Afsnee, Belgium. – Photo Credit: Bernard Van Elegem / CUPOTY
Underwater, Finalist – Kraken by Andre Johnson
A juvenile sharpear enope squid photographed within the open ocean off West Palm Beach in Florida, USA. – Photo Credit: Andre Johnson / CUPOTY
Insects, Finalist – Parasitic Play by Raghuram Annadana
Banana skipper (Erionota thrax) eggs being parasitised by a wasp (Agiommatus sp.) in Bengaluru, India. – Photo Credit: Raghuram Annadana / CUPOTY
Young, Finalist – What Planet Are You Living On? Don’t Take Me! by Marina Gavrikova
A leaping spider within the Moscow area, Russia. – Photo Credit: Marina Gavrikova / CUPOTY
Insects, third Place – Gotcha! by Aleksey Molchanov
Reflections of reeds and a water bug in Bolshoye Krasnoperskoye Lake within the Leningrad area, Russia. – Photo Credit: Aleksey Molchanov / CUPOTY
Invertebrate Portrait, third Place – Fake Sun by Giovanni Vicari
A solitary bee (Amegilla sp.) sleeps on a dry stem at night time in Fiano Romano, Italy. – Photo Credit: Giovanni Vicari / CUPOTY
Arachnids, Finalist – Under the Peak byMinghui Yuan
A spider rests beneath its three-dimensional internet on Euphorbia neriifolia in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, China. – Photo Credit: Minghui Yuan / CUPOTY
Underwater, third Place – Featherhome by Luis Arpa
A crinoid shrimp (Laomenes amboinensis) photographed in Tulamben, Bali. – Photo Credit: Luis Arpa / CUPOTY
Insects, Finalist – Carry Mud Dumplings by Takuya Ishiguro
A wasp (Oreumenes decoratus) carries a mud ball again to its nest in Miyagi, Japan. – Photo Credit: Takuya Ishiguro / CUPOTY
Arachnids, Finalist – Veil of Renewal by Rafael Steinlesberger
A tailless whip scorpion (Amblypygi sp.) in mid-moult at Rio Nuevo Nature Reserve, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. – Photo Credit: Rafael Steinlesberger / CUPOTY
Butterflies, 2nd Place – The Invasion by Pedro Luna
Invasive field tree moths (Cydalima perspectalis) swarm in Ripoll, Spain. – Photo Credit: Pedro Luna / CUPOTY
Young, third Place – Emerald Glow by Jameson Hawkins-Kimmel
Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) within the photographer’s yard in Florida, USA. – Photo Credit: Jameson Hawkins-Kimmel / CUPOTY
Arachnids, 1st Place – Dinner byArtur Tomaszek
A lynx spider (Oxyopes sp.) feeds on termites in Hong Kong. – Photo Credit: Artur Tomaszek / CUPOTY
Underwater, Finalist – The Octomom by Gabriel Jensen
This Caribbean reef octopus aerating her eggs beneath the Blue Heron Bridge at Riviera Beach, Florida. – Photo Credit: Gabriel Jensen / CUPOTY
Butterflies, Finalist – Butterfly’s Powder by Gastone Pivatelli
A European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) stuns a small white butterfly (Pieris rapae) with blows of its beak earlier than consuming it in northern Italy. – Photo Credit: Gastone Pivatelli / CUPOTY
CUPOTY Overall Winner – Fractal Forest by Ross Gudgeon
The within a cauliflower tender coral in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. – Photo Credit: Ross Gudgeon / CUPOTY
