About Us

Close-up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) was founded in 2018 by Tracy and Daniel Calder, a husband and wife photography team based in Winchester, UK.

We created CUPOTY because we’ve always enjoyed noticing the small things and believed close-up, macro and micro photography deserved a dedicated international stage.

Since launching, CUPOTY has received more than 60,000 entries from photographers all around the world, with winners and shortlisted images featured in media outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, The Times, Morning Brew and Outdoor Photography.

Tracy Calder

Tracy has spent more than 20 years in the photography industry. She worked for eight years at Outdoor Photography magazine, two of them as editor, before becoming Features & Technique Editor at Amateur Photographer. She continues to create content for both titles and has had words and images published in more than 30 newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian and The Independent.

Tracy is the author of Close-up and Macro Photography, published by Ilex Press and translated into three languages. From 2017–2025, she taught photography at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation in Sussex and regularly appears as a speaker at The Photography Show — her presentation on close-up photography ranked in the Top 10 most popular talks of 2020.

In 2022, Tracy's close-up series Plant Scars was awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society and exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery. Her photographic work has also appeared at the National Portrait Gallery, The Photographers' Gallery and the Royal Geographical Society.

Tracy launched her We Need To Make Things podcast in 2025, with the aim to kickstart your creative practice, stay inspired, and find the confidence to share your work with people who really need to see it.

Find out more about Tracy's photography, podcast, workshops and writing at tracycalder.com.

You can also follow Tracy on Instagram – @tracy_calder_photo

Daniel Calder

Dan was a contributor to Black + White Photography magazine for eight years and sells his work via Saatchionline.com. He now puts all his energy into running Close-up Photographer of the Year.

Picture credit for Tracy: Sophie Lindsay