Close-up Photographer of the Year 7 Winners Announced
Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon has won the grand prize at the seventh edition of Close-up Photographer of the Year.
Fractal Forest is an extraordinary underwater image photographed inside a cauliflower soft coral in the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.
The image earned Gudgeon the competition's top award and £2,500 prize.
Fractal First | Ross Gudgeon
Ross Gudgeon on the image:
"Named for its cauliflower-like form, this soft coral is made up of countless small, rounded polyps that give it a puffy texture. I wanted to explore a perspective that isn't possible with conventional lenses, and an underwater probe lens allowed me to do that. By carefully threading the lens through the coral's branches without disturbing them, I was able to photograph the subject from the inside looking out, offering a different view of a common marine organism."
CUPOTY 7 attracted over 12,000 entries from 63 countries. A jury of 22 expert photographers, naturalists and editors spent more than 20 hours selecting the winners and Top 100 images from 11 categories.
The 10 category winners
ANIMALS
Filippo Carugati, Italy
Amphibian Galaxy
A Malagasy frog egg clutch suspended from a trunk in the Maromizaha rainforest, Madagascar, backlit to reveal the tadpoles within and give the scene a cosmic appearance.
INSECTS
Imre Potyó, Hungary
Blue Army
Millions of endangered Danube mayflies (Ephoron virgo) swarm towards the illuminated town of Szentendre, Hungary, in a spectacular seasonal event that lasted nearly a month in summer 2024.
PLANTS
Minghui Yuan, China
Rebirth from Destruction
Decaying lotus leaves and floating fern (Salvinia natans) in a pond at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, China, their skeletal veins creating a delicate lacework of purple and green.
FUNGI & SLIME MOULDS
Valeria Zvereva, Russia
Mushroom in the 'Nude' Style
The underside of a lamellar mushroom cap photographed near Moscow, its delicate ridges and curves evoking an artistic quality that transcends traditional natural history photography.
BUTTERFLIES & DRAGONFLIES
Pål Hermansen, Norway
Butterfly Flash
A Camberwell beauty butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) defends its feeding spot on a birch tree trunk in Follo, Norway, flashing its wings to deter rival insects attracted to sap leaking from goat moth larvae damage.
ARACHNIDS
Artur Tomaszek, Poland
Dinner
A lynx spider (Oxyopes sp.) catches multiple termites in Hong Kong, during a dramatic nocturnal swarming event triggered by sudden rainfall after a hot, dry spring.
INVERTEBRATE PORTRAIT
Laurent Hesemans, Belgium
Good Boy
A Bombycid moth photographed in Tinamaste, Costa Rica, its large eyes and antennae giving the portrait a melancholy, almost human quality.
INTIMATE LANDSCAPE
Sho Hoshino, Japan
Dreamy State
A rime ice-covered tree photographed in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, its dark intricate trunk anchoring soft pink tones created by morning mist and winter frost.
STUDIO ART
Paul Kenny, UK
Copper Works No. 25 – 2024
A copper plate distressed and oxidised using everyday household materials, captured on a glass plate with a scanner – part of a body of work inspired by the post-industrial landscape of inner-city Salford.
Rithved Girish from India scooped the title of Young Close-up Photographer of the Year, with his image of a stingless bee (Tetragonula sp.) nest photographed during a summer holiday in Mezhathur, Kerala, India.
At only 14 years old at the time of entering, Rithved is the youngest ever winner of the title.
Guardians of the Hive | Rithved Girish
Rithved on the image:
"These small yet remarkable bees had built their home using wax, resin, and mud, creating a tube-shaped entrance to safeguard their colony. The guard bees at the entrance remained alert, ensuring the safety of the hive from potential threats. No bait or attractants were used whilst capturing this moment, allowing their natural behaviour to remain undisturbed."
"This was the toughest competition yet," says CUPOTY 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."
The Top 100 images and all shortlisted photographs are collected in the CUPOTY 7 digital book, with full captions and tips from every awarded photographer.
See the Top 100 winners gallery of CUPOTY 7 at cupoty.com/winners-7.