The Jury
Show your work to the world-class photographers and editors that make-up our expert panel for CUPOTY 5.
Karine Aigner
Karine is the current winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. She spent nine years as Senior Picture Editor for National Geographic Kids magazine before starting her own freelance photography career. Karine is now an associate fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) and a member of Girls Who Click. She has been published in National Geographic, GEO, Nature Conservancy Magazine, WWF and BBC Wildlife magazines among others, and leads photographic tours across the globe.
Nigel Atherton
Nigel is the long-standing editor of Amateur Photographer magazine. After studying photography at Plymouth College of Art & Design and the University of Westminster he worked as a professional photographer before joining Amateur Photographer magazine in 1994. He was appointed Group Editor of the TI Media photography portfolio in 2013.
Sue Bishop
Sue specialises in flower photography. Her aim is to create an image that goes beyond a mere record of its subject and draws the viewer into the nature of the bloom. She has written three books about photography, and her work has been exhibited in London and around the UK. Sue is a lecturer, workshop leader, and co-founder of Light & Land, a company that organises photo holidays.
Tracy Calder
Photographer and writer Tracy is a co-founder of CUPOTY. She has worked on the editorial team of seven photography books, and is the author of Macro & Close-up Photography. Her work has been featured in more than 30 consumer magazines, and exhibited at The Photographers’ Gallery, Saatchi Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery in London. She is a former editor of Outdoor Photography magazine.
Jaime Culebras
Spanish nature photographer Jaime lives in Ecuador where he also works as a reptile and amphibian researcher. He holds a Bachelor of Biology, an MSc in Environmental Education and an MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation of Tropical Areas as well as being awarded in World Press Photo, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Big Picture, Montphoto, and GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, among others. Through Photo Wildlife Tours, Jaime runs guided trips in Ecuador and South America.
Matt Doogue
Award-winning photographer Matt is a passionate conservationist, tour leader, public speaker, outreach teacher and mental health ambassador. His work has been published in most of the UK’s leading photographic titles, and regularly features on the BBC’s Springwatch shows. In his spare time he visits schools to educate children of all ages on the importance of our natural world.
Guy Edwardes
Guy Edwardes has been a professional landscape and nature photographer for almost 30 years. As well as managing his own library of 250,000 images, Guy is the author of two books, including 100 Ways to Take Better Nature and Wildlife Photographs. He runs around thirty workshops a year, taking him to some of the world’s most spectacular landscape and wildlife locations, such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Iceland, Africa and many countries in Europe.
Wim van Egmond
Working in the limbo between art and science, Wim specialises in photomicrography and extreme macro. He often creates new tools and techniques to capture images beyond what the human eye can see. Wim is one of the most successful entrants of the prestigious Nikon Small World competition, having been recognised over 30 times and winning the contest twice.
Angel Fitor
Angel Fitor is a professional photographer and writer who has been specialising in marine and freshwater environments since the late 1980s. His pictures have been awarded in Wildlife Photographer of the Year, GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Big Picture, and Sony World Photography Awards. His work appears in countless publications. He also assists nature conservation NGOs, broadcasting companies and research teams including the BBC Natural History Unit.
Steven Friedman
Steven is an internationally award-winning fine art landscape photographer that specialises in the intimate landscape. He is also a master printer, often producing large-scale images. His work is represented by fine art galleries and is in corporate and private collections throughout the world. Steven is the co-editor and leading curator at Elements Magazine, which is dedicated to the finest landscape photography from around the world.
Viktoria Haack
Viktoria has a background in fine art and anthropology. This combined with her love for the natural world, brings a unique perspective to her photography. Her ethos is to tread lightly; observe and document the visual story within whichever genre she is working. Her work covers the fields of landscape, portrait, wedding, event, promotion, editorial, stock and photography education.
Ross Hoddinott
Natural history and landscape photographer Ross has been entering, and winning, photography competitions since he was 10, so he should know an award-winning picture when he sees one. He is a close-up specialist focusing on insects and wild plants, and has written numerous books on the subject. He also runs landscape photography workshops via Dawn 2 Dusk Photography.
Brendan ‘Cygnus’ James
Brendan is a professional macro photographer based in the far north tropics of Australia and is on a quest to find the strangest little creatures around the world. He is obsessed with lighting and composition and invented the Cygnustech Macro Diffuser, selling them globally to other macro aficionados. Brendan is at the centre of the macro community on Instagram having amassed over 33,000 followers.
David Maitland
With a PhD in Zoology, nature photographer David combines art and academic research to produce stunning macro and super-macro images. He has been a full-time photographer since 2006, and won European Wildlife Photographer of the Year just two years later. David loves to capture intricate details of the creatures he encounters, and to celebrate the beauty and wonder of nature.
Scott Portelli
Scott is a wildlife, nature and underwater photographer and film-maker with an impressive list of awards to his name, including overall winner of the Australian Geographic Nature POTY 2021, category winner of GDT Nature POTY 2021 and overall winner of the Bio Photo Contest 2021. Scott has spent thousands of hours in remote locations filming and photographing wildlife, the underwater environment, and wild places with a focus on conservation and education.
Sadie Quarrier
Sadie Quarrier is the Director of Photography at National Geographic where she manages a large photo staff and oversees the assignment, production, and acquisition of photography across print and digital platforms. Previously, she was the Deputy Director of Mobile Storytelling where she oversaw producers creating engaging, mobile–first stories and videos. From 2002-2019, Sadie was a Sr. Photo Editor at National Geographic magazine.
Bart Somers
Bart Somers founded Insectguru on Instagram in 2016 with the idea of featuring daily photos and facts about Arthropods. After more than 3,000 posts and 229K followers, it's become one of the largest and most highly-respected macro hubs on the platform. As a nature enthusiast, Bart enjoys giving photographers a place to showcase their work, while showing people how beautiful and delicate nature is.
Georgina Steytler
Georgina is an Australian nature photographer with a passion for birds, ethics and conservation. After giving up her corporate job to pursue her passion in photography, she has spent over 10 years working to produce images for conservation organisations across Australia (for free), as well as teaching the art and ethics of bird photography through workshops, talks and articles. She has won numerous national and international awards and in November 2021 her book, For the Love of Birds, was published by Australian Geographic.
Rachael Talibart
Rachael is a professional seascape and coastal photographer represented by galleries in Europe and the USA. Her work is frequently exhibited and her limited edition prints are collected internationally. She is the author of three monographs and regularly writes for photography magazines. Rachael owns f11 Workshops, providing location and online photography training and she leads international photography tours for Ocean Capture.
Robert Thompson
One of Ireland’s foremost nature photographers, Robert is an acclaimed specialist in close-up and macro photography, and an active conservationist. He has a particular interest in dragonflies, butterflies and moths, and has worked on many high-profile natural history recording projects around the UK. He is a frequent contributor to the photographic press.
Keith Wilson
Award-winning editor and photojournalist Keith Wilson has more than 30 years of experience in the publishing industry. Keith spent nine years as editor of Amateur Photographer, before launching Outdoor Photography, B+W Photography, and Wild Planet Photo magazines. He is a sought after editor of fine-art photography books, specialising in wildlife, landscape and the environment.
Picture credit: © Martin Hartley
Tom Gilks
Tom Gilks is currently the Picture Editor on BBC Wildlife Magazine and is responsible for showcasing the strongest, most innovative and compelling wildlife images he can find. After studying ecology at university, Tom worked for several picture agencies and freelanced as a picture researcher with various magazines before spending three years living in East Africa working as a photographer, mainly with NGOs.
Ailsa McWhinnie
Ailsa McWhinnie has worked in photographic publishing for nearly 30 years. She edited Black & White Photography magazine for its first six years, and co-wrote and edited the best-selling Complete Photography Manual. Ailsa currently project manages the Amateur Photographer of the Year competition and retains the same passion for photography she had when she first picked up an Olympus OM-10 at the age of 16.