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The 2025 Close‑Up Photographer of the Year proves one thing loud and clear: the tiniest details can tell the biggest stories. This international competition is all about pulling back the curtain on the hidden wonders of our world through macro, micro, and close-up photography—and this year, it absolutely delivered.
The seventh edition drew over 12,000 entries from 63 countries, turning the judging process into a serious marathon. A powerhouse jury of 22 expert photographers, naturalists, and editors spent more than 20 hours on Zoom calls debating, zooming, and scrutinizing every pixel to select the winners and the Top 100 images. Yeah, it got intense.
The final winning collection spans 11 diverse categories, and the subjects are straight-up mind-blowing. We’re talking frog spawn that looks like a swirling galaxy, a ghostly cloud of mayflies floating toward a Hungarian town, and an ice-wrapped tree standing silent in Nagano, Japan. Some images even blur the line between science and fantasy—like surreal landscapes created by oxidizing a simple copper plate using everyday household materials.
Taking home the grand prize is Ross Gudgeon, whose image Fractal Forest feels like a sci-fi dream. Shot underwater inside a cauliflower soft coral in Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait, the image earned him the top honor and a £2,500 prize.
The future of photography also shines bright. Rithved Girish, just 14 years old, won Young Photographer of the Year for his powerful image Stingless Bee Nest in Mezhathur. The photo captures a perfectly engineered hive entrance—built from wax, resin, and mud—guarded by alert bees protecting their tiny world with big determination.
These 33 winning photos remind us that magic isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s hiding in plain sight—waiting for a curious eye to get close enough.
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#1. Close-up Photographer of the Year 7, Overall winner & Underwater winner: "Fractal Forest" by Ross Gudgeon
"The inside of a cauliflower soft coral in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia."
#2. Underwater – 2nd Place: "Ethereal Frogfish" by Daniel Sly
"An orange painted frogfish (Antennarius pictus) on the black volcanic sands of Lembeh Strait, Indonesia."
#3. Underwater – 3rd place: "Featherhome" by Luis Arpa
"A crinoid shrimp (Laomenes amboinensis) photographed in Tulamben, Bali."
#4. Animals – Winner: "Amphibian Galaxy" by Filippo Carugati
"A Malagasy frog (Guibemantis sp.) egg clutch hangs on a small trunk next to a pond in Maromizaha rainforest, Madagascar."
#5. Animals – 2nd Place: "Inside the Pack" by Amit Eshel
"Arctic wolves on the sea ice in a frozen fjord on Ellesmere Island, Canada."
#6. Animals – 3rd place: "Spider Web" by Bence Máté
"A Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) approaches a spider’s web in Kiskunság National Park, Hungary."
#7. Insects – Winner: "Blue Army" by Imre Potyó
"Danube mayflies (Ephoron virgo) swarm in Szentendre, Hungary."
#8. Insects – 2nd Place: "Love Under the Stars" by Valeria Zvereva
"Mating games of mosquitoes (Limoniidae) on a fallen tree in Moscow region, Russia."
#9. Insects – 3rd place: "Gotcha!" by Aleksey Molchanov
"Reflections of reeds and a water bug moving through water in Bolshoye Krasnoperskoye Lake, Leningrad Region, Russia."
#10. Plants – Winner: "Rebirth from Destruction" by Minghui Yuan
"Decaying lotus leaves and floating fern (Salvinia natans) in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, China."
#11. Plants – 2nd Place: "Love Poem" by Alex Pansier
"A single, heart-shaped leaf drifting over rhythmic water reflections in Den Bosch, The Netherlands."
#12. Plants – 3rd place: "In the Embrace of Shadows" by Tibor Litauszki
"Two lady’s-slipper orchids (Cypripedium sp.) shining in the sunset in Germany."
#13. Fungi & Slime Moulds – Winner: "Mushroom in the ‘Nude’ Style" by Valeria Zvereva
"Fragment of the lower part of the cap of a lamellar mushroom in Moscow region, Russia."
#14. Fungi & Slime Moulds – 2nd Place: "Cribraria Cluster" by Barry Webb
"A cluster of 1.5mm tall, immature Cribraria rufa slime moulds in ancient woodland, South Buckinghamshire, England."
#15. Fungi & Slime Moulds – 3rd place: "Twilight of the Gods" by Cédric Rousseau
"A group of fungi (Mycena sp.) growing on the forest floor in Raismes–Saint-Amand forest, northern France."
#16. Butterflies & Dragonflies – Winner: "Butterfly Flash" by Pål Hermansen
"A Camberwell beauty (Nymphalis antiopa) flashes its wings to defend its feeding spot on a birch tree trunk in Follo, Norway."
#17. Butterflies & Dragonflies – 2nd Place: "The Invasion" by Pedro Luna
"Invasive box tree moths (Cydalima perspectalis) swarm in Ripoll, Spain."
#18. Butterflies & Dragonflies – 3rd place: "Damselfly Alphabet Calligraphy" by Dmitrii Melguno
"A beautiful demoiselle damselfly (Calopteryx virgo) takes off from a reed in the surroundings of Gatchina, Russia"
#19. Arachnids – Winner: "Dinner" by Artur Tomaszek
"A lynx spider (Oxyopes sp.) feeds on a few termites in Hong Kong."
#20. Arachnids – 2nd Place: "I Feel I’m Being Watched" by Guillaume Correa Pimpao
"A whip spider (Amblypygi sp.) observes an explorer from a cave wall in the municipality of Ouanary, French Guiana"
#21. Arachnids – 3rd place: "Gymnast" by Anirban Dutta
"A twig spider hangs from a web thread surrounded by tiny flies in Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India."
#22. Invertebrate Portrait – Winner: "Good Boy" by Laurent Hesemans
"A moth (Bombycidae sp.) in Tinamaste, Costa Rica."
#23. Invertebrate Portrait – 2nd Place: "Thomisus Onustus on Guard" by Wayne Sayers
"A female heather crab spider (Thomisus onustus) guards her recently laid eggs in Dorset, UK"
#24. Invertebrate Portrait – 3rd place: "Fake Sun" by Giovanni Vicari
"A solitary bee (Amegilla sp.) sleeps on a dry stem at night in Fiano Romano, Italy."
#25. Intimate Landscape – Winner: "Dreamy State" by Sho Hoshino
"A tree covered with rime ice in Nagano Prefecture, Japan."
#26. Intimate Landscape – 2nd Place: "Yacht Betsy B, Gairloch Harbour" by Grant Bulloch
"The hull of a yacht in Gairloch, Scotland."
#27. Intimate Landscape – 3rd place: "Windswept" by Mike Weinhold
"Fallen pine tree branch in Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsborough State Forest, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA."
#28. Studio Art – Winner: "Copper Works" by Paul Kenny
"A copper plate distressed and oxidised by everyday household materials."
#29. Studio Art – 2nd Place: "Cymatic Pattern" by Elizabeth Kazda
"A cymatic pattern with five-fold symmetry at 19Hz in the photographer’s home studio."
#30. Studio Art – 3rd place: "Extended Tones" by Matt Vacca
"Liquids sculptures in the photographer’s studio."
#31. Young (Under 18s) Young Close-up Photographer of the Year: "Guardians of the Hive" by Rithved Girish (14 years old)
"Stingless bee (likely Tetragonula sp.) nest in Mezhathur, Kerala, India."
#32. Butterflies & Dragonflies – 2nd Place: "In the Rain" by Gaspard Buriez (17 years old)
"Four-spotted chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) in Bourgoin-Jallieu, France."
#33. Butterflies & Dragonflies – 3rd place: "Emerald Glow" by Jameson Hawkins-Kimmel (14 years old)
"Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) in the photographer’s backyard, Florida, USA."
In Summary
What is Close-Up Photographer of the Year?
- It’s an international photography competition focused on macro, micro, and close-up imagery that reveals hidden details of the world.
How many entries were submitted in 2025?
- Over 12,000 entries from 63 countries.
Who won the overall prize in 2025?
- Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon won the grand prize for Fractal Forest.
Who won Young Photographer of the Year?
- Rithved Girish, a 14-year-old photographer from India.
What kinds of subjects won this year?
- Nature, insects, abstract textures, wildlife behavior, and experimental close-up scenes.
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