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Photography

Motherly Sacrifices and Aquatic Angst Top This Year’s Ocean Art Photography Contest

As they care for their unhatched babies, female octopuses refuse to eat, causing them to die of starvation before their young emerge from their eggs. Kat Zhou documented one of these marine mothers as she was in the process of such a fatal sacrifice, and the photo won the Ocean Art 2022, the 11th annual contest hosted by Underwater Photography Guide.

Zhou’s image was chosen from thousands of entries submitted from 96 countries, and the intimate photo joins a collection that encompasses a vast array of aquatic life and antics. Two aggressive pike blennies go head to head, a frog flashes a peace sign, and a menacing parasite hunts for its next victim. Find some of our favorite images below, and see all of the winning photos on the contest’s site.

 

Photography Science

Nature’s Diversity is Captured in Minuscule Detail in the 2022 Close-Up Photographer of the Year Competition

Among the winning images of the Close-Up Photographer of the Year contest, a frilly slime mold stems from leaves, elegant insects splay colorful wings, and microscopic patterns create vivid abstractions. Now in its fourth year, the competition attracted more than 9,000 entries from 54 countries.

The overall winner of this year’s competition was captured by Samantha Stephens and glimpses two tiny amphibians trapped inside a carnivorous plant. She explains, “typically, these plants feast on invertebrates such as moths and flies, but recently, researchers at the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station discovered a surprising new item on the plant’s menu: juvenile Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum).” It was a timely capture; by the following day, the creatures had sunk to the bottom of the pitcher.

See some of our favorite captures below, and visit the contest’s website to view the Top 100 photographs of the year.

 

 

Art Dance Design

In the World of WearableArt, 88 Dramatic Garments Grace the Stage in a Spectacular Performance

Every year in Wellington, dozens of extravagant garments explode onto the stage for three weeks as part of the World of WearableArt competition. The annual performance is New Zealand’s largest theatrical production that highlights vast creativity translated through fashion and costume from around the globe. Of the 88 works from 103 international designers in this year’s contest, many are interpretations of the natural world with dried grasses pouring from sleeves and sculptural dresses mimicking coral patterns. No matter the materials or aesthetic, all of the garments have a flair for the dramatic.

In the 32 years since the competition launched, WOW has featured more than 5,000 garments on its stages, and it’s worth a visit to the contest’s site to peruse the archive.

 

Photography

The 2022 Landscape Photographer of the Year Contest Captures Stunning Environments Around the U.K.

From hazy lochs and grand mountainous vistas to water-side pedestrian paths, the 2022 Landscape Photographer of the Year contest highlights the vast splendor of Britain’s environments. Winners of this year’s competition encompass both the natural and human-made, showcasing a steam-engulfed train roaring across the Fellowman Crosses Ribblehead viaduct or a glimmering celestial sky above the limestone arch of Durdle Door.

The contest joins Network Rail for a traveling exhibition that will migrate across the U.K., starting with Paddington Station on October 31. Peruse the winning images on the competition’s site and by picking up a copy of this year’s book.

 

Photography Science

This Year’s Small World Photo Contest Unveils the Astounding Details Only Visible Under the Light Microscope

For 48 years the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition has garnered some of the most awe-inspiring and illuminated images of all that’s visible once placed under a light microscope. The 2022 contest continues the tradition with a captivating collection that exposes the minuscule details of life on Earth. Winning images zero in on the prickly hairs covering a daddy long-legs, the trippy patterns of a marine snail’s tongue, and the tessellation-like heads of a slime mold. This year’s top photos were selected from more than 1,300 entries from 72 countries, and you can see some of our favorites below. Peruse the entire collection on the competition’s site.

 

Photography

A Stunning Image of a Surfer Trapped Under One of the World’s Heaviest Waves Wins the Ocean Photographer of the Year

The 2022 Ocean Photographer of the Year contest highlights the vast array of colors and textures within marine environments. More than 5,000 entrants from around the world submitted to this year’s competition, with winning images framing the iridescent, billowing membranes of creatures spotted during blackwater dives, the speckled tentacles of baby squid, and a school of baitfish swirling into a choreographed pattern. The top prize was awarded to photographer Ben Thouard for his disorienting image of a surfer trapped under one of Tahiti’s infamous Teahupo’o waves, which are among the heaviest swells in existence.

Selected photos are on view through November 7 next to Tower Bridge in London, and you can see the entire 2022 collection on the contest’s site.