Young Photographer of the Year

Congratulations to the winner, runner-up and highly commended entries below. Our judges were really impressed by the way these images captured inspiration in the world of biology.

These images, along with all twelve finalists, feature in our limited edition 2012 calendar - available to buy from our online shop here.

Winner

Mother and child

Photographer: Olivia Brown

"The temple would have been deserted, were it not for a large troop of macaques frolicking in the rain. Upon spying the fruit we were carrying, we were soon surrounded. The only uninterested ones were the mother and child, sitting away from the throng and observing us.  The mother seemed so protective, adjusting her stance every now and then to shelter her offspring from the rain. I was inspired by the intelligence in the eyes of the macaques. She sat quietly on the wall, and for once I felt that I was the one being observed through my lens."

Runner-up

Macroscopic Motifs

Photographer: Waheed Arshad

"This is the centre of an Osteospermum sp. flowerhead. At a recent summer school I attended, we investigated phyllotaxis, as portrayed in the central disc of a daisy flowerhead. An interest in such mathematical patterns prompted my own discovery and appreciation of nature’s finer complexities. I spotted this fascinating gem in the garden and found the radial symmetry of the capitulum’s florets most beautiful. John Dryden wrote, “By viewing nature, nature’s handmaid art, makes mighty things from small beginnings grow.” The increasing exposure to life’s biodiversity has instilled in me an insatiable fervour and fascination that will continue to flourish."

Highly commended

The Blow fly

Photographer: Charlotte Maspero

"Most people overlook the small creatures on earth, the bugs and beetles, spiders and snails and indeed the fly. But if you take time to look at them, to study them, then a whole new world of fascination can open up. It’s exciting to be a biologist when there are 1,100 known species of blowflies alone, providing so much opportunity to study! Their complex eyes give them an almost 360' view that translates into a clear mosaic of their surroundings. Their shiny metallic colour of the blow fly transforms it from a household pest to one of creation's beauties.."