photo: © Svetlana Ivanenkoi - Clash of the Titans | cupoty.com
Russian photographer Svetlana Ivanenkoi has won the Close-up Photographer of the Year 2024 with her dramatic photo of two male flying beetles fighting in an oak forest.
Svetlana about her award-winning photo:
In summer, flying beetles (Lucanus cervus) fight fiercely for the right to mate for a short time. These elusive creatures live in oak forests, making them difficult to find. I traveled seven hundred kilometers to witness this wonderful event and I want to share it with everyone."
Svetlana will receive the cash prize of £2,500 (approximately US$3,000), a universal license for Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher Apps and the Close-up Photographer of the Year trophy. Her work will also be showcased to a global audience in the Top 100 online gallery on Cupoty's website and the eBook of this year's competition.
The 14-year-old Spanish photographer Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco is the Young Winner of the 6th Year with his vivid photo of a bee-eater in full flight with an insect in its beak.
"'I took this photo in late spring in southern Spain. I had previously observed bee-eaters with binoculars and so knew exactly where they would fly after hunting insects. This allowed me to strategically occupy a shelter so I could take a low angle to blur the foreground and background flowers in the photo. I have spent many weekends mornings in this shelter and watched each bird catch 15-20 insects per hour, giving me ample opportunity to see some attractive With a high shutter speed I was able to freeze the bird in flight, clearly showing the insect in its beak."
Andrés wins a Sigma 105mm F2.8 DG DN Macro | Art lens worth £700, a universal license for all three Affinity apps (Photo, Designer + Publisher)) and the Young CUPOTY trophy.
The ten category winners will receive £250 cash and a universal license for all three Affinity apps (Photo, Designer + Publisher) for macOS, Windows and iPadOS. The winner of Intimate Landscape will also receive a subscription to the photography magazine and community Frames, while the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in Studio Art will receive the Retouch4me Dust, Color Match and Portrait Volumes plugins.
The Dutch photographer Rob Blanken took first place in the Studio Art category with a photo of a crystallized mixture of amino acids resembling an impressive, imaginative landscape, for which he used a microscope.
Also became Piet Haaksma first in the Plants category. After a misty night in his Dutch garden, he photographed dew-covered mosses.
The first CUPOTY category winner from China is Yong Miao, with a beautiful photo of a damselfly in front of a waterfall in the Tianmushan Nature Reserve.
The seventh Close-up Photographer of the Year opened in May 2025.
More images can be seen in the winners gallery at www.cupoty.com.
View here: Winners CUPOTY 2025.
