Crawling Creatures: 16 Winning Photos Of Close-Up Photographer Of The Year ‘Minimal’ Challenge

The Close Up Photographer Of The Year (CUPOTY) contest has released the winners of its ‘Minimal’ Challenge, decided by the CUPOTY community each year and running separately from the annual main competition and with a different theme.

This year, it celebrates images with a minimalist style.

‘We asked photographers to show us work that fits the description ‘minimal’,” explains Tracy Calder, co-founder of CUPOTY. “Essentially, what we were looking for was clean, uncluttered images with few elements. What we got was so much more. Everything from stink bugs to springtails and plant seeds were put before the judges, each picture a beautiful example of how simplifying a scene can really amplify its message.”

CUPOTY, founded in 2018 by photojournalists Tracy and Dan Calder, is an annual competition organized in association with Affinity Photo to encourage photographers to slow down, enjoy their craft, and make long-lasting connections with the world around them through close-up, macro- and micro-photography.

The main competition is open for entries now. The Early Bird deadline is May 31, 2023. The final deadline is July 9,2023.

Hungarian photographer Ferenc Kocsis is the overall winner of CUPOTY’s Close-up Challenge: minimal, with a beautiful image of Danube mayflies in flight (below).

“Danube mayflies take flight some time in August for about a week, flying at nightfall for only an hour or so,” said Kocsis. “The important thing is to be there at the right time.”

“This female Danube mayfly, swollen with egg clusters, flies over the Danube River in Hungary and lays its eggs close to where it was born. The larvae that live in the riverbed hatch in April, and in the last stage of their development, in August, they fly for the last dance of their one-year life.”

The third place of the competition went to this mountain hare sitting at midnight during a snowstorm in Norway. ‘”It was a rough winter evening in the very far north of the country and, my goodness, I was chilled to the bone, waiting for signs of life,” said Stefan Gerrits. “This hare seemed to have goose bumps, which made its hair stand on end.”

“A spider had spun its web right in front of our attic window, allowing me to photograph it against the sky,” said Gabi Swart. “Due to overexposing, it appeares almost plastic and transparent as the spider’s web disappeared.’”

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“I love finding hidden details within ordinary macro subjects and this rough stink bug was no exception,” said Benjamin Salb. “I encountered it while out at 4 a.m. during a hunt last autumn. It was a chilly morning and the few subjects I found didn’t move that much. As a result, I was able to position the stick the stink bug was sitting on in the air to isolate it from the background and show off its complex details.”

“I found a colony of carpenter ants in the Black Mountain Nature Reserve in Canberra,” said Yicai Chang. “They kept shuttling among the leaves of a grass tree as if looking for a new food source. When one ant climbed onto one of the leaves, this simple but miraculous scene came into view. The ant, the leaves and the focal plane seem to be a split fraction of time. This perfectly fits with the theme that I was longing to express: the connection between nature and the universe.”

“This is not Earth from outer space, but the swirling body of an elephant seal,” said Alex Pansier. “A few years ago, I went on a photo tour to Antarctica with a stopover in South Georgia. The beaches were teeming with fur seals and elephant seals. This particular one was so relaxed I managed to photograph it quietly with some nice backlight in low key – my favourite style.”

“I love the beautiful trumpet-shape of the Calla Lily and wanted to create a minimal, uncluttered image with simple lines,” said Jane van Bostelen. “I found the strongest composition to be one where the tip of the petal was in focus and the rest was thrown out of focus using a shallow depth of field.”

“Walking with co-students of my photography class in the forests of Normafa, Budapest, during the fall looking for interesting macro subjects I noticed that the forest was full of Cyclosa spiders,” said Krisztina Macsai. “I searched to find one of these orb-weavers that would allow me to photograph it at this unusual angle.”

“This bird’s-eye view of an American crocodile was made over the Tarcoles River of Costa Rica, from a bridge,” said Lovre Culina. “Crocodiles are ambush predators and spend most of their time being still and waiting. My aim was to depict this incredible marvel of nature in its element, while leaving the viewer slightly unsure about what is being shown.”

Despite their painterly appearances, each Colour Study starts with a camera and a series of photographs of papers and colour acetates, layered three to five deep on a stack of glass shelves.

“The images are layered and blended in the computer to create abstractions that reference contemporary art, including pointillism, color fields, transparencies, collage and painterly techniques,” said Paul Gravett. “The hallmark of this experimental process is unpredictability and discovery, leading to startling and unexpected images that blur the boundary of photography and contemporary art, tricking the eye and testing our assumptions about photography.”

All the finalists here.