photomicrography Lauren Davis
First place: Eye of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) covered in dandelion pollen (120x) — reflected light. By Ralph Claus Grimm, Jimboomba, Queensland.
Beauty is in the eye of the bee What’s the secret behind taking the winning image in a prestigious photomicrography competition? According to Queensland high school teacher Ralph Grimm, “It takes tons of patience, more than anything else.”
backgrounds,” said Eric Flem, communications manager, Nikon Instruments. “Judges had their work cut out for them in narrowing down from such a rich pool of applicants, and we are so pleased with the results.” Grimm was the lucky winner of this year’s top prize — $3000 to put towards the purchase of Nikon equipment — thanks to his stunning close-up of a
S
honey bee eye covered in dandelion pollen grains.
Photomicrography Competition has recognised
“I am a long-time participant [in the
the art, skill and scientific value of photography
competition] and have entered my work, I think,
through the microscope. When evaluating the
since 1999.
ince 1974, the Nikon Small World
The image beat out more than 2000 entries from over 83 countries around the world, which was quite a coup for the self-taught photomicrographer. “When I received the phone call that I won first place, I felt like I was dreaming,” Grimm admitted.
entries in the 2015 competition, the judges found
“I have always admired the first-place winners
themselves observing everything from chemical
of previous years, but never believed that I would
compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at
be one of them.”
biological specimens.
Grimm was especially aware of the fact that
“Each year we are blown away by the incredible
other entrants would have had “state-of-the art
quality and quantity of microscopic images
fluorescence and confocal technology available to
submitted from all over the world, from scientists,
them”. Yet the judges found that Grimm’s work
artists and photomicrographers of all levels and
demonstrated not only artistic quality but also
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