Close encounters

Entrants to Close-up Photographer of the Year 6, supported by Affinity Photo, share their stories and techniques with competition co-founder Tracy Calder

- Tracy Calder

Curiosity is a wonderful thing. Asking questions is how we learn, grow and make sense of the world. In fact, American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said, ‘I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.’ We are born curious: we explore objects with our mouths, push buttons to see what happens, climb furniture to get a better view of our surroundings. But as we grow, we often eschew curiosity in favour of knowledge. Sticking with what we know allows us to feel safe and means that we don’t have to deal with the discomfort that comes with challenge or failure. But playing safe stops us from growing and shuts down our ability to make new connections and discoveries.

For me, close-up photography is a celebration of curiosity. When we stop to look at a bee asleep in a flower, for instance, we start asking questions: do all bees do this? How long do they sleep for? What is the best way to photograph this insect? Every question leads to another, and every question nudges us off the learning plateau. There is no safety here, but there is wonder, excitement and joy. Every year I am fortunate enough to spend time with scientists, editors, naturalists, journalists and photographers while judging Close-up Photographer of the Year, and every year I show my ignorance by asking questions about colour-changing spiders, bat migration and bokeh. None of them seem to mind my endless curiosity; or if they do, they are too polite to show it.

This year more than 11,000 pictures were entered into 11 categories. Svetlana Ivanenko took the overall title with her incredible image of battling stag beetles, while Andres Luis Dominguez Blanco was named Young Close-up Photographer of the Year 6 for his beautiful shot of a bee-eater hunting insects.