This month’s photo competition focused on water in all its forms. Taking the plunge, our readers entered a stunning array of images interpreting the theme. From floating droplets and dewy seeds, to the water-repellent legs of a water strider, this month’s competition didn’t fail to impress. Take a look for yourselves.
A pack of wild sun dogs
Taken on one sunny July day in Alaska, this arresting image won photographer Lane Jessup February’s photo competition.
The picture shows a silhouetted character framed with a halo. The halo is accentuated by the appearance in the atmosphere of www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/01/the-sundogs-of-stockholm.html “>parhelia, or “sundogs”. This phenomena results from the refraction of light through ice crystals at low altitudes in the atmosphere.
(Image: Lane Jessup)
Spider dew
In this image by Damon Clarke, watery dew clings to a minuscule spiderweb in the Dandenong Range rainforest, Australia. The web is so fine it is barely visible yet strong enough to hold the weight of many drops.
(Image: Damon Clarke)
Dewy dandelion
Photographs of dew proved popular this month. This shot shows dandelion seeds, whose surfaces provide perfect pockets for collecting the water condensing from the air.
(Image: Jon Grove)
Autum leaves
Beads of water sit on a fallen birch leaf as the autumnal light subtly illuminates this image.
(Image: Marco Mentil)
Tension
A water strider (family: Gerridae) walks on water, thanks to tiny hairs and a waxy coat on its long, hydrophobic legs.
(Image: Damon Clarke)
Tides of time
British photographer Oliver Tookey took a different approach this seaside picture, attaching his camera to a kite and using it to get a top-down view on the incoming tide. “This is one of my favourites”, he says, and our judges agreed. “I have no control over the camera movement so the results are random, but the pictures often reveal unseen patterns in nature”.
(Image: Oliver Tookey)
Almost water
This abstract image by Thomas Scholz shows water changing states as frozen snow warms and melts back into a liquid.
(Image: Thomas Scholz)
