UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 00.01 GMT THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2015
Tadpole shot swims to first place in Royal Society photo
competition
***High resolution images and captions available on request from Royal Society press
office***
An underwater photo of a group of tadpoles silhouetted and seemingly flying against a bright
blue sky has won first place in the inaugural Royal Society Publishing photography
competition. The award celebrates the power of photography to communicate science.
The winning photo and all the runners up will be on display at Life through a lens, a free
Royal Society event on 26 November 2015.
Biologist Bert Willaert’s unusually angled shot, captured while the scientist and photographer
was snorkelling in a canal in his native Belgium, was chosen by a judging panel of expert
scientists, including a multiple winner in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition,
Professor Alex Badyaev.
The Royal Society Publishing photography competition was launched earlier this year by two
of the Royal Society’s biological sciences journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B and
Biology Letters. It celebrates the 350th anniversary of Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society, the world’s longest running scientific journal.
The winning photo was chosen from over 1,000 entries for giving a tadpole’s glimpse of the
world beyond the water — a surprising perspective of an everyday biological phenomenon.
Winner Bert Willaert, who is a biologist of amphibian evolution and an environmental advisor,
said:
“Clear water is hard to come across in the part of Belgium where I live, as a consequence of
eutrophication. Algae grows from the nutrients flushed down the drains in detergents and
sewage, clouding the waters and suffocating other oxygen-dependent life. When I noticed
these common toad tadpoles in the crystal clear canal I wanted to capture the chance
encounter from their perspective.
“The underwater world is only accessed by a limited number of people, and snorkelling in the
fresh water in Belgium I was surprised by the beautiful scenery and the silence. To conserve
the natural world I think drawing attention to the beauty of these ordinary moments in our
own neighbourhoods, including our own backyards, is particularly important. I believe people
will only conserve things when they know it exists — and how often will people have had
snorkelled in their own garden pond?”
Judge Alex Badyaev, who was a category winner in the 2011, 2012 and 2014 Wildlife
Photographer of the Year competition, said:
“To me the winning photo communicates the power of a common biological phenomenon
visualised in a new light, and from a perspective that emphasises the other half of the
ecosystem; the half we usually miss when looking down at a tadpoles’ puddle, but one that is
very much part of the tadpoles’ own view — the clouds, the trees, and the sky.”
Throughout the 350 year history of publishing at the Royal Society images and drawings
have been used in journals to communicate scientific findings and illustrate theories that are
difficult to get across in writing. In the 21st century Royal Society journals continue to publish
striking images, which have inspired the Royal Society Publishing photography competition.
Experts will be speaking at the Royal Society at a free event on 26 November where all the
winning photographs in each of the categories, Behavior, Ecology and Environmental
Science, and Evolutionary Biology will be on display.
David Maitland, award winning nature photographer; Neil Aldridge, best known for his
documentary photography of conservation issues; Claire Spottiswoode, competition judge
and Biology Letters editorial board member; and Sophie Stafford, wildlife magazine editor
and photography expert, will discuss their experiences of capturing nature and the
importance of images in communicating science to researchers and the public.
For further information contact:
Victoria Druce/Bronwyn Friedlander
Press Office
The Royal Society, London
Tel: 020 7451 2510/020 7451 2514
Email: Victoria.Druce@royalsociety.org
Email: Bronwyn.Friedlander@royalsociety.org
Notes to Editors
1. All winning photographs are on display online at
https://royalsociety.org/journals/photo-competition
2. Full list of winners:
Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition overall winner: Tadpoles overhead by Bert
Willaert, Belgium
Ecology and Environmental Science
Category Winner: Tadpoles overhead by Bert Willaert, Belgium
Category Runner Up: Ancestry. Dominance. Endangered by Martha M. Robbins, Germany
Category Specially Commended: Caribbean brain coral by Evan D’Alessandro, USA
Behaviour
Category Winner: Going with the flow: schooling to avoid a predator by Claudia Pogoreutz,
Germany
Category Runner Up: Smashing by Luca Antonio Marino, Italy
Category Specially Commended: Runs at Dawn by Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez
Evolutionary Biology
Category Winner: Fern with a drysuit by Ulrike Bauer, UK
Category Runner Up: Sand has scales by Fabio Pupin, Italy
Category Specially Commended: Fish louse by Steve Gschmeissner, UK and A baboon gets
lost in his thoughts by Davide Gaglio, South Africa
3. Judges for the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition:
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Professor Innes Cuthill – Biologist at the University of Bristol researching
behavioural and sensory ecology.
Professor Alex Badyaev – Award winning photographer and biologist at the
University of Arizona researching evolutionary developmental biology and
evolutionary ecology.
Dr Claire Spottiswoode – BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow at the University
of Cambridge researching behavioural ecology, coevolution, and ecology and
behaviour.
4. Submission requirements and more information about the photography competition
can be found here https://blogs.royalsociety.org/publishing/launching-the-inauguralbiology-letters-and-proceedings
5. Life through a lens: Celebrating science photography will be held on 26th November
to celebrate science photography. All wining photographs will be on display. For
more information please visit https://royalsociety.org/events/2015/11/life-through-alens/
6. For further information on the 350th anniversary of Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society visit https://royalsociety.org/journals/publishing350/
7. The Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship of many of the world's most
distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine.
The Society's fundamental purpose, reflected in its founding Charters of the 1660s, is
to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the
development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.
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The Society's strategic priorities are:
Promoting science and its benefits
Recognising excellence in science
Supporting outstanding science
Providing scientific advice for policy
Fostering international and global cooperation
Education and public engagement
For further information please visit http://royalsociety.org. Follow the Royal Society on
Twitter at http://twitter.com/royalsociety or on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/theroyalsociety .
Victoria Druce
Assistant Press Officer
T +44 20 7451 2510
The Royal Society
6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5AG
royalsociety.org
Registered Charity No 207043