2025 Photomicrography Competition

In Their Own Words

What does being a winner of the Nikon Small World competition mean to you?

Placing second in Nikon Small World means a lot to me. I have been taking part in this competition for a long time and it's always been a goal to place well. However, the competition is really fierce with so many beautiful images each year! I think it's really great to be able to compete as an amateur with professionals using microscopes for hundreds of thousands of dollars at high-end university labs. In the end it's always about creativity and passion and only partly about the equipment you use.

Can you describe in further detail (beyond what’s written in the caption), in a way the general public would understand, what is happening in your winning image?

In my image you can see a single drop of water with a high concentration of Volvox. They are multicellular algae where the single cells form sphere-shaped colonies. These colonies are the green balls you can see in the photo. What you can't see from the photo is that Volvox spheres can actually move! They have flagella and move towards the light. So there was a lot going on in that drop of water!

The idea behind the photo was to show how much life there can be in a single drop of water. The cannula serves as a kind of size comparison most people can relate to.

Why do you think competitions like Nikon Small World, and scientific communication in general, are important?

I think that competitions such as Nikon Small world are great to show the hidden beauty of the micro world to a broader public. While most people are aware of natures beauty in the macroscopic world like in rain forests or the savannah very few people know about the little world. Protecting and raising awareness for these little fellows is just as important as for example for lions or whales.

For myself, looking through the microscope is always like diving into a whole new world and never ceases to amaze me. And that is what I want to show people by my photography through exhibitions and competitions such as Nikon Small World. If everyone knew how beautiful even a muddy pond can be on a microscopic level so much less nature destruction would happen...

I think Nikon Small World is special for its long tradition and the amazing photographers taking part each year. It's an honor to be part of such an institution of the micro community!