Scientific exploration and its impact on our everyday lives is laid bare as the Science Photographer of the Year 2020opens today as an online exhibition.
Organized by the Royal Photographic Society, British photographer Simon Brown has been named Science Photographer of the Year for this stunning image of a shipwreck while Katy Appleton scooped Young Science Photographer of the Year for a unique image of a Rainbow Shadow Selfie.
This years competition also sees a new category dedicated to photos that reveal climate change.
This years Science Photographer of the Year is more relevant than ever before in documenting how science and climate change are impacting all our lives, said Dr. Michael Pritchard, Director, Education and Public Affairs at the Royal Photographic Society. The selected images are striking and will make us think more about the world around us.
Here are the four winning images to give you a flavor of Science Photographer of the Year 2020:
SPotY Winner (General Science) Orthophoto of SS Thistlegorm by Simon Brown
Image © Simon Brown. All rights reserved
Winning image: Orthophoto of SS Thistlegorm
Science Photographer of the Year in the General Science category goes to British photographer Simon Brown for his photo Orthophoto of SS Thistlegorm, a reconstruction of the shipwreck of a ship sunk in the Red Sea in 1941. Brown uses photogrammetryand 15,005 frames to give a straight down view, before being tagged with GPS data and merged with the others. Combining art with science is a perfect creative storm where data and visual interpretation come together and present a view of the world in a completely new way, said Brown.
Young SPotY Winner (General Science) Rainbow Shadow Selfie by Katy Appleton
Katy Appleton
Winning image: Rainbow Shadow Selfie
Young Science Photographer of the Year is awarded to Katy Appleton for her image Rainbow Shadow Selfie that captures the beauty of a common phenomena. Sunlight casts a spectrum on a wall having passed through a prism. The photographer cast her own shadow on the wall to let the spectrum shine more clearly.
SPotY Winner (Climate Change) North Pole Under Water by Sue Flood FRPS
Sue Flood
Winning image: North Pole Under Water
Science Photographer of the Year in the Climate Change category was won by Sue Flood for North Pole Under Watera signpost depicting the geographic North Pole at 90º North placed on sea ice largely covered with water. Climate change is real and polar ice is melting at an alarming rate, posing a serious threat to wildlife and humans worldwide, said Flood. I hope that many people will see the photograph and that it helps convey the need for urgent action on climate change.
Young SPotY Winner (Climate Change) Apollo_s Emissary by Raymond Zhang.
Raymond Zhang
Winning image: Apollos Emissary
The Under 18s Young Science Photographer of the Year in the Climate Change category goes to Chinese photographer Raymond Zhang for his image Apollos Emissary, a concentrated solar power (CSP) generating station in China. The image shows about 12,000 mirrors reflecting sunlight toward a central tower where it heats sodium nitrate salt. This goes to a heat exchanger, making steam to drive generator turbinessaving up to 350,000 tonnes of CO2 emission per year. I am very excited about winning and hope that more young people like me can start to pay more attention to climate changes, said Zhang.
Heres a selection of a few other images from this years exhibition that have the climate as a theme:
A polar bear Ursus maritimus standing on a tiny ice floe in the Arctic Ocean, a powerful symbol of … [+] the loss of polar sea ice due to climate change.
Sue Flood
Iceberg From Ice Shelf by Diana Magor
Diana Magor
Two boys try to rescue their potato crop from a field in Bamiyan, Afghanistan after a flash flood. … [+] More frequent extreme weather events in the country have been attributed to the effects of climate change.
Solmaz Daryani
Desertification by Siamak Sabet
Siamak Sabet
Cattle being led across a sandbar to seek water and vegetation. This image was taken in Gaibandha, … [+] Bangladesh, where the changing course of the Brahmaputra River has left many villages miles from fresh water for their herds.
Abdul Momin
Wildfires in California by Rasmus Degnbol
Rasmus Degnbol
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
