Town & Country
Bug-eyed photography
ALTHOUGH creepy crawlies may not be loved by everyone (certainly not by me), they do know how to pose for a photograph. Last week, the winners of the inaugural Luminar Bug Photography Awards were announced, with Mofeed Abu Shalwa from Saudi Arabia winning the title ‘Luminar Bug Photographer of the Year 2020’, thanks to his image of the intimidating red palm weevil. The UK’s Jamie Spensley was crowned ‘Luminar Young Bug Photographer of the Year’ for his Carder Bee.
Mr Abu Shalwa began photographing invertebrates as a way of overcoming his phobia of insects, a fear he has comfortably beaten, and Mr Spensley, from Solihull, is aged 17 and in his second year at college studying creative media. They took home £4,500 and £1,200 worth of prizes, respectively.
More than 5,000 images were submitted from around the world and there were many worthy category winners, such as Christian Brockes’s photograph of an acorn weevil, titled 3... 2... 1... Take Off!, which won the Beetles category. Peter Orr’s Three Mayfly on Crested Dogstail took home the prize in the Flies, Bees, Wasps and Dragonflies section.
The competition
