A photo contest organized by a technology company was marked by a close-up photo of an ant's face. The photo, which won the first place, attracted great attention on social media. Social media users who saw the ant's face could not believe that those images belonged to an ant. Photographer Eugenijus Kavaliauskas won an award in the competition with his close-up photo of the ant's face.
The photographer, who captured a remarkable shot of an ant's face, won an award in the Nikon photo contest that recognizes microscopic photography. Many found it hard to believe that the animal in the photo was an ant. That photo of an ant's face, taken at the microscopic level, won first prize. The image, reminiscent of a scene from a horror movie, made a big impact on social media.
Speaking to Insider, Lithuanian photographer Eugenijus Kavaliauskas said that living next to a forest made it easier for him to capture and photograph the ant, whose striking details of its face were featured in the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Contest. The picture of the ant's face, magnified five times under a microscope, bears little resemblance to what most people might think of when picturing ants: The face in the photo has sharp, expressive features, such as red eyes and apparently golden teeth, that terrify at least one person.
"There is no horror in nature," the photographer said in response. "I am always looking for details, shadows and unseen corners. The main purpose of photography is to be an explorer. I am fascinated by the masterpieces of the Creator and the opportunity to see God's designs." Kavaliauskas, who has won awards in the past for his bird of prey photographs, did not win the first prize in the competition with his exciting and unusual image.
The honor and the accompanying $3,000 went to Grigorii Timin and Michel Milinkovitch from the University of Geneva. Their winning photograph was a stunning portrait of the front paw of a Madagascar giant day gecko. The photograph of an ant's face, taken at the microscopic level, attracted great attention.
The horrifying image quickly went viral among social media users. Most people did not even think that this terrifying image could be the face of an ant.
