Essay Competition Winners 2025

A heavy frost on garden flowers accentuates the textures on the petals and leaves

This highland cattle youngster seemed to be so relaxed without a care in the world and not bothered by the people passing by.

The texture of old tree trunks always seem to amaze

Textural. This is an image captured of a layered materials display at The London Science Museum. Taken in poor light conditions.

We were on a catamaran trip in Walvis Bay, Namibia. Looking around it seemed as if every boat had a visiting pelican or two, hitching a ride for the free fishy meal. The pelican on our boat stayed for the whole 2 hour trip and, never having been at such close quarters with these birds before, I took the opportunity to study it in detail. I was fascinated by the structure of the bill; the pouch seemed almost leathery and the bill was huge, of course. The bird preened extensively and I was struck by the different formations of its feathers, stiff for the wing feathers, but in comparison the body feathers were quite soft and downy, and the delicate way in which it used its bill to separate the breast feathers gave me a great opportunity for a close-up.

It always amazes me how a ball of yarn wrapped round two needles and a little know how can be transformed into hundreds of different textured patterns.

I just had to take a photo of the knots on the wood of a garden fence near my home in Dorking. It was so like a bizarre face!

The beautiful fine texture of a butterfly. This one is the uncommon Wall butterfly, seen in Kent last Summer.

Texture - seeds and flesh of a Butternut Squash

In the autumn, my wife can be found in the back garden, on her hands and knees, removing the abundance of sycamore seeds that fall in vast numbers. She missed these that had landed on a little rockery. I've been fascinated to observe their slow decay. Using a macro lens, I have been able to bring out the intricate detail in their structure.

Morning sky at sunrise, this is part of a larger image and shows a large variation in colour and texture.

This is an artichoke flower taken in Rowallane NT

Just looking at the cracked ice around this puddle seemed to lower the temperature several degrees!

Close up of a mute swan's foot showing remarkable texture and detail.

I thought the soft petals of this flower against the harsh, rough volcanic stones in Tenerife, provided an interesting contrast of textures for this photograph.