Photography Contest XVI: Finalists

By Matt Young

Here are the finalists of the 2025 photography contest. It was nice to see some old friends, though new names would have been welcome. With assistance from Our Wife and Harshest Critic, we chose 7, which we display below the Figurative Fold. We chose the photographs more on the basis of their pictorial quality than on their scientific interest. Any text submitted by the photographers has been omitted.

The finalists are presented in alphabetical order of last name. Please look through their photographs before voting for your favorite. Polling will close Sunday, July 6 (the 4th being a holiday in the US), at approximately noon MDT, and we will display the winner at noon Monday, July 7.

Please remember that this is a photography contest, not a popularity contest, and discourage your friends from enlisting others specifically to vote for you.

Photograph by Philip Abrams.

Eurasian jay
Garrulus glandarius – Eurasian jay, Chelsea, London, iPhone 15.


Photograph by Al Denelsbeck.
Ginkgo leaf
Ginkgo biloba – ginkgo leaf after a heavy rain, Canon 7D.


Photograph by Joel Eissenberg.
Damselfly
Archilestes grandis – damselfly spotted at the Denver zoo.


Photograph by John Harshman.
Anhinga (bird)
Anhinga melanogaster – Oriental darter, Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan, India.


Photograph by C. Joseph Long.
Sandhill crane
Antigone (formerly Grus) canadensis – sandhill crane, Bernardo State Wildlife Refuge, Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico.


Photograph by Malcolm Schongalla.
Caribou skull
Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus – barren-ground caribou, Russell Glacier on the West Coast of Greenland, June, 2022.


Photograph by John Trawick.
“Pride of Madeira” (flower)
Echium candicans – "Pride of Madeira," with Apis mellifera – European honeybee.