The winners of this year’s Royal Society of Biology (RSB) Photography Competition have just been unveiled, and the images are stunning.
The competition is about more than just pictures; it’s a vital celebration of biodiversity and habitat restoration, showing how our planet can recover when given the chance.
This year’s Photographer of the Year 2025 is Matthias Rueger from Vienna, Austria, for his image, The Jellyfish Lake. Taken in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, the photograph documents thousands of stingless jellyfish thriving in a protected saltwater lake.
After strict regulations were implemented to reduce pollution and manage tourism, the jellyfish population rebounded dramatically, resulting in a unique and peaceful ecosystem. Matthias described the location as "a unique place, of which there are not many on our planet. Hundreds of thousands of sensitive, stingless jellyfish live peacefully together in the lake, undisturbed by predators…Our planet is full of such wonders above and below the water. We must realise that these need to be protected, and so these sensitive areas must be treated with great care, and in a sustainable way."
What struck me most about Rueger’s image is the way it unfolds as you look at it: slowly, your eye wanders across the frame and you see more and more jellyfish, each one suspended in the serene water. It’s a powerful revelation of life thriving where it had once been threatened. In a world where photography often highlights doom and gloom, this image is a rare and inspiring glimpse of positive change, and seeing that progress is genuinely empowering.
The Young Photographer of the Year 2025, Alexander Carson, won with Home Under the Sea, a photograph of Barrier Reef anemonefish (Amphiprion akindynos) thriving in newly restored coral reefs. By documenting the symbiosis between the fish and their coral homes, the image highlights how habitat restoration projects can bring biodiversity back to areas once damaged by human activity.
Selected from over 1,300 entries, the judges shortlisted 10 images before naming the winners. The judging panel included Claude Barbé-Brown from Wiley, Alice Campain from CABI, and Helen Robertson from the Field Studies Council. The winning images will be displayed at the RSB Awards Ceremony during Biology Week on 15 October 2025 at the House of Commons, London.
For me, this competition is particularly inspiring because it goes beyond aesthetics. These aren’t just technically impressive images; they’re visual stories of hope, demonstrating that when humans act carefully and sustainably, biodiversity can recover.
If you’re interested in seeing some of the most remarkable examples of conservation photography today, the RSB website is the place to explore.
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