Winning Images Of #Small2020 By Agora

From minuscule bees, new hatched little turtles or newborn babies, all creatures of the earth can be so tiny compared with the immensity of the world around us.

Mobile app Agora challenged international photographers to participate in the #Small2020 photo contest and show us the world through their magnifying lenses.

As a result, 14,432 photos of all kinds of small things facing the greatness of Mother Nature and man-made wonders were submitted to the contest that was won by Bangladeshi photographer @rafid007 with the image (above) of a Black Naped Monarch hatchling and titled ‘First Light’.

The photo gathered the most votes on the Agora app, making him the #Small2020 Hero and earning the photographer a $1,000 prize.

This picture hides a heartbreaking story: “I was filming a short documentary about the Black Naped Monarch birds and captured some shots of this nest,” explains the photographer. “This is the last time I saw this hatchling; one day later a storm came by and destroyed the nest. I believe this picture shows some of its latest moments.”

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The Finalist Images

The best overall image, along with the next five winners, were selected from a shortlist of 50 finalists narrowed down by competition judges before Agora users were asked to vote for their favorite and here they are:

Agora, which claims 3.5 million users of its mobile app, has been organizing photo competitions since 2017. “The app’s global audience plays an important part in the selection of the winning image in each contest,” the organization explains. “All Agora users have the power to vote for the photo that struck them the most during the final voting rounds, making the process democratic where everyone can participate, vote and win.”

Agora is a free-to-use mobile app where photographers, whether amateur or professional, can participate in photo contests for a chance to win cash prizes (from $1,000 to $25,000) and international recognition.

In recent years, the population of seahorses around the world has declined, with 14 of its species listed as threatened.

“’It takes nothing to join the crowd, but it takes everything to stand alone,’” the photographer says. “This picture totally represents this quote. Swans usually go in pairs, but not in this case. This one was just swimming alone and in combination with the environment, the feeling of being alone was even more amplified. “

With the portrait of this red Damselfly, the photographer wants to show the small details that are imperceptible to the human eye: “You can see how the drops of water remain suspended in the face, transforming it completely.”

The bell tower of St. Nicholas Cathedral, standing in the middle of the Uglich reservoir, serves as a monument of history and architecture and a symbol of the consequences of the construction of the reservoir cascade on the Volga River, which covered hundreds of villages, towns and cities along with the ancient structures that existed there.