Our green planet in spectacular close-up
Amazing photos from a worldwide competition show nature at its green and gorgeous best.
technology/environment
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It’s the awkward middle child on the colour spectrum, a byword for inexperience, and so common it’s sported by just about every tree and shrub on the planet. Kermit the Frog knew what he was talking about when he said it ain’t easy, being green.
But the thousands of photographers who entered a new worldwide photo contest have found myriad ways to make this most common colour pop.
Organisers invited snappers to submit a green image to the online photo sharing app Agora, and unleashed a deluge: 17,689 entries flooded in.
The selection published here suggests that the Irish were selling green short when they said it had just 40 shades.
There are the neon tones of the northern lights, captured above a frozen lake in Sweden; the spectacular emeralds of waters in Vietnam, disturbed by a fishing trawler; and verdant manicured gardens shot via drone in Hong Kong and Indonesia.
And then there is green as permanent outer layer. A viper at Singapore Zoo luxuriates in coils of bright lime; a chameleon in Spain mixes up a medley of greens and golds; and a tree frog in Costa Rica elegantly disproves the old fashion adage that red and green should never be seen.
The winner of the Agora competition claimed a cool thousand dollars for their efforts: enough to make any budding snapper green with envy.
Originally published as Our green planet in spectacular close-up