Some of the winning images from the Biomedical Sciences Photo Competition. The centre bottom image is Liz Girvan's Winter is Coming.
Electron Microscopist Liz Girvan says she isn't quite sure what the structure she photographed for the Biomedical Sciences Photo Competition was.
“It was inside a small piece of limestone I picked up while on a walk on the family farm.”
That sounds strange – until you realise she photographed it under the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
“I am always picking up bits and pieces to look at under the SEM.
"Looking at random things is really good for trying out new things on the SEM, keeping your skills current and you also always find really interesting and beautiful structures."
“Looking at random things is really good for trying out new things on the SEM, keeping your skills current and you also always find really interesting and beautiful structures.
“This one looked to me like some kind of frozen waterfall, it really stood out amongst a sea of mineral crystals. It's pretty small – about the width of a human hair.”
She named the resulting photo Winter is Coming – and won the Professional Staff category of the competition, which was open to staff and students from Departments and Units which make up the School of Biomedical Sciences.
With 10 categories, it attracted an incredibly array of entries from the quirky to the deeply intriguing.
The competition was run as part of the New Zealand International Science Festival.
Other winners were Brian Hyland of Physiology who won the Academic Staff category; Chris Smith, the Curator of the Anatomy Museum who won both the the Webster Centre for Infectious Diseases Best Photo category and the Best Photo with a “Go Beyond” Theme category; Kate McDonald of Anatomy who won the Student category; Ruth Topless of Biochemistry who won the Te Ao Maori category, Neil Gemmell of Anatomy who won the Gene Theme category, Aimee Chu of Anatomy who won the Neuroscience Theme category, Safina Gadeock of Physiology who won the Gut Theme category, and Jackie Spencer of Microbiology & Immunology who won the People's Choice Award.
The photos were judged by two academics and a freelance photographer.
The competition's prize giving was held on Tuesday afternoon, and the photos will be on display at The Link until the conclusion of the Science Festival on Sunday.