HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY UNDERWATER
Jan van IJken | Planktonium – Daphnia Pulex

Name: Jan van IJken
Picture title: Planktonium – Daphnia Pulex (water flea carrying embryos and peritrichs)
Category: Underwater
Nationality: the Netherlands
Occupation: I’m a full-time photographer and filmmaker

Technical information
Camera:  Sony A7S II
Lens: Microscopic Lens: Leica PL FLUOTAR 10X
EXIF:  1/100 ISO 4000
Accessories: Leica trinocular DMR microscope

Jan van IJken says:

Planktonium is a photo project and short film about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. It is a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures. These stunningly beautiful, very diverse and numerous organisms are unknown to most of us because they are invisible to the naked eye. However, they are wandering beneath the surface of every water around us. They play an important role in the production of oxygen, the aquatic food web, and the carbon life cycle. I photographed and filmed the plankton through my microscopes, revealing the beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail. The critter on the winning photo is a water flea (Daphnia pulex), from a freshwater sample. It is carrying developing embryos. You can also observe a colony of peritrichs, hitchhiking with the Daphnia.