The DNRF Photo Competition 2024

For the seventh year in a row, the foundation has launched a photo competition based on the potential of photography as documentation and communication of research.

Download images here

Virtuel 3D exhibition

1 st Prize: Epiphany, Amazon

Pige flyder i vand med udbredte arme.
Epiphany, Amazon, the winner of the DNRF Photo Competition 2024. Photo: Christian Vium, Associate Professor in Anthropology, Aarhus University.


The panels review:

We were immediately captivated by this compelling image – full of humanity, but still powerfully mysterious. And we enjoyed how it raised questions about agency in pictures, as well as perspectives on the project’s core concern to re-examine how “otherness” can be shown and expressed. Additionally, the links back to Albert Frisch’s 19th-century photographs provide a fascinating historical context in which to contemplate this remarkable picture.

Interview with Christian Vium

2nd Prize: Six points on a blackboard

A black
Six points on a blackboard. The winner of the second prize in the DNRF Photo Competition: Photo: Nathalie Wahl, DNRF Center GeoTop, University of Copenhagen.


The Panels review:

The processes of scientific thought are very
difficult to capture visually, especially when the research task is to
“understand the world that six points live in.” But this image does just that,
and with authenticity and elegance. Despite initial appearances, it’s far from
just a picture of a blackboard. The intriguingly sloped perspective helps us
understand how ideas can unfold across time and space while the visual evidence
of fresh chalk marks added to a previously wiped board demonstrates how one
layer of thinking adds to and replaces earlier ones.

Interview with Nathalie Wahl

3rd Prize: The digestive system of dairy cows

The reticulorumen of a calf in a close up.
The digestive system of dairy cows. The winner of the third prize in the DNRF Photo Competition 2024. Photo: Giulio Giagnoni, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences


The panels review:

We appreciated the compelling tension in the image between the papillae in the foreground and the more architectural, almost cave-like quality of its back-stage. Helped by a controlled use of light and shade, there is something faintly disgusting in the power of this image, which provides an ironic introduction to the study’s benign aims of reducing methane emission from ruminal microbiomes.

Interview with Giulio Giagnoni

More about the photo competition

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