Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

In the sight of the ants

“The contrast between the simplicity of the photograph and the complexity of the behavior of the ants”, emphasizes the author of this photograph. “The variability in the size of the pieces they cut was exciting; sometimes the small ants carried huge pieces, and the larger ones carried small pieces.”

The Hungarian photographer Bence Máté photographed it in a tropical jungle in Costa Rica. After hours of observing the ants, one night he followed a row of ants through the forest. The line was branching, and each branch ended in the leaf of a tree or shrub. The activity of the ants was frenetic: knocking and cutting the leaves of fire and transporting them. Put the flash on one side of the leaf, lie on the floor with the camera on the other side, and there the photo.

Now, Máté’s “artistic gaze” has been rewarded, one of the best prizes a wildlife photographer can receive: Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010, awarded by the BBC Wildlife Magazine and the Natural History Museum of London.