Macro lens reveals frog embryo in award-winning wildlife photo

Julian Terreros-Martin turned a garden reflection pool in Messingham, England, into the stage for one of the year’s most striking wildlife frames: a close-up of a common frog embryo inside a translucent egg. The image, titled New Life, won the Hidden Britain category in the British Wildlife Photography Awards, and Terreros-Martin also placed runner-up in Coast & Marine for a separate image, Silhouetted Puffin.

What makes the photograph stand out is not just the subject, but the way it was made. Terreros-Martin used a Canon EOS R3 paired with a Laowa 24mm f/14 2x Macro Probe lens, a setup that let him work at extreme proximity while partially submerging the lens in water. Laowa says the probe lens is the world’s first consumer-grade probe lens, with a waterproof front barrel, an LED ring light at the tip, and the ability to focus as close as 2 cm at 2:1 magnification. That combination helped expose the tiny biological structures inside the egg, while the built-in lighting at the top of the pool kept the underwater scene from disappearing into darkness.

The shot also carries a clear do-it-yourself backstory. Terreros-Martin said the project began during lockdown in 2020, when he and his father built the reflection pool in their garden so he could keep photographing wildlife around the house. Four years later, that improvised setup paid off in an image that blends visual drama with scientific detail, showing an embryo at a stage most people never see outside a classroom slide or laboratory display.

Terreros-Martin’s growing profile gives the win extra weight. He has been described as a wildlife photographer from Scunthorpe, England, and a 2020 podcast listing said he had more than 10,000 Instagram followers at age 23. The British Wildlife Photography Awards itself remains a fiercely competitive arena, with the 2024 contest drawing more than 14,000 entries across 10 adult categories and 3 youth age groups.

For photographers, New Life is a sharp reminder that remarkable wildlife work does not require a safari or elite studio gear. It required access, patience and a lens built to do something unusual, then the nerve to use a backyard pool as if it were a world-class shooting environment.