KUALA LUMPUR, October 21 — Hiking through mountains? Crossing rivers? There’s a lot a wildlife photographer will do for that perfect shot.
Yet sometimes, all it takes is just a 20-minute drive and some patience.
And that is how 54 years old Kuching-based wildlife photographer Chien C. Lee managed to score a win in the 61st Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 awards recently.
Lee’s entry saw him winning the Plants and Fungi category in the prestigious competition.
Organised by the Natural History Museum in London, the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year awards have been around since 1965.
This year the competition saw over 60,000 entries from professional photographers and wildlife enthusiasts from all over the world.
Lee, a Californian native who has been living in Sarawak since 1996 shared that the pitcher plant that he shot was the Nepenthes Mirabilis species and although it is the most common pitcher plant species in Southeast Asia, it is not without its own uniqueness.
He said that this particular pitcher plant absorbs Ultraviolet (UV) light, which results in the plant emanating biofluorescence and as pitcher plants are mostly carnivorous and they use their uniqueness to attract prey hence why he named the photo Deadly Allure’.
“This one was only taken 20 minutes from our house in Kuching, almost on the side of the road in fact.
“I felt it was a great lesson for me where sometimes you don’t have to climb the most remote mountain or you don’t have to go so far to find something incredible.
“It can be something that is just a daily occurrence or it could be just something nearby that’s very familiar but if you look at it in a different way, such as this case under an UV light, you can see something really magical about it,” Lee told Malay Mail.
Behind the shot
The award-winning shot taken by Lee just 20 minutes away from his home in Kuching, Sarawak.— Picture courtesy of Chien C. Lee.
Sharing more details behind his award-winning shot, Lee said that the photo was taken after he needed additional photos of pitcher plants in order to complete his Fatal Attraction’ exhibition at GMBB mall in KL which opened last July.
Despite it being just a short drive from his home, it is not without its own set of challenges.
The first one was that he had to visit the spot only during nighttime, more specifically during twilight, which Lee described as the most magical time of the day as most nocturnal animals would start showing up at that time.
“One of the challenges is that – I want to capture a little bit of ambient light, such as the fading light in the sky from the twilight and a little light in the leaves and if you wait until too late in the night, that light is gone.
“I had a very narrow window from the late afternoon until nightfall of only about five minutes when the light was dark enough that you could see the fluorescent light but not so dark that you couldn’t see the sky,” Lee said.
He also said that another challenge was keeping the subject still for at least 30 seconds as it is a long exposure shot where the camera’s shutter is kept open for an extended period of time which means that if the subject were to move, it would result in a blurry photo.
“We had to set up some extra tripods with very small clamps to hold the leaves and to keep them from moving.
“This was a necessity to keep them from being blurry but even so, if the wind is too strong, it will get shaken, so I just have to keep trying and trying until I am lucky enough to get a sharp image,” he said, adding that he spent a couple of days just to get that shot.
From educator to award-winning photographer
Before moving to Malaysia, Lee who is also of mixed Chinese ancestry, was working as an environmental educator at one of the parks in California where he would often conduct educational programmes for the public.
He admitted that his admiration for pitcher plants was the reason why he moved to Sarawak after he was offered to work on his favourite plant.
However, shortly after living in Sarawak, he shifted his career towards wildlife photography as according to Lee, he could still engage as an environmental educator but through visual imagery and stories associated with the images he produced.
He has spent decades adventuring into rainforests and jungles across multiple regions such as Asia and South America and has even discovered new species of plants in his series of expeditions.
And with the rising number of animals in the endangered species lists, Lee felt that he needs to keep doing what he does in hope that people would get a better understanding while also appreciating nature even more.
He added that getting recognition for his work is definitely a wonderful reward, however getting the opportunity to educate the public and getting them interested in the subject is a far more rewarding experience.
“We have more plants and animals on the endangered species lists than ever before.
“Right now, in 2025, we are very much at the tipping point where actions need to be taken to protect nature and the environment before it’s too late.
“And visual imagery is vital in getting people to understand and appreciate nature even more,” he said.
For those interested in learning more about pitcher plants and its relationship with animals – Lee’s Fatal Attraction exhibition located at the Darkroom Gallery of GMBB should be on your list.
The exhibition opens from 11am to 8pm daily and will run until December 31 this year where you can see the award-winning Deadly Allure photo up close.