![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/305310.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\nKUALA LUMPUR, October 21\u00a0\u2014 Hiking through mountains? Crossing rivers? There\u2019s a lot a wildlife photographer will do for that perfect shot.<\/p>\n
Yet sometimes, all it takes is just a 20-minute drive and some patience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s entry saw him winning the Plants and Fungi category in the prestigious competition.<\/p>\n
Organised by the Natural History Museum in London, the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year awards have been around since 1965.<\/p>\n
This year the competition saw over 60,000 entries from professional photographers and wildlife enthusiasts from all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one was only taken 20 minutes from our house in Kuching, almost on the side of the road in fact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt it was a great lesson for me where sometimes you don\u2019t have to climb the most remote mountain or you don\u2019t have to go so far to find something incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be something that is just a daily occurrence or it could be just something nearby that\u2019s 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,\u201d Lee told Malay Mail. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Behind the shot<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The award-winning shot taken by Lee just 20 minutes away from his home in Kuching, Sarawak.\u2014 Picture courtesy of Chien C. Lee.<\/p>\n
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\u2019\u00a0exhibition at GMBB mall in KL which opened last July.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite it being just a short drive from his home, it is not without its own set of challenges.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the challenges is that \u2013 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019t see the sky,\u201d Lee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to set up some extra tripods with very small clamps to hold the leaves and to keep them from moving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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,\u201d he said, adding that he spent a couple of days just to get that shot.<\/p>\n
From educator to award-winning photographer\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that getting recognition for his work\u00a0is 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have more plants and animals on the endangered species lists than ever before.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight 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\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd visual imagery is vital in getting people to understand and appreciate nature even more,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For those interested in learning more about pitcher plants and its relationship with animals \u2013 Lee\u2019s Fatal Attraction exhibition located at the Darkroom Gallery of GMBB should be on your list.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0photo up close.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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