Prize-Winning Macro Photo of 'Alien Landscape' Revealed to Be Moldy Tangerine

The International Close-Up Photography Awards has declined to rescind the first-place prize awarded to macro photographer Callum Aperture after it was revealed that his winning image, titled 'Exoplanet VII: Bioluminescent Steppe,' is a photograph of a tangerine that had been forgotten in his refrigerator's crisper drawer for approximately two months. The image, shot at 8x magnification using a Laowa 100mm macro lens with UV-induced fluorescence lighting, shows undulating terrain of blue-green and orange formations that the judging panel described as 'a hauntingly beautiful vision of an alien world' and 'evidence that close-up photography can transport us beyond the boundaries of Earth.' 'It's Penicillium digitatum,' Aperture confirmed in an interview following the award ceremony. 'Common citrus mold. I found the tangerine when I was cleaning out my fridge and thought the colony structure was interesting. The UV fluorescence was a happy accident — some mold metabolites are naturally fluorescent. I should probably have mentioned it was a tangerine.' The judging panel has issued a statement standing by its decision. 'The photographic merits of the image are independent of its subject matter,' wrote head judge Priya Diopter. 'Whether it depicts an alien landscape or a rotten tangerine, the composition, lighting, and technical execution are exemplary. Art does not require literal accuracy.' Aperture's competitors have been less gracious. 'I spent three weeks in a Costa Rican cloud forest photographing iridescent beetle elytra,' said second-place finisher Tomoko Shutter. 'He pointed his lens at garbage fruit. We are not the same.' Aperture has accepted the prize — a $5,000 grant and a trophy — and has begun a new series titled 'The Crisper Drawer Chronicles,' featuring extreme macro images of other neglected produce. His next subject, a lime of indeterminate age, has reportedly developed what he calls 'promising topographical features.'