Professor Bruce Cairncross was awarded first prize in the “Science Close-up” Category of the 2019/ 2020 South African Science Lens Competition, which is organised by National South African Agency for Science and Technological Advancement (SAASTA), a business unit of the National Research Foundation, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). The competition honours the wonder of science through photography, and displays how science and art can coexist. It also encourages researchers and scientists to invite the public into their world by creating interesting photographs of their research. The winning photograph from Prof Cairncross was that of a sample with different geological minerals from a fluorite mine.