Marine life in all its beauty and complexity. In this way, photographers who entered the 2021 Ocean Photography Awards competition swam through shark and jellyfish infested waters to get the perfect shot.
This photo contest captures the lived experience of fish and explorers alike, with marine animals and ecosystems from around the world, as well as showing us our impact on them.
This year’s top prize went to Aimee Jan, who was crowned Ocean Photographer of the Year 2021. The Australian photographer’s striking image of a green sea turtle surrounded by a school of glass fish was declared “winner. unanimous “by the judges and surpassed” thousands of submissions “.
Meanwhile, Exeter photographer Henley Spiers took second place with his impressive shot of gannets off the coast of Scotland. Gannets have evolved to have highly specialized necks, which studies say would not be injured until diving at a whopping 80 meters per second.
Third place went to Matty Smith , who managed to capture the precious first moments of a baby turtle as it made its way to the ocean for the first time.
The Exploration Photographer of the Year went to Martin Broen , whose photo seems taken from another planet, even though it is an underground water reservoir of the famous Cenote Dos Pisos in Mexico. In it we see speleothems casting long shadows across this unusual hidden place.
The Conservation Photographer of the Year went to Kerim Sabuncuoglu , whose photo, which we will see below, shows a dead moray eel caught on an abandoned fishing line in Bodrum, Turkey.
Also noteworthy in the Conservation category is the shocking image of Canadian Steven Kovacs in which he teaches us the dangers of littering thanks to a lizard fish that tries to devour a cigarette filter or butt off the coast of Florida. .
“The Ocean Photography Awards have a simple mission: to shine a light on the beauty of the ocean and the threats it faces,” explains the competition jury, whose selected images will be displayed in a free outdoor exhibition on Queen’s Walk along the River Thames. , in London, which will be open to the public for a month from September 17.
Here we have a selection of the winning images. And if you want to see the complete list of photographs, you can enter the website of the Ocean Photography Awards.
