The image of a diver floating above a whale cemetery off the coast of Greenland has become the absolute winner of a world underwater photography competition. Its author is A. Dawson from Sweden. He won the championship in a competition of more than six and a half thousand shots. The photo gallery shows all the awarded works in the individual categories of the competition. In addition to flora and fauna, we can also find sunken military tanks on them.
“The winning photo was taken in the most challenging conditions,” said jury president Alex Mustard. “A diver without a breathing apparatus, holding his breath, descends under the Greenland ice sheet to bear witness to what is hidden on the seabed. The picture encourages us to think about the attraction of man to the largest creatures of this planet.”
At the same time, Mustard recalled that since man appeared, the number of wild animals has decreased by 85 percent. “Only four percent of the mammals living on Earth today are wild animals. The rest are humans and their livestock. Our way of life must change to find a balance with nature.”
Lisa Stengel: Window of Opportunity. | Photo: isa Stengel, Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024
The award for the most promising talent went to photographer Lisa Stengelová from the USA. She caught a predatory mahi-mahi fish (also known by the natural science name of purple bream) hunting in a school of sardines. To capture this moment, Stengelová used not only cutting-edge photographic technology, but also her hearing. “When you listen to yourself, there’s a huge amount of sounds in the ocean,” she explained. “The action was too fast for me to see, so I used my camera to focus on the sound of the attacks to capture this special moment,” she explains.
According to the head of the jury, Alex Mustard, the rapid development of technology brings more and more breathtaking underwater photos. “It’s an exciting time. Until this year, I’d rarely seen a photograph of mahi-mahi, now Lisa has photographed not only it, but the action that takes place in the blink of an eye.”
Soutěž Underwater Photographer of the Year also focuses on the promotion of nature conservation, especially the underwater one. It therefore announces a special award in the category “Save our sea” (Save Our Seas). Portuguese photographer Nuno Sá won this year with the picture “Saving Goliath”. The category is named after the foundation that sponsors it. It is devoted to the protection of life in the seas and focuses in particular on sharks and rays.
Underwater Photographer of the Year has a total of thirteen categories. The winners were announced at a ceremony in London’s Mayfair hosted by The Crown Estate. This year’s judges were experienced underwater photographers Peter Rowlands, Tobias Friedrich and Alexander Mustard.
