The winners of the 2017 Underwater Photographer of the Year awards have been announced with the delightful image of a seemingly dancing octopus taking the top prize. The contest, which has ran since 1965, celebrates photography anywhere that’s wet, be it seas, lakes, rivers or the bottom of a swimming pool.
This year it took in over 4500 submissions from 67 countries worldwide.
The author behind the grand-prize winning photo is Gabriel Barathieu. It was snapped with a Canon 5DS in a shallow lagoon on the coast of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. The location of the shoot provided some difficulties to the French diver. He was forced to wait for a low tide of just 30cm to stand in the water and got as close as possible to his subject. The wide angle lens makes the multi-limbed creature look giant in frame.
Explaining why his image had such an effect on judges, Barathieu says “Both balletic and malevolent, this image shows an octopus that really means business as it hunts. The way it moves is so different from any predator on land, this truly could be an alien from another world,”
In addition to the grand prize there were three other special awards handed out, on top of prizes given to the winners from the 10 individual submission categories.
'Out Of The Blue' Nick Blake /UPY 2017
The first of these special awards, British Underwater Photographer of the year, went to Nick Blake for a spectacular Nikon D810 sinkhole shot in the Chac Mool Cenote in Mexico. The Dublin-based photographer’s image, entitled ‘Out Of The Blue’, captures a dazzling array of light and colour reflection. Judge Martin Edge commented on the skill of the photograph saying, “I love the enclosure of the light within the Cenote, the composition contains all the sunlight so that the eye of the viewer cannot escape. ”
'Oceanic in the Sky' Horacio Martinez /UPY 2017
New talent was also put on display with the Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year award. Argentinian Horacio Martinez snapped a beautiful view (also with a Nikon D810) of a lone whitetip shark in Egypt. Explaining how he wanted to divert expectations with his photograph, Martinez said “Oceanics are great subjects for close ups as they are anything but shy. Yet, I wanted to capture their apparent loneliness in the big blue. ”
'Orca Pod' Nicholai Georgiou /UPY 2017
Nicholai Georgiou’s photo shoot for, ‘Orca Pod’, taken off the Norwegian coast, with a Nikon D750, took place in freezing winter. The image granted him this year’s title of Most Promising British Underwater Photographer. It captures a group of majestic Orca whales in formation in such a perfect manner that the competition’s chair judge admitted, “I’m jealous” at seeing it. Georgiou himself says that the photo “will be hard to top. ”
The full selection of winners pictures are available to view on the Underwater Photographer of the Year website, which we strongly suggest you take a look at.
Have you taken any dazzling wet pictures? Send them our way! Get in contact on Facebook, Twitter or in the comments below
(Cover Image:'Dancing Octopus' Gabriel Barathieu /UPY 2017)
Images used with permission
2017-2-21 03:00
