The Ocean Photography Awards 2021 winners have been announced, with Aimee Jan taking first place for her image of a green turtle surrounded by glass fish. ‘I was out snorkelling when one of my colleagues told me there was a turtle under a ledge in a school of glass fish, about 10 metres down,’ Ms. Jan said of her image, taken in Australia. ‘When I dived down to look, the fish separated around the turtle perfectly. I said to her: ‘I think I just took the best photo I have ever taken’.’ Aimee Jan was named ‘Ocean Photographer of the Year’.
Seven other awards were presented in addition to Ocean Photographer of the Year. The second-place winner was Henley Spiers, who captured a beautiful seabird, and third was Matty Smith, who captured an incredible turtle hatchling shot. There is an exhibition featuring the winners in London, UK.
‘Diving in amidst the barrage of gannets, I witness the violent synchronicity of these impressive seabirds as they embark on fishing dives,’ said photographer Henley Spiers. ‘They hit the water at 60mph, an impact they can only withstand thanks to specially evolved air sacs in the head and chest. The bird’s agility transfers from air to sea where it also swims with incredible speed.’
A hatchling hawksbill turtle just 3.5cm long and a few minutes old takes its first swim in Matty Smith’s photograph. ‘It had emerged from an egg just minutes earlier with approximately 100 of its siblings. They quickly made their way into the ocean to disperse as rapidly as they could and avoid predation from birds and fish. I had to work quickly for this shot,’ the photographer revealed.
Ben Thouard took this shot of a surfer catching a wave in Tahiti to win the ‘Ocean Adventure Photographer’ of the Year award.
‘The Community Choice Award’ was given to Phil de Glanville and his picture of Surfer Jack Robinson riding ‘the famous break known as ‘The Right’, home to some of the heaviest waves in the world.’
Kerim Sabuncuoglu won ‘Ocean Conservation Photographer’ of the Year for a photograph of a dead moray eel on an abandoned fishing line in Turkey.
For a photo of a gull caught on a ghost fishing line, Galice Hoarau won second place in the Conservation category.
The hypnotic shot of Speleothems casting long shadows at Cenote Dos Pisos by Martin Broen won him ‘Exploration Photographer’ of the Year.
The second prize went to Steven Kovacs, who photographed an eel larva found deep within the sea.
Renee Capozzola won the Female Fifty Fathoms Award. In Moorea, French Polynesia, a blacktip reef shark lines up its dorsal fin with the setting sun. ‘This over-under image was achieved by using a wide-angle lens, a large dome port and strobe flash to illuminate the underwater portion of the picture,’ she said.
Hannah Le Leu won the ‘Young Ocean Photographer’ of the Year award. ‘A green sea turtle hatchling cautiously surfaces for air, to a sky full of hungry birds,’ she wrote in her caption.
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