2015 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition winners
The eye-catching, spectacular winning images of the prestigious 2015 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition have been announced by the Underwater Photography Guide. The winners, who photographed an array of unique and rare marine life scenes, were chosen in January 2016 from among thousands of entries from more than 50 countries, taking home more than $70,000 in prizes.
This incredible photo of a larval stage eel, taken at night in 4,000 feet of water off the coast Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, by Jeff Milisen, titled "Feeling Exposed," was judged Best in Show and awarded first place in the Macro Photography category.
According to Milisen: "The external stomach helps the developing fish grow as fast as possible by eeking every last bit of nutrition from its every meal. Out of the four divers underwater that day, we had over 1000 blackwater dives under our belt and none of us had ever seen anything like it, whether on earth or boldly going elsewhere!" Contest organizers say this may be the first time this eel has been seen underwater, let alone photographed.
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First Place - Cold Water Category
"Anemone light" by Lill Haugen
Photo taken in Oslo Fjord, Norway
Haugen: "The "Deeplet sea anemone"/North sea anemone (Bolocera tuediae) can be found in the cold, green waters of the Oslo fjord in Norway, at depths from 25 meters and below - like an oasis in the mud. A certain species of red shrimps (Spirontocarus liljeborgi) can be found seeking shelter under this type of large cold water anemone. This anemone is backlit, by placing the strobe behind the anemone and using a remote slave sensor trigger to fire the strobe."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Marine Life Behavior Category
"Egg Release" by Steven Kovacs
Photo taken in Blue Heron Bridge, Lake Worth Lagoon, Riviera Beach, Florida
Kovacs: "When a female Striated frogfish is ready to spawn she rises towards the surface closely followed by the male. As she releases her egg mass the male fertilizes them. Coming across this Striated Frogfish pair on a local dive, I realized that they were about to spawn so I got prepared to photograph this rarely observed behavior. Shortly afterwards I was very fortunate to press the shutter the exact moment that the female released her egg raft."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Portrait Category
"Pilot Whales" by Greg LeCoeur
Photo taken off the coast of Nice in France
Lecoeur: "During a sailing day off the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, I spotted a big pod of Pilot whales that accepted me in the blue water. They were turning around me in the crystal blue water. It was an amazing experience and a great opportunity to photograph them."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Novice DSLR Category
"Panic Puffer School" taken by Irene Middleton
Photo taken in Maroro Bay, Poor Knights Island Marine Reserve, Northland New Zealand
Middleton: "Every summer schools of Starry Toado Pufferfish (Arothron firmamentum) start appearing at the Poor Knights Islands, off Northern New Zealand. Normally found in Pelagic waters, strong easterly winds blow the pufferfish into the marine reserve islands where they often survive for less than a few hours. The marine reserve offers a safe haven to many fishes but the thriving population of Jacks and Bream make short work of this exotic delicacy. As soon as divers enter the water the schools of puffers race over to seek shelter which is what they were doing when I snapped off this shot. Soon after I left the water about half of them had been devoured."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Mirrorless Behavior Category
"Dad and her eggs" by Walker Bassi
Photo taken in Capo Noli, Liguria Sea, Italy
Bassi: "In my dive I saw the whole sequence of mating between male and female, like a dance in the blue, so much emotion."
When the male and female seahorses separated a portion of eggs can be seen here outside the the belly of the male, a very rare and unique event. This picture was taken while the male seahorse recovered the eggs. Males have a pouch that females deposit as many as 1,500 eggs into. The males will carry eggs up to 45 days before the young emerge.
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Mirrorless Macro Category
"Shyness" by Simon Chiu
Photo taken in Mactan, Cebu, Philippines
Chiu: "A small filefish always camouflages in soft coral. I used 2 diopters which has very short focus distance for this shot, so I had to hold myself still to avoid scaring away this cute fellow."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Compact Macro Category
"The Fluorescent Cerianthus" by Alessandro Raho
Photo taken in Noli, Italy
Raho: "The use of these particular filters makes the fluorescence of some animal species stand out. They are typically used in night diving, but for this photo I used them during the day."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
1st Place - Compact Behavior Category
"Fast strike of a Tylosorus crocodilus on a juvenile kyphosus vaigiensis" by Jack Berthomier
Photo taken while freediving in Ouemo Bay, Noumea, New Caledonia
Berthomier: "The picture has been taken in Ouemo's Mangrove where I take 90% of my pictures and where I dive, always in freediving. This Tylosorus crocodulis was 20-25 centimeters long. The fish got used to me by swimming with him for multiple hours and days."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
1st Place - Compact Wide-Angle Category
"Cetaceclipse" by Brian Christiansen
Photo taken in Deshaies, Guadeloupe
Christiansen: "My partner at the time and I were cruising south through the islands and decided to take advantage of this deep, protected anchorage on the northwest side of Guadeloupe... After a 3am arrival, 9am came to soon, and no sooner had the first sip of coffee touched my lips than I realized a pod of dolphins was swimming around our little sailboat which commonly attracts animals of all makes and models... The pod seemed like one family group with an obvious matriarch who had a young one. The ones I spent the most time with were two adolescents who were nonstop playing with each other and me. The compact camera worked well in this situation because I could easily play with the dolphins until in the right position and then snap off a few pictures just the way I imagined."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
1st Place - Supermacro Category
"Skeleton Shrimp" by So Yat Wai
Photo taken in Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
So Yat Wai: ""Owing to the shallow depth of field of super macro photography, it is hard to get both claws, face and tentacles in focus."
The photographer took around 60 photos to get the skeleton shrimp in the right place and all the points in focus.
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Nudibranchs Category
"Sunny Day" by Roland Back
Photo taken in Punta den Siulet, Minorca, Spain
Bach: "This photo was taken on the North coast of the Balearic island Minorca on a place called Punta den Siulet. It shows a Felimare picta... The problem was to bring the sun and nudi together in this shot because there was very little space for the housing and strobe. So I had to wait about 10 minutes."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
"Wood Turtle" won First place - fMirrorless Wide-Angle Category
"Wood Turtle" by Matthew Sullivan
Photo was taken in The Bridge Waterfall, Montane Creek, Pennsylvania.
Sullivan: "Found this juvenile Wood Turtle in a beautiful montane creek in Pennsylvania. These turtles are endangered and finding them is a privilege."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
First place - Wide-Angle Category
"The Satellite" by Francesco Visintin
Photo taken in Tuscany, Italy
Visintin: "The sea temperature rise in conjunction with coelenterates reproduction period and the decrease of natural predators, dramatically boosted the population of Rhizostoma pulmo. Then Mistral wind and currents concentrated thousands of individuals of jellyfishes in the shallow water of Versilia coast. Calm sea and unusually good visibility motivated me to explore this fascinating subject from a photographic standpoint, exploiting the soft light of the early morning and sunset."
Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
1st Place - Pool/Conceptual
"The Painter of the Sea" by Francesco Pacienza
Photo taken in Apulia, Italy
Pacienza: "The shooting session lasted about 45 minutes, during this time, Francesco breathed from a cylinder and we made the appropriate corrections to both the body posture and the position of the brush and colors." The model is an instructor of apnea.