Dancing Octopus
During spring low tides in a lagoon of the Mayotte archipelago near Madagascar, there is very little water on the flats. This picture was taken in water at a depth of about 11 inches (30 centimeters). The photographer used a 14 millimeter, ultra-wide-angle lens and natural light.
[Read more about the underwater photography contest]
Out of the Blue
Kukulkan Cenote on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is noted for spectacular light effects as the sun penetrates the darkness. By playing with the symmetry of the cavern and the natural light show, the photographer captured a stunning image.
Oceanic in the Sky
An amazing image resulted from the photographer's first Red Sea experience and first photo workshop while living onboard a vessel. On the last dive of the day, the artist ventured deeper in the water, and closer to a group of oceanic whitetip sharks. Thanks to the natural lighting, a dream-like image of a shark in the distance emerged.
Orca Pod
While freediving in Norway during the short winter days, the photographer encountered a pod of orcas that were bathed in light and color from the setting sun.
Lion's mane
In Alaska last summer looking for salmon sharks, the photographer came across an enormous moon jellyfish bloom stretching several hundred meters. This image was captured as a lion's mane jellyfish rose to the surface.
[Read more about the underwater photography contest]
Interaction
On an expedition aboard MV ONDINA visiting Indonesian waters, the team went on a dive to the sea mount Karang Paradise, which hosts a rich array of marine biodiversity. The photographer found an enormous coral field with different groups of fish, and set up his camera on a rock to capture the moment when he was surrounded by big-eye jack mackerel.
Prey?
A mantis shrimp larva that caught the photographer's eye during a blackwater dive in Anilao in the Philippines resembles a scene from a science fiction movie. Though very small, the larva is a predator with raptorial appendages that it uses to hunt its even smaller prey.
Graceful ballet
This dive site at Mozambique consists of a sea pen forest at a depth of 111.55 feet (34 meters). It hosts a diversity of ocean life, such as shrimps and gobies.
Precontinental dreams
"Precontinent," a site in waters near Sudan, was an ambitious project conceived in the 1960s by marine biologist Jacques Cousteau, to create an underwater village where people could live. Just a few of the structures remain today, inhabited only by fish.
[Read more about the underwater photography contest]
Your home and my home
Clownfish live in anemones, but these three clownfish harbored "guests of their own — parasitic isopods living inside the fishes' mouths. The photographer waited three days to take this photo, when all three of the clownfish opened their mouths at once, revealing the isopods lurking inside.
Humpback whale feeding on krill
Every summer, hundreds of humpback whales gather off the Cape Town, South Africa coast in a massive feeding aggregation. Working as part of a film crew, the photographer was a rare witness to this phenomenon, capturing one of the whales as it gaped wide to feed.
