Ocean Photographer of the Year is co-presented by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain, two brands with the ocean at their heart. I’ve written about Blancpain before when they released some ocean inspired watches on collaboration with Swatch. Thousands of photos are submitted by amateur and pro photographers with only 118 making the cut. While most photos are or larger ocean life, this year’s category winner was just a touch smaller.
Two amphipods from the Cyproideidae family, each only measuring around 3mm in body length, took the overall winner spot. “It required a lot of patience and precision to compose and light the shot properly,” says Ivanov. “It was taken at a depth of 19 metres, during a sunny day with calm sea conditions. In total, it took me six dives to get the shot I wanted. The result reveals an intimate glimpse of underwater life that is often overlooked.”
Yury Ivanov is an Indonesia-based award-winning underwater photographer and PADI Dive Master with over 15,000 dives. His specialty is nudibranchs and even co-authored the identification guidebook Nudibranchs of The Coral Triangle.
If you want to be inspried by some amazing photography, head over to the winners gallery. And we’d love to see your best aquatic shots; share them with us on socials.
