A freediver who discovered whale skeletons has been crowned the winner in the 2024 Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.
A photo showing the diver examining the bones of the animals, after they lost their lives to whaling, was taken by Alex Dawson from Sweden. Dawson was named the winner of this year’s competition after more than 6500 pictures were submitted from around the globe.
“Whale Bones was photographed in the toughest conditions,’ said the chair of the judging panel, Alex Mustard.
“As a breath-hold diver descends below the Greenland ice sheet to bear witness to the carcasses.
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“The composition invites us to consider our impact on the great creatures of this planet. Since the rise of humans, wild animals have declined by 85 per cent.
“Today, just 4 per cent of mammals are wildlife, and the remaining 96 per cent are humans and our livestock. Our way needs to change to find a balance with nature.”
Two other whale photos stormed the competition, by Spanish photographer Rafael Fernandez Caballero, who posted a close-up of a gray whale’s eye, as well as a picture of a Byde’s whale engulfing a bait ball off the coast of Magdalena Bay, Baja California in Mexico.
Fernandez held his camera over the side of a small boat to get the picture. For his second photo, when the whale was having lunch, he dove down and had to be in exactly the right place at the right time for when the whale opened wide.
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“The photo shows the high-speed attack,’ said Fernandez-Caballero.
“With the whale engulfing hundreds of kilograms of sardines in one bite — simply unforgettable to see predation on such a scale.”
US native Lisa Stengel was crowned Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year for 2024, with her image of mahi-mahi catching sardine in Mexico.
“If you listen there’s an enormous amount of sound in the ocean,’ she said.
“The action was too fast to see, so I honed in on the sound of the attacks with my camera to capture this special moment.”
Judge Mustard added: “It is such an exciting time in underwater photography because photographers are capturing such amazing new images, by visiting new locations and using the latest cameras.
“Until this year I’d hardly ever see a photo of a mahi mahi, now Lisa has photographed one hunting, action that plays out in the blink of an eye.”
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In the British category, Jenny Stock was champion, for her photo named Star Attraction. She caught the shot while exploring the west coast of Scotland, in the “dark green depths my torch picked up the vivid colours of a living carpet of thousands of brittle stars, each with a different pattern.
“I was happily snapping away when I spotted this purple sea urchin and I got really excited.”
Nuno Sa was named the Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation winner. The Portuguese snapper’s photo, Saving Goliath, shows beachgoers trying to save a stranded sperm whale on the beach.
Sa said: “The whale had been struck by a ship and its fate was sealed.
“An estimated 20,000 whales are killed every year, and many more injured, after being struck by ships-and few people even realise that it happens.”
Next, Sandra Stalker won the Most Promising British Photographer category for her photo named Midnight Raver.
She said: “I find the crabs to have such bold and funny characters whilst running up to me and then away wildly flailing their legs like ravers and I wanted to capture this character.
“The crab didn’t really stand out much from the sand so I used a purple light on a torch for the background and then I snooted the crab with white light on a strobe, tracking it as it ran across the seabed for the long exposure.”
The annual competition, based in the UK, celebrates photography underwater and allows entries from oceans, lakes, swimming pools, and rivers, from all around the world.
There are 13 categories with various themes.
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