The winners of the 2022 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, now in its 11th year, have been announced by the Underwater Photography Guide.
The 2022 competition – the first since the ending of global travel restrictions – attracted thousands of submissions from 96 countries. ‘It is clear from this year’s winning images that our community of underwater photographers has dived into a new and exciting post-pandemic era,’ said the organisers. ‘An unprecedented calibre of photos was ushered in by the lifting of travel restrictions – including our best-in-show image featuring another teachable moment from an octopus.
‘This photo, captured in Palm Beach, Florida by Kat Zhou, depicts the bittersweet final days between a mother octopus and her young before dying of old age. ‘
A total of 14 different categories in the Ocean Art contest help to ensure a competitive contest for all levels and disciplines of underwater photography. This year’s competition introduced a new Mobile Phone category, which the contest organisers say that as ‘a tool that almost every ocean lover has in their pocket’ they hope the category will ‘inspire new underwater photographers and explorers to tell their own stories.’
The Ocean Art 2022 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Mark Strickland, and Marty Snyderman, overseen by Nirupam Nigam, Editor-in-Chief of the Underwater Photography Guide and a partner in Bluewater Photo and Bluewater Travel.
‘The winners of Ocean Art 2022 surprised me,’ said Nigam. ‘I expected an “Instagramable” moment to steal the show. Instead, each image is that of photographic
excellence or poetic reflection of the natural world around us. These images will be seared in my mind for years to come.’
More than $100,000 in prizes were awarded for the competition, including premium luxury liveaboard cruises and exotic resort holidays, plus a raft of high-end camera equipment.
The winninng entries in each category are highlighted below; the complete list of winners, runners up and honourable mentions can be found on the Underwater Photography Guide’s website
You may also like:
Best in Show and first place: Macro category
‘Octopus Mother’ – Kat Zhou
The Story: This photo shows a Caribbean reef octopus guarding her eggs, found off the coast of West Palm Beach, Florida. Like all other species of octopus, this mother does not eat while she tends to her eggs, and she will die after they hatch. It was a bittersweet feeling to watch her protect her eggs, knowing that this sad end was coming!
West Palm Beach is my favourite diving destination in the USA for the variety of both wide-angle and macro subjects it offers, and I visit a few times each year to dive and photograph around the area. I had started seeing photos on social media of this reef octopus with eggs in early March 2022, and I was ecstatic to hear that she was still there when I visited later in the month, as I had never seen an octopus with eggs before.
Over the next three weeks, I spent four dives observing her. Though it was fascinating to watch her protect and aerate her eggs, it wasn’t possible to get good photos on every dive, as she was situated in the middle of a tube. She would often either block the eggs with her arms or move so far back into the tube that it wasn’t possible to get both the octopus and her eggs in focus. On the dive that I obtained this shot, there were fewer divers around than normal, and she seemed much calmer as a result.
Location: Blue Heron Bridge, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Equipment Used: Nikon D850 Camera, Nikon 105mm Macro Lens, Nauticam Housing, Dual Inon Z330 Strobes, BigBlue Dive Light
Camera Settings: ISO 250, F29, 1/250 sec
First place: Wide Angle
Renee Capozzola – ‘Shark Trio’
The Story: This over-under image was shot on the remote atoll of Fakarava in French Polynesia, which is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Due to strong legal protections, the marine ecosystem here is full of life, and you can view many sharks in their natural habitat. During this visit, I was extremely lucky to be there just after the full moon, when a large school of tangs spawned just earlier in shallow water nearby, attracting even more sharks to the area with the heightened activity. As this picture was taken after the sun dropped below the horizon, it was getting quite dark, but I was able to capture this precise moment by using my flash guns underwater and a higher shutter speed.
Location: South Fakarava, French Polynesia
Equipment Used: Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 16-35mm F2.8 II Lens, Nauticam Housing, Dual Sea & Sea YS-D3 Strobes
Camera Settings: ISO 500, F18, 1/160 sec
First place: Marine Life Behavior
Galice Hoarau – ‘Nest’
The Story: A Wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) pair at the end of the arctic summer. The female lays a ball of eggs in a small cave in the autumn before leaving the nest, leaving the male to watch over them. The male will take care of them until the end of spring when they hatch. Wolfish are very important species in Norwegian fjords, keeping the sea urchins from overgrazing the kelp forest. Unfortunately, although they are overexploited, they don’t have any protection in Norway.
Location: Saltstraumen, Norway
Equipment Used: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, Olympus 30mm Lens, Nauticam Housing, Backscatter Mini Strobe & Snoot, Inon Z330 Strobe, Nauticam EMWL Lens
Camera Settings: ISO 200, F22, 1/250 sec
First place: Portrait
Kuo-Wei Kao – ‘Mirror Reflection’
The Story: Since the pandemic, I was depressed because I couldn’t go diving abroad. On the chance of going out, I went to the stream and found beautiful little crabs. So, I took my photography equipment and went to different spots every week to observe and try to shoot the ecology of the stream. After multiple attempts in the span of several months, I was able to capture the perfect reflection which was one of my goals. When I shot this photo, I knew I got it!
Location: Pinglin, Taiwan
Equipment Used: Olympus EM1 Mark II, Olympus 30mm Macro Lens, Inon Z330, Retra LSD Snoot
Camera Settings: ISO 400, F13, 1/250 sec
First place: Coldwater
Nicolas Remy – ‘The Rare Spotted Hand-Fish from Tasmania’
The Story: The spotted handfish is a critically-endangered type of anglerfish which is found only in parts of Tasmania. It owes its name to its pectoral fins which resemble hands, and the fact that it “walks” on the seafloor.
It is believed that there are less than 3000 of them remaining in the wild. They were once common in Tasmania’s waters, but are nowadays found only in a few rivers, only in Tasmania. Their decline is due to pollution of their environment, but also the invasive Northern Pacific Seastar, which feeds on their eggs.
During the last Tasmanian winter, I spent nine hours diving a patch of the Derwent River (Hobart, Tasmania) where I knew a few spotted handfish lived. The water was dark and silty with about two metres visibility, and I used two strobes with snoots to illuminate only the handfish and less of the floating particles.
Location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Equipment Used: Nikon D810 Camera, Nikon 105mm AF-S Macro Lens, Nauticam NA-D810 Housing, Dual Retra Flash Pro with Dual Retra LSD Snoot, Nauticam EMWL-1 Wet Lens.
Camera Settings: ISO 640, F18, 1/200 sec
First place: Nudibranch
Aleksei Permiakov – ‘Ribbed’
The Story: During the pandemic, my wife and I got stuck in Bali and that was a great opportunity for macro photography. We explored Tulamben and made a series of dives at the Drop Off dive site, where we spotted quite a lot of different subjects. Tambja morosa is a relatively big nudi and usually I would shoot it without a wet lens, but I decided to focus more on rhinophores and their amazing texture.
I used Capture One software for post-processing. Cropped and mirrored the image. Added sharpness on the rhinophores and made some cleanup.
Location: Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia
Equipment Used: Nikon D850 Camera, Nikkor 105mm f2.8 VR lens, Nauticam NA-D850 Housing, Nauticam SMC Wet Lens, Backscatter MF-01 Strobe with Snoot
Camera Settings: ISO 125, F22, 1/200 sec
First place: Blackwater
Dennis Corpuz – ‘Octopus Attack’
The Story: A hungry paralarvae octopus ambushes a larval mantis shrimp. At night during this blackwater dive, we travelled a few kilometres away from the mainland of Anilao. We set up a buoy with a dropline attached with high-powered lumens light at 5, 10, 15, and 20 meters in approximately 200 to 1000 meters deep of water. We regularly observe the vertical migration of all deep-sea living creatures and try to photograph their behaviour.
Location: Janao Bay, Anilao, Philippines
Equipment Used: Nikon D7000, Nikon 105mm Macro Lens, Dual Sea and Sea YS-250 Strobes
Camera Settings: ISO 200, F25, 1/320sec
First place: Underwater Conservation
Lawrence Alex Wu – ‘A Sad Catch’
The Story: Big or small, our ecosystem is a fine balance and all its inhabitants are important to the well-being of the Earth. Seahorses have been fished to near extinction, mainly for medicinal use… but not scientifically proven to have any medicinal properties.
First place: Underwater Art
Sarah Teveldal – ‘A Happy Bunch’
The Story: Underwater performer, free diver and four-time World Champion Synchronized Swimmer Kristina Makushenko and I worked together to get this colourful, fun-spirited image. Balloons can be difficult to work with underwater, but we are both underwater enthusiasts who appreciate a challenge! The trick to working with the balloons is achieving nearly neutral buoyancy. To do this, you must fill them with the right water-to-air ratio, which is mostly water and just a tiny breath of air.
It took two sets of balloons to get the balloons just right. The first set was negatively buoyant and Makushenko had a difficult time getting them in the right position. We were successful with the second set of balloons when I left a little more room for air. Makushenko was then able to achieve the playful pose and look we were aiming for with just several submersions.
Post-production on this image included enhancing the colours to make them ‘pop’, removing the tile border and cleaning up the pool debris (as there had been a heavy tropical storm just the day before!). While it might be a slightly ‘ordinary’ image above water, we were ecstatic to bring this concept to life in the water – our preferred medium that always adds a touch of magic, whimsicality and unpredictability!
Location: Private Residential Pool, Miami
Equipment Used: Canon 5D Mark IV, Sea & Sea Housing, Canon 16-35mm Lens
Camera Settings: ISO 400, F13, 1/250 sec
First place: Black & White
Martin Broen – ‘Long Shadows’
The Story: Getting further away from the exit to the surface and safety, through the labyrinth of pitch-black tunnels, you get to see places with incredible pristine decorations.
These tunnels got bigger when the cave was flooded and was decorated by the slow dripping of the calcite when the caves were dry. This happened over multiple cycles each lasting 100,000 years! And in this case, the tunnel formed in a bedding plane with thousands of tiny stalactites in the ceiling contrasting the few tall stalagmites in the floor that creates a labyrinth in itself and project those beautiful long shadows.
The shot is taken with a single source 15.000 lumen video light to create the effect of the shadows converging towards the diver position
Location: Cenote Dos Pisos, Riviera Maya, Yucatan, Mexico
Equipment Used: Sony A7R III, Canon 8-15mm Lens, Nauticam Housing, BigBlue Lights
Camera Settings: ISO 5000, F4.5, 1/15 sec
First place: Compact Wide Angle
Enrico Somogyi – ‘Peace’
The Story: Once a year at the end of March, it is mating time for the toads. It lasts only few days, and only at this time is it possible to get very close to them. Normally they are very shy. I was trying to get a split shot with this toad when he started to crawl on my small dome port. I got some pics from this action, and this one was my favourite pic.
Location: Leipzig, Germany
Equipment Used: Sony RX100 Mark VII, Fantasea Housing, Sony Fisheye Converter, 4inch Dome, Dual Backscatter Miniflash MF1
Camera Settings: ISO 160, F8, 1/2000 sec
First place: Compact Macro
Eunhee Cho – ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’
The Story: I considered filming for a short time without strengthening the light because the sea squirt, which does not like the heat, narrows the entrance right away when I start filming. Also, shrimp are sensitive to sea squirts’ movements, so I tried to film calmly without rushing. From the moment I found the shrimp in the sea squirt until just before the sea squirt entrance was closed, this cute little shrimp kept an eye on me without much movement. It was as if this shrimp understood my mind to take pictures while being pressed for time, and I thought of E.T., the big-eyed alien in the movie I saw as a child. It was a lucky day when a small sea creature was considerate of me and I was able to shoot. So, macro is ‘a small but great world’.
Location: Dauin, Negros Oriental, Philippines
Equipment Used: Olympus TG-6 Camera, Olympus PT-059 Housing, Weefine SmartFocus 1000FR, INON UCL-67 M67 Close Up Lens
Camera Settings: ISO 100, F3.9, 1/500 sec
First place: Compact Behavior
PT Hirschfield – ‘A Male Weedy Seadragon Carries Pink Eggs on its Tail’
The Story: Last year in the judges’ comments, it was advised to find new ways to photograph common subjects. While definitely ‘other-worldly’, male weedy sea dragons carrying bright pink eggs on its tail are not a particularly unusual subject on the southeast coast of Australia. These slow-moving animals are typically very happy to pose side-on at close range in only around 4-6 metres depth . But I loved playing with the principles of photography in making this image. I observed the ‘Rule of Thirds’ and the principle of ‘edge consciousness’, but broke the ‘rules’ of shooting the subject from the front with sharp focus on the eye. Shooting this dragon from the back with its eye down and not as a focal point revealed an angle of this bright beastie that’s rarely seen.
The egg closest to the top right-hand side appears to have already hatched (which I did not realise until I saw the image at home on the computer), with almost ninety other eggs nearing their hatching time. I love the yellows, purples, blacks, whites and pinks of the subject against the backdrop blue of the water and green of the seagrass. I also like the way the ‘paddles’ on the dragon are outlined in black, which is more obvious from this angle than when photographed from other angles. I’ve taken many hundreds of images of weedy sea dragons over the years, but my decision to press the trigger from behind the subject in between side-on poses allowed me to produce an image very different to any I’ve taken or seen before, achieving a new way to photograph a fairly common subject.
Location: Flinders Pier, Victoria, Australia
Equipment Used: Canon G12, Single YS-D3 Strobe, Fix Neo 1500 Light
Camera Settings: ISO 100, F8, 1/80 sec
First place: Mobile Phone
Buzzichelli Alessandro – ‘Cassiopea in the Blue’
The Story: One day, hundreds of Cassiopea jellyfish appeared. The water was very transparent and the sunlight illuminated the scene.
Location: Sardinia, Cala Liberotto, Italy
Equipment Used: iPhone7, Haoguduo Phone Case
The Underwater Photography Guide features tutorials, technique tips, in-depth gear reviews, international workshops and breaking u/w photo news – to find out more, visit the Underwater Photography Guide’s website.
