Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020: Check out these amazing pictures
- Published
French photographer Greg LeCoeur was the overall winner with this stunning image! During an expedition in Antarctica, Greg explored the hidden face of this iceberg where crab-eater seals had made their home. The judges agreed this was the standout winner and said it "combines photographic beauty, composition, exquisite light and delicate colours".
Nicholas Moore won the British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 Award for this picture of a school of very friendly rabbit fish. Nicolas said: "The picture came together when the school bunched tightly together in a vertical tower with them all facing onto the camera."
The prize for Most Promising British Underwater Photographer went to Nur Tucker from Wimbledon, London, for this artistic photo of a seahorse called 'Commotion in the Ocean'. Nur said: 鈥淚 love experimenting and I have tried many different techniques, with varying degrees of success! After many attempts, everything came together with this shot.鈥
These curious little creatures are called unicorn shrimp! They usually live around 200 to 300 metres below sea level, but they rise to about 40m due to breeding behaviour. The photographer behind the camera, Keigo Kawamura said, "I went there many times because I could only stay for 15 minutes once a day. I was lucky to be able to find and shoot the ideal situation."
This shot of the Georgios shipwreck was taken by Renee Capozzola in Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea. In 1978, the large cargo ship became stranded on a bed of corals and then had a large fire. The wreck is now known by many locals as the 鈥淪audi Titanic鈥 and sits halfway out of the water. There is a large school of tiny fish that live inside and loads of coral growth on the ship itself.
This photo of a whale was taken in Tonga by Paolo Isgro from Italy. He said, "I saw this whale coming so close to me: it looks at me very intensely and says 鈥淗ello鈥 in one breath exhaling so many bubbles!"
Photographer Pasquale Vassallo took this brilliant picture of an octopus playing football in Italy! "I noticed a soccer ball in the distance and on the surface. Then I noticed that below it was an octopus that was being pulled along by the current. I do not know what it was doing under the ball, but I think it is training for the next football World Cup!"
The judges loved this angry-looking seahorse. "It was the two eyes with such menace which first attracted the judges!" they said. He or she does look furious, don't they?!
This picture of a basking shark was taken off the west coast of Scotland! Each summer these huge animals usually gather in large numbers in the waters around the Inner Hebrides. Basking sharks offer no threat to humans - their food is mostly animal plankton funnelled through their enormous mouths and strained through specialised gill structures.
This photo was taken on the tiny Peleliu Island in Micronesia. Sadly, the a hermit crab has made use of a discarded metal can from Asia as a temporary, yet very unnatural home. The photographer Shane Keena said, "I hope images like this bring a greater awareness that there is no 鈥渁way鈥 and helps to foster a new attitude towards becoming better stewards for this beautiful planet."