© Seong-Cheol Cho / UPY2026
Calm on the Coronary heart of Turmoil. Winner, Macro. Cho: “Whereas diving in Tulamben with my information, Jaye, I encountered a commensal shrimp dwelling inside a naturally spiraling whip coral. One thing I had lengthy hoped to see, the coral’s deep, wealthy inexperienced shaped a placing nest for the brightly coloured shrimp resting inside. By introducing crimson and blue mild towards the inexperienced coral, I wished to create a way of intense magnificence mixed with visible turbulence, whereas expressing the shrimp’s stillness on the heart.”
© Sam Blount / UPY2026
Lunging Leopard. Winner, Up & Coming, and Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the 12 months. Blount: “For years, the leopard seal topped my Antarctic want checklist, a predator I dreamed of encountering nose to nose. I’ve to say, this dive was every part I might have hoped for: clear water, good lighting, and a playful seal. Leopard seals wield an astonishing array of dominance shows, and this one put all of them to make use of, darting round me with easy energy.”
© David Alpert / UPY2026
Energy and Tempo. Third Place, Black & White. Alpert: “December in Cape City and the younger fur seals are tremendous lively, enjoying within the waves as they crash onto the jagged rocks of Duiker Island. Becoming a member of them within the surf is exhilarating, although images is extremely tough. These animals shoot by means of the swell like lightning bolts; there isn’t a time for autofocus, solely intuition.”
© Matty Smith / UPY2026
Rockpool Rookies. Winner, Portrait, and Underwater Photographer of the 12 months 2026. Smith: “As soon as a number of weeks previous and weaned from their mom’s milk, elephant seal pups are deserted by their mother and father on shore, left to navigate life alone. On Sea Lion Island within the Falklands, I watched dozens of them clamber over each other in shallow rockpools, awkwardly studying to swim, and fairly participating to my presence. I’d come right here for this second, to witness and {photograph} their first solo classes in life.”
© Ilaria Mariaguilia Rizzuto / UPY2026
Rescued and rehabilitated at CESTHA. Third Place, “Save our Seas Basis” Marine Conservation. Rizzuto: “This picture is a part of a photographic reportage produced on the CESTHA marine rescue heart in Italy, documenting the day by day work behind marine-wildlife rehabilitation. The turtle is a big grownup feminine, estimated to be round 45 years previous, being moved from the remedy tank into a bathtub for transport to the ocean after months of care.”
© Fabian Becker / UPY2026
JAWS. Second Place, Macro. Becker: “In Bohol, Philippines, lizard fish are frequent and simply neglected reef inhabitants, usually encountered resting immobile on sand or rubble. With this picture, I wished to maneuver past the predictable picture of a sedentary ambush predator and reveal an surprising view of the species.”
© Ventura Romero / UPY2026
Collectively we will! Second Place, Conduct. Romero: “A uncommon and surprising behavioral commentary. A bunch of sperm whales have been engaged in social habits at a depth of roughly 20 meters. Whereas descending and trying to align the camera-housing viewfinder with my masks to border the scene, a sudden motion in my proper peripheral imaginative and prescient drew my consideration. Inside seconds, an oceanic whitetip shark appeared in entrance of me, briefly approached and visually assessed me, then abruptly turned and retreated.”
© Simon Theuma / UPY2026
A Time to Dream. Third Place, Macro. Theuma: “I’ve a somewhat particular spot close to Shellharbour, New South Wales, my native dive web site, only a brief 15-minute drive from residence. It’s a dive web site bursting with life, and each dive there appears like an journey. I all the time see mosaic sea stars, and their shiny colours all the time catch my eye. This time, I used to be fortunate sufficient to discover a tiny commensal shrimp, nearly 20 millimeters lengthy, nestled on one of many sea star’s arms.”
© Steven Kovacs / UPY2026
Screaming Swallower. Second Place, Portrait. Kovacs: “Yearly off the coast of Florida, from late July to early October, Kali colubrina, a fish belonging to the household Chiasmodontidae and generally generally known as snaketooth fishes or swallowers, makes an look throughout blackwater dives. Fish on this household are famend for his or her means to eat prey bigger than themselves, with mouths and stomachs able to increasing to accommodate prey as much as twice their size and 10 instances their weight.”
© Jean-Baptiste Cazajous / UPY2026
Residing Wreck. Second Place, Wrecks. Cazajous: “The Donator, or Prosper Schiaffino, is a cargo shipwreck that was sunk by a mine in 1945. It is without doubt one of the most well-known wrecks on the French coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. This wreck is an incredible synthetic reef. Each inch of it’s coated in life.”
© Cecile Gabillon Barats / UPY2026
Blissful Child. Winner, Extensive Angle. Barats: “As a tour chief and photographer in Dominica, I used to be lucky to expertise a very magical encounter with a curious juvenile sperm whale. We entered the water at a respectful distance alongside the mom and her calf, watching because the mom ready to dive searching for meals, leaving her teen on the floor. Virtually instantly, the calf spun round and approached us, coming remarkably shut, mouth vast open to disclose his rising enamel, rolling playfully the other way up. It appeared he was desirous to work together. We might clearly see a bit of squid held in his jaw and the various scars already etched into his pores and skin.”
© Shunsuke Nakano / UPY2026
Coral Window. Winner, Black & White. Nakano: “Mild enters the wreck by means of a window, a sq. minimize into historical past and now taken over by life. Selecting to shoot in black and white, I’m inviting the viewer to distinction the thick, straight artifical strains with the fragile and complicated patterns of nature. Gorgonians fan outward like frozen breath, turning rust into artwork. Between them, a lone wrasse punctuates the body, offering motion in an in any other case nonetheless composition.”
© Dan Bolt / UPY2026
New Life. Third Place, British Waters Macro. Bolt: “I needed to be cautious, whereas getting this shot, to not disturb the attendant grownup scorpionfish who was defending their newly laid eggs. I wished to seize the tiny, still-forming eyes inside every little spherical embryo, whereas on the identical time having sufficient depth of discipline to point out simply how densely packed they have been within the nest.”
© Kirsty Andrews / UPY2026
Nightfall Encounter. Second Place, British Waters Extensive Angle. Andrews: “Twenty twenty-five has actually been the 12 months of the Octopus in southern England, as these eight-armed wonders have taken over coastal reefs in vital numbers. Porthkerris in Cornwall has been a specific sizzling spot for divers to see them. As nightfall fell and darkness began to descend, I adopted a big, assured particular person, patrolling and making fascinating poses because it moved. Turning a nook, it chanced upon one other giant octopus, and immediately the 2 sprang collectively into this mysterious scene.”
© Evan Johnston / UPY2026
A Assembly of Giants. Winner, British Waters Extensive Angle. Johnston: “What began out with two giant sharks feeding on the floor become three, then 4, then 5 over the course of the day. In some unspecified time in the future many of the sharks had gone, and after watching the final tail fade away, I rotated and was greeted with the picture right here. These sharks had stopped feeding and shaped a good shoal, earlier than breaking off and swimming in sluggish rhythmic circles, finally spiraling off into the deep. This habits is called a torus and is regarded as a courtship habits and the precursor to mating—though that is still a thriller.”
© Kazushige Horiguchi / UPY2026
Clownfish Hatchout. Winner, Conduct. Horiguchi: “This {photograph} captures the precise second clownfish eggs hatch in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Within the late afternoon, my shut buddy Koji Matsuda instructed me that the eggs would hatch that day. Even earlier than hatching, the guardian clownfish rigorously guarded the eggs, continuously looking forward to predators as they waited for the second to return. I used to be capable of seize the moment the larvae emerged.”
Make sure to go to the official web site of the competitors to see all of the winners.
