All you need is love: The Underwater photographer of the Year winners
Winners from this year's prestigious prize includes a cute baby turtle, a terrifying great white shark and a fish swallowing another whole.
An astounding photo of five whale sharks, feeding together at night in the waters of the Maldives has been named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022. The photograph triumphed over 4,200 underwater pictures entered by underwater photographers from 71 countries. The image captures a unique ocean event, taken in demanding photographic conditions.
Competition judge, Peter Rowlands, commented; “this image took my breath away from the first viewing and I never tired coming back to it. Scale, light and the sheer numbers of big subjects, this was, by some distance, our winning image.”
Underwater Photographer of the Year is an annual competition that celebrates photography beneath the surface of the ocean, lakes, rivers and even swimming pools. British photographer Phil Smith was the first underwater Photographer of the Year, named in 1965.
Today’s competition attracts entries from all around the world, has 13 categories, testing photographers with themes such as Macro, Wide Angle, Behaviour and Wreck photography, as well as four categories for photos taken specifically in British waters. This year’s judges were experienced underwater photographers Peter Rowlands, Tobias Friedrich and Dr Alexander Mustard MBE.
We bring you our favourites from this year's competition winners.
Giants of the night - Overall winner & wide-angle category winner
All you need is love - 'My backyard' category winner
Diamonds and rust - Most promising winner
Great white split - Portrait category runner-up
Big appetite - 'Save Our Seas Foundation' winner
Beauty on a red anemone skirt - 'My Backyard' highly commended
Gannet storm - British waters wide angle category winner
Against all odds - Wide angle category third place
More images from BBC Science Focus:
- Cute couple of squirrels win Close-up photo competition
- The best images in science January 2022
- Studying the Danakil Desert for signs of extreme life
The circle of life - Behaviour category runner-up
Coral on the Kittiwake - Wrecks category third place
City of angels - Macro category runner-up
Sunset ray - Wide angle category runner-up
Authors
James Cutmore is the picture editor of BBC Science Focus Magazine, researching striking images for the magazine and on the website. He is also has a passion for taking his own photographs
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