UPY 2025

UPY 2016 British Waters Wide Angle - Highly Commended
'Inquisitive flatties'
Richard Shucksmith

The seas around Shetland can offer stunning visibility with abundant marine life. I had joined a trip onboard the M/V Halton, owned and skippered by Bob Anderson. Bob had been on Shetland all summer, running week long charters out of Lerwick. As always the banter started and Bob showed me an image he had taken on the Fraoch Ban, a small fishing vessel that had sunk when it had been over-laden with sand eels. Bob's image had several flatfish in the foreground with the wreck in the background. I commented how nice the image was so Bob said he would drop me on the wreck so I could have a go. In the water at 30m the white sand reflected the light making it very bright, and as I settled down, the flatfish started to move toward me. I spent the remainder of the dive waiting for fish to move into good positions to get the image I had in mind.