UPY 2025

UPY 2017 Up & Coming - Winner
'Oceanic in the Sky'
Horacio Martinez

This was my first Red Sea experience, and my first liveaboard-based photo workshop, so everything was interesting... but arduous. We were on the last dive of the day and I ventured a tad deeper to get closer portraits of the Oceanic White Tips, when I noticed this shark patrolling in the distance. I took a few shots to expose for the sun beams and the surface, and was pleased by the dreamlike effect. Oceanics are great subjects for close ups as they are anything but shy. Yet, every now and then it is great to try and capture their apparent loneliness, their wandering, and their independence in the big blue.

Judge's comment: Peter Rowlands: There was a lot of competitive images in this category, as you would expect but this one was a serious contender right from the start. The photographer has 'seen' the light and realised its dramatic effect extremely well and used it to contrast the small shark in a big, blue, lonely world. Very evocative indeed.