UPY 2024

UPY 2017 Wide Angle - Third
'Interaction'
Edwar Herreño

I was lucky to join an expedition aboard MV ONDINA covering Raja Ampat North, Central & South. The South is one of my favourite places because only few boats go there. We went to dive to the sea mount 'Karang Paradise' where the biodiversity is something unique; endless coral fields, large congregations of fish and big pelagic travellers passing by. At the end of one of the dives, I found this enormous coral field full of different groups of fish. I wanted to show in my pictures the motion (I've taking motion pictures with very slow shutter speed for long time), so I set up my camera on top of a rock (I didn't have my tripod), then after few minutes completey still, this big congregation of big eye jacks came and complete surround me. A magic moment!

Judge's comment: Alex Mustard: The jacks surging over the corals captures the density of life on Raja Ampat’s reefs. The long exposure contrasts the speed of the predators with the slow growth of the coral, which creates the ecosystem that supports them. Healthy reefs are about more than beautiful corals, they are about an abundance of fish, especially big fish.