UPY 2025

UPY 2017 Wide Angle - Highly Commended
'Walking'
Eero Hällfors

Its was the first cold days last November and the lake had just frozen. I had a plan to do some ice diving and take nice pictures of the lake getting stronger ice cover. I didn't have much success with this plan so I started to look upwards through the ice in order to locate my fellows on the ice. Instead of them I realized that our two dogs were walking just above me with my wife. The other dogs stood still for a moment to sniff the ice - that is when I took this pic.I think it was worth of freezing fingers and one hour job, including sawing a hole in the ice and dragging all the gear onto the ice in a sledge.

Judge's comment: Alex Mustard: Ice diving often yields original underwater images, especially when photographers exploit the up view through a solid surface. Although the photographer entered other images of his dogs, this one stood out to us because the fisheye distortion makes this look tantalisingly like a polar bear.