UPY 2025

UPY 2017 Wrecks - Highly Commended
'The Haunted Room'
Nadya Kulagina

On my way back from the dive, I noticed this room flooded with light. The rays of light streaming down through portholes were lined up so nicely creating a mysterious look of what this room might have looked like when the Umbria was still intact and plying the seas. I couldn’t miss an opportunity to take a picture. The wreck lies on its side with the portholes looking up toward the surface, so the saloon is turned sideways, which is very confusing to a human eye. I flipped the camera vertically to take this shot. Since I used a very slow shutter speed to expose correctly for the sun beams and still be able see the far back of the room, I had to rest the housing on the side of the opening through which I was photographing and hold my breath in order not to blur the image.

Judge's comment: Martin Edge: The Wreck Cat was strong this year and one image which particularly caught my attention was this internal view. The position of the sunbeams pouring onto the decking is particularly eye-catching and the author has exposed for both midtones and highlights. The composition leads the eye back and forth through the wreck and towards a door in the distance. The depth perspective of this image and its view is most eye catching.