UPY 2024

UPY 2018 Portrait - Highly Commended
'Pretty In Pink'
Nicholas More

The pristine reefs around the Jardines de la Reina on the south coast of Cuba are littered with colourful corals and sponges. On this particular dive I had chosen to shoot macro and I slowly passed over the reef looking for all manor of small critters to use as potential subjects. I was lucky enough to come across this small juvenile grouper hiding within a pink sponge. Although a common fish on the reef, the pink sponge made a perfect background, so I opened my aperture to blur away the detail in the sponge and waited patiently for the fish to turn and look straight down the barrel. A few frames later, I had my shot.

Judge's comment: This is an example of an image which I refer to as Immediate! There's nothing more to discover within the frame, it just hits you straight between the eyes. Stella eye contact, beautifully coloured pastel blur background. No wonder it stood out to the judges. Martin Edge