UPY 2024

UPY 2018 Wide Angle - Commended
'Down the stream'
Wendy Timmermans

Visiting the Mexican Cenotes was like a dream for me. This picture was taken with natural light and on one breath only, while freediving. Arriving in Mexico, our disappointment at finding 'The Pit' closed for freedivers instantly disappeared when we discovered the remote Cenote Nah Yah. A hypnotizing bundle of sunbeams lightened up the crystal clear water into the depths, contrasting with the darkness. In this picture fellow freediver Guillaume Bihet is descending into the deep. Together we create our images and share them as Seadrops Photography. Inside the Cenote the water was completely still and silent. But the small water movement resulting from the descent created a circular pattern on the surface, beautifully contrasting with the straightness of the beams underwater.

Judge's comment: Graphic simplicity combined with a graceful pose produces an image which immediately demands the attention of a judge's eye. The dark corners concentrate the eye without taking away for a lovely sense of calm which this image portrays.
Peter Rowlands