UPY 2025

UPY  British Waters Wide Angle - Runner Up
'Big Mouth, Small Prey'
Will Clark

I still find it extraordinary that it is possible to snorkel alongside the world's second biggest shark just off the west coast of Scotland. Each summer these huge animals usually gather in large numbers in the waters around the Inner Hebrides archipelago. Basking sharks offer no threat to humans - their food is mostly animal plankton funnelled through their enormous mouths and strained through specialised gill structures.
To photograph basking sharks, you must first spot one feeding, then get in the water as quietly as you can, some distance away in its direction of travel. You watch for any change of direction as it approaches and move accordingly. When it gets nearby you have to lie quietly at the surface with your fins up, so as to resemble a floating log. Make one wrong move such as a splash then the shark closes its mouth and dives deep below you.

Judge's comment: A fine image with the gaping mouth behaviour. The composition is sound with plenty of space for the shark to swim into. The under surface reflections also add to the shot.
- Martin Edge