UPY 2025

UPY  Up & Coming - Winner
'Lemon shark pups in mangrove nursery'
Anita Kainrath

The Bahamas has been a shark sanctuary since 2011 but Mangroves aren’t protected yet and that’s where these lemon shark pups spend the first 5-8 years of their lives.
I was standing in knee-high water, trying to hold my camera still, waiting for the sharks. Trying not to move when you have mosquitoes and sand-flies buzzing around you was probably the part I struggled with the most at this moment.
After less than one hour the little predators came closer and finally swam around my feet and my camera, bumping against me and trying to taste my strobes. They are curious little fellas but you need time to gain their trust and I love observing them in their natural habitat and that’s what I wanted to capture.
They are such characters and we need to protect their nurseries in order to make sure their population is not declining.

Judge's comment: As someone who is adored by mosquitoes and sand-flies I have to applaud Anita’s tenacity first and then her imagery in equal measures. Her perseverance has definitely paid off with a beautifully balanced and observed image. It’s an image we dwelt on for quite a while; not because we were unsure about it but just because we liked looking at it.
- Peter Rowlands