UPY 2025

UPY  Up & Coming - Third
'Minke Wave'
Ines Goovaerts

You know those moments when you imagine a shot and you hope it turns out as planned, but 99% of the time it doesn’t? Well, this wasn’t one of those. This was that 1%.
While working for a season on the Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, I had the privilege of photographing heaps of marine life. As a freediver, you mostly use the common angle facing downwards or upwards the subject. This time, I wanted to try something different and let the wave frame the animal. Easier said than done, as open ocean marine life isn’t trained very well and doesn’t respond to “stay”. Yet, very unsuspected, out of the blue, (literally) this pod of 6 Minke Whales heads my direction and starts their investigation. One individual in particular, swims besides me and freezes at the surface.
Mesmerized we look into each other’s eyes. And there it happened. The click.

Judge's comment: Open water pelagic subjects are difficult enough at the best of times but to pull this shot out of the proverbial bag is like a lottery win. A straight split would have been tricky enough but to capture a perfectly composed ‘curl’ could well be a once in a lifetime.
- Peter Rowlands