UPY 2025

UPY  British Waters Compact - Commended
'Mini Kraken'
James Lynott

I spent quite a few evenings during September and October last year doing night dives in Lochs Long and Fyne, this was partly to capture more underwater fluorescence images but also to look for little cuttlefish after hearing about multiple sightings. These little cuttlefish have so much character and different personalities, some will happily sit still on the seabed or go about their business, while others will instantly bury themselves using their arms to move silt and debris on top of them. On this dive in Loch Fyne there were many little cuttles at around 12m depth and this one was happy for me to get close enough for a couple of macro shots. To get this image I used an Inon UCL-165M67 wet lens and 36.8mm focal length (100mm equivalent).

Judge's comment: A beautiful cuttle fish on the sand with good negative space and great eye contact. I would just liked to have seen a hint of sand at the bottom of the image to give it a little more space.
- Martin Edge