UPY 2025

UPY  British Waters Wide Angle - Highly Commended
'The little monsters'
Paul Colley

Whilst working on a river conservation project, this raft of young mallard ducklings realised that I was good for some free food. I was busy with other underwater work, but the ducklings were persistent and flocked to me everywhere I went. The little monsters would even climb all over my camera and peck at my hands and head while I was trying to focus on the fish underwater. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I dried the water off my dome port, set the camera to high speed continuous shooting and let them play around the camera for a while, when I got this shot. At the end of the day, they diligently followed me to the car park!

Judge's comment: Very well executed split shot of the ducks and also a good making-of story! It could have placed even higher if the ducks would have been in a better composition, but this is not always easy to achieve. :-) - Tobias Friedrich