UPY 2025

UPY  Black & White - Commended
'Binary code'
Mizael Palomeque

We were out diving in Playa del Carmen looking for bull sharks. The job was to find sharks and document the bite marks of a group of female bull sharks that come during the last stages of their pregnancy to this area. It it common to see them with bite marks (we believe from mating), so that day I had my 100 mm. After almost 40 mins and no sharks I was quite disappointed, and we decided to ascend. At that point we were out on a sand bank, no corals, no fish, no sharks, nothing, when all of a sudden a pair of eagle rays approach me. This was very unusual, these animals are very shy and they swam with me for about five minutes and they let me capture many angles. Their skin pattern is unique, like binary code, underwater perfection.

Judge's comment: The Black and white category introduces a graphic simplicity and this image exploits it well with simple yet contrasting graphics and an unambiguous composition. It’s all quite simple, really.
Peter Rowlands