UPY 2025

UPY  Marelux Wide Angle - Commended
'Concealed'
Sina Ritter

Marinelife encounters always remind me that curiosity is not exclusively human behavior. That day, especially, the pilot whales studied me as much as I them. Whenever I pushed the shutter release, I could see how their intrigue was raised. It was a group of young rascals: curious, playful, communicative. While most kept a safe distance to me and my weird *click*, this particular individual wanted to take a closer look. He was incredibly fast. Consequently, I raised my shutter speed. For weeks I had been trying to get a clear, naturally lit split-shot of a whale. It was a sunny day, so I chose a relatively low ISO, optimistically aiming at his eyes… What I like most about how this shot turned out: The framing through the surface wavelet. A fine line between our two worlds, sufficient though for even the biggest creatures to stay concealed, if they choose to.

Judge's comment: Wonderful and very artistic split shot of an animal which is not at all easy to photograph. Personally, I would have liked to see this image even higher in the ranking, but the lower part is a bit too dark and you can only barely see the eye of the animal. Nevertheless, it's a great image and incredible effort of the photographer.
Tobias Friedrich