UPY 2025

UPY  British Waters Wide Angle - Commended
'Sea Hare'
Shannon Moran

Early in the spring, just before the algae bloom, the waters in Cornwall turn an incredible shade of turquoise. I made the most of the sea conditions and aimed to capture the transition from green algae filled water to the clear blue shallow water in the background of this image. The photograph was taken at a site I frequent year-round, Silver Steps in Falmouth. 2023 was a bumper year for Sea Hares at this dive site, and for a few weeks in the spring the sea floor was absolutely covered with these large sea slugs. This hare was particularly large, at around 20cm! It had started to climb up the kelp covered reef and after a few minutes made its way all the way to the top of this golden kelp stalk, where I captured this image.

Judge's comment: A delicately timed, perfectly lit with matched balanced light image completed with complimentary kelp formations. A clean, graphically unambiguous image which deserved to be in the winners enclosure of such a strong visual category.
Peter Rowlands