UPY 2025

UPY  British Waters Wide Angle - Highly Commended
'What the Duck?!'
Jenny Stock

This expressive image was taken using a unique ‘tripod mounted camera rig’, remotely controlled, on the bank of the River Test. I explored several positions until I settled on a location that had both a great backdrop and where the brown trout, rainbow trout and ducks were comfortable approaching the camera.
After a few hours, the animals were habituated and swam right up the lens. I was then able to take as many shots as I wanted. In the edit I took my favourite animal portraits and blended them together, a job which is easily done when your photos have an identical background. An advantage of this special underwater set-up is you can eat crisp sandwiches, sup tea from a flask and have lengthy conversations with your friends whilst capturing beautiful images. Such tasks are much harder to do whilst engaging in traditional diving photography...

Judge's comment: River photography is challenging, but fortunately Jenny didn’t settle for just getting a shot. Instead she made the most of the remote camera set up to take multiple frames from the same position to blend into the perfect picture.
Alex Mustard