UPY 2025

UPY  Award Winners - Most Promising British Underwater Photographer 2024
'Midnight raver'
Sandra Stalker

I took this shot on a night dive at my local dive site. I had previously attempted this shot on a few dives and hadn't quite achieved what I wanted until this dive. I find the crabs to have such bold and funny characters whilst running up to me and then away wildly flailing their legs like ravers and I wanted to capture this character. The crab didn't really stand out much from the sand so I used a purple light on a torch for the back ground and then I snooted the crab with white light on a strobe, tracking it as it ran across the seabed for the long exposure. This made a lovely contrast of the green of the crab against the purple with the crab looking directly at the camera.

Judge's comment: A creative photographic mind can metamorphose an everyday scene into a stunning vision. A shore crab on sand is not usually the subject matter of photographers’ dreams, but with an innovative mix of snooted flash and continuous lighting it is transformed here. The crabs splash of colour stars as the long exposure injects energy into it swirling legs, and the dull sand becomes a stage of purple velvet.
Alex Mustard