UPY 2025

UPY  Up & Coming - Commended
'Dark Paradise'
John Pfisterer

As a cave diver, I am enthralled by the magnificent textures, shapes, and details of the surreal landscape and overall grandeur of the cenotes. In the radiant sun, we delicately transported our heavy equipment from the pickup truck, through the jungle, to, penultimately, a rickety ladder that led to the cool, welcoming waters of Nohoch Nah Chich. In addition to all the side-mounted configured life support gear, seven continuous lights that together produced over 100,000 lumens and weighed 4lbs each were brought in. This level of lighting is required to illuminate all the hidden facets of a chamber of this magnitude. Diver Natalie Gibb’s presence between the columns accentuated the vastness and scale of this submerged sanctuary. I feel privileged to visit and document these locations, and to arrange lighting to reveal the story of these ancient stones.

Judge's comment: A magnificent grand scene and well planned composition. We felt a more panoramic crop would have enhanced the image and would have seen it finish even higher.
Alex Mustard