UPY 2025

UPY  Black & White - Highly Commended
'The Big Meeting'
Mike Korostelev

Sperm whales are the largest toothed predator on our planet, capable of diving to extreme depths. As breath-hold divers they have been recorded diving more than two kilometres below the surface of the ocean, using their powerful echolocation (they make the loudest sound of any animal) to locate prey in the darkness. They also have the largest brain of any species living or extinct. Between feeding dives they rest and warm up at the surface of the ocean, often hanging vertically in the water. This composition shows just how large they are, with the free diver providing an ideal sense of scale.

Judge's comment: A well chosen black and white simplification to David and Goliath proportions enhanced by enough subject and surface reflections to entertain without interfering with the overall impact.

Peter Rowlands