UPY 2025

UPY  Compact - Highly Commended
'Fire in the tunnel'
Ben Sarinda

Snapping boxing shrimp is a subject that is difficult to photograph. Not all divers know how to find them, as they live deep inside tube sponges. To create this shot, I used two Fotocore flash lights aimed through the walls of the sponge to light the subject.
The difficulty level comes when placing flashlights right to the shrimp inside the tube. It takes time to get the perfect lighting. My initial idea was just to get close up shot of the shrimp, but after many shots I decided to pull the camera further back for better composition of the blue and orange colours and dark part inside the sponge.

Judge's comment: We’ve seen this idea before, but never so beautifully produced. We love the pose of the shrimp and particularly the yellow blue combination in the ever decreasing circles composition.

Alex Mustard