UPY 2025

UPY  Macro - Winner
'Magic backlit'
Paolo Bondaschi

At the end of this dive, I spotted a couple of underwater photographers focused on shooting and it piqued my curiosity about what they were photographing. I signalled to my guide to check what they were shooting. After realizing that it was one of my favourite subjects, a hairy shrimp, I waited patiently for my turn and used the time to plan and prepare for the shot. I chose to shoot it in profile, backlight with a snoot. My guide and my buddy played a fundamental role in expertly managing the light of the snoot. After a few test shots to find the right setting, I finally got the photo I was looking for.

Judge's comment: Perfect execution and image ! What a nice winning shot for this strong macro category this year. I love the minimalistic approach to a subject which is tiny and not easy to get a crisp shot of. The perfect position of the hairy shrimp is almost too good to be true, but these animals are very skittish and we concluded this is natural perfection, which is also emphasized to the maximum by the very selective lighting by the photographer.

Tobias Friedrich