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UPY 2026 British Waters Wide Angle - Highly Commended
'Ladder To The Deep'
Guy Trees
The scale of this now hollow mountain never fails to impress me. My buddy and model, Aithne, hovers silently beside the chain ladder, dwarfed by the vast, shadowed space and the mine floor some 20 metres below. Seen from this perspective, the ladder becomes a simple marker of scale, hinting at the immense volume of rock that was removed during the mine’s working life.
While mine diving in the UK is less well known than in some parts of continental Europe, I hope images like this show that we have extraordinary underground dive sites of our own. With the right training and the necessary landowner permissions, these forgotten spaces reveal a dramatic and rarely seen side of the underwater world.
Judge's comment: Guy had a similar image in the last year's competition, but this shot is so impressive that it insisted to be included. The composition and lighting are just excellent. I think with a bit more clarity, structure and contrast in processing the image to get even better and could have finished even higher!
Tobias Friedrich
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