UPY 2026 Wrecks - Highly Commended

UPY 2026 Wrecks - Highly Commended
'One Breath Explorer'
Wojciech Dopierala

This photograph was taken at our favorite shipwreck, located in Tabaiba (Tenerife), a place where we freedive almost every week. It is where we teach our courses, train, enjoy fun dives, and a site we have photographed countless times. Precisely because of this familiarity, we wanted to approach it differently. Both on a single breath, we descended behind the wreck. In the image, Tadeo is standing 35 meters deep, photographed with an ultra-wide-angle lens to create a strong, heroic composition. The absence of fins emphasizes the human form, while the silhouette of the shipwreck behind him provides scale, context, and depth.
Good visibility and a presence of fish, added life and atmosphere to the scene. This wreck is one of my most meaningful places to freedive and photograph, so having this image selected by the judges and reaching the finals of the wreck category is a true honor.

Judge's comment: This image lives off the atmosphere that it creates! Beautiful scenery with the freediver in an excellent position in front of the wreck with the light in the mask as the "dot in the i". It could have gotten even higher in the ranking if the freediver would be a bit more in the negative space on the right side, but we know it's difficult to do in this situation - well done !

Tobias Friedrich