UPY 2026 Wrecks - Highly Commended

UPY 2026 Wrecks - Highly Commended
'Spooky Sharkplane-O'
Dan Mele

Sharkeplane-o is one of the most well-known wreck dive sites in the British Virgin Islands. The site features three airplanes damaged during Hurricane Irma in 2017, later transformed into sculptures shaped like sharks. This project was spearheaded by local BVI organization, Beyond the Reef. I originally dove the site to shoot video, but after capturing what I needed, I switched to stills. Visibility was excellent, which allowed me to shoot mostly with ambient light. To add drama, I removed one video light and placed it inside the wreck to illuminate the mouth. This created a much spookier effect than I expected. By setting my white balance for ambient light and then introducing white light inside the wreck, the reds around the mouth became more pronounced, making it look bloody—almost as if the sharkplane-o had just fed.

Judge's comment: I think this is the very first wreck image which made me laugh out loud! What a great idea to put a light behind the "bloody teeth" to make them stand out even more. Very well done!

Tobias Friedrich