The Ocean Photography Awards Just Announced Their Finalists And The Photos Look Stunning (30 Pics)

Henley Spiers is an award-winning photographer who has featured regularly in the international press, including The Sunday Times and Der Spiegel, as well as multiple magazine covers. In 2019, he co-authored Black is the New Blue Vol. II, showcasing blackwater diving. His latest book, the Guide to Cebu, was co-written with his wife and frequent collaborator, Jade. Sought after as a teacher and guide, Henley also leads photographic trips to see incredible underwater wildlife encounters around the globe.

Two technical divers descend into the Blue Abyss, Mexico. This site is accessed by an hour-long underwater scooter ride and a 20-minute swim through a shallow cave system. “You pop through a hole and suddenly the floor drops out to around 70m,” says photographer SJ Bennett. The two divers pictured are at depths of approximately 15m and 30m deep.

Henley Spiers is an award-winning photographer who has featured regularly in the international press, including The Sunday Times and Der Spiegel, as well as multiple magazine covers. In 2019, he co-authored Black is the New Blue Vol. II, showcasing blackwater diving. His latest book, the Guide to Cebu, was co-written with his wife and frequent collaborator, Jade. Sought after as a teacher and guide, Henley also leads photographic trips to see incredible underwater wildlife encounters around the globe.

A remora shifts position on a humpback whale. Photographer Craig Parry was hoping to capture a close-up portrait of the whale’s eye when a suckerfish decided to move, providing him with a rare opportunity for a dynamic little-and-large behavioural shot. He has been visiting Vava’u, Tonga, for six years, spending more than 400 hours in the water in search of the perfect eye contact shot.

A surfer at the remote Shipstern Bluff in Tasmania. “Gigantic swells have battered the towering cliffs at Shipstern for millennia,” says photographer Lance Morgan. “The fractured rock walls have slowly succumbed to the wind and waves, and piece by piece, created one of the most dangerous waves in the world. This part of the world is raw, rugged and cold, and help is a long way away.”

Shane Gross is a Canadian marine conservation photojournalist and Emerging League member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He is currently based in The Bahamas working to conserve queen conch, Nassau grouper, seagrass and mangrove habitats, among others. Shane’s work has been recognised by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Underwater Photographer of the Year, Nature Photographer of the Year and many others. He is widely published around the world and his first book, Bahamas Underwater, is out soon.

Florian is an award-winning wildlife photographer who works in the polar regions. He started his photographic career in the French Navy as a photo reporter. His passion for nature and later the High Arctic led him to pursue personal projects and his dreams of using his love for nature to document the polar regions. By using drones, Florian aspires to bring a new perspective to life in these remote places. 

Survivor. A blue shark clearly displays two hooks protruding from its mouth, two lucky escapes. Photographed off the coast of Rhode Island, photographer Ron Watkins says, “I’d dived with blue sharks off the coast of Southern California in similar conditions, but none ever had hooks like this shark”.

Swimmer and environmental activist Lewis Pugh swimming off Antarctica. “We were deep into the Antarctic Peninsula for Lewis’s long distance swim,” says Olle Nordell, expedition photographer for the Lewis Pugh Foundation. “After scouting the bay for a good spot, I positioned myself in a zodiac. My window was small. As Lewis passed me, I framed him with the blue fringe of the glacier.”

A silky shark in Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen marine reserve. “I was trying to capture the crazy action of diving with silky sharks in this area,” says photographer Ron Watkins. “I set my shutter speed to 1/10th of a second and aperture to F/16 and spun the camera as the shark quickly approached to imply motion in the photograph.”