The Ocean Photography Awards Just Announced Their Finalists For 2022, And Here Are The Best 40 Photos

Florian Ledoux, Svalbard, Norway.

Aerial view of a large male polar bear roaming Arctic's rapidly thinning and melting spring ice. "Spring had arrived and the ice was melting during this shoot," says photographer Florian Ledoux. "This male bear went through the ice on a couple of occasions, swimming for stretches, but he had a quest - he was tracking the scent of a female."

Rafael Fernandez Caballero, Bermeo, Spain.

Mako shark at sunset. "Mako sharks are the fastest animal in the ocean," says photographer Rafael Fernandez Caballero. " Spending sunset with a predator like this is magical. Not only for creating pictures, but for witnessing it speeding along amongst the orange rays. It makes your heart beat a little faster. Mako sharks are endangered and, according to some scientific studies, face extinction in just a few decades."

Renee Capozzola, Philippines.

A turtle takes a rest on the reef off Apo Island in the Philippines. "Apo Island is home to a community-organised marine sanctuary. The concept was introduced to the local fishermen in 1982, and has been the inspiration for many more sanctuaries in the Philippines since," says photographer Renee Capozzola.

Gabriel Barathieu, Mayotte.

"I took this photo during the first test dive of a new rig - Canon R5 in a Seacam housing. It was also the first time I used a wide angle lens during a night dive," says photographer Gabriel Barathieu. "I was secretly hoping to meet a squid for long exposure tests with rear-curtain synchronisation. That's why I took the 14-35mm lens, to be closer to the subject. After 15 minutes of diving, I came face-to-face with this squid and spent 30 minutes having fun with long exposures and flashes in stroboscope mode."

Joshua Munoz, French Polynesia.

"Every winter humpback whales migrate north from Antarctica to French Polynesia, to warmer waters to give birth and mate," says photographer Josh Munoz. "Calves are curious and often leave their mother's side to interact with us in the water - the mother always keeping one eye on her newborn."

Fabrice Guerin, Mexico.

"In the heart of a silence just interrupted by my air bubbles, darkness gives way to this freediver that goes back and forth from the bottom of this cenote to the surface," says photographer Fabrice Guerin. "This freshwater sinkhole, calm, clear and without current, is ideal for training. A sulfur cloud located about twenty meters below reflects the sun rays which then work a real miracle. Originally the hydrogen sulphide layer is flat, but as we enter it repeatedly, clouds form, giving us an impression of underwater waves."

André Musgrove, Bahamas.

A woman lies on the seabed, surrounded by fragments of a dead coral reef. "This photo shows how we have become engulfed by our own destruction as a result of poor climate change practices," says photographer André Musgrove. "I wanted to bring attention to the issue of coral reef death due to both natural and human causes. With the rise of climate change, nations like The Bahamas have become increasingly susceptible to stronger hurricanes that have wreaked havoc on Bahamian islands."

Steve Woods, Dominica.

"This particular female sperm whale kept falling asleep in front of us, then waking up and investigating us again," says photographer Steve Woods. "On one occasion, as she did this in a patch of Sargassum seaweed, I managed to capture this image of a good friend who dived down for a moment with her."

Khaichuin Sim, Malaysia.

A freediver dives into a school of jackfish. "I always wanted to create an image of a human 'coexisting' with the underwater world," says photographer Khaichuin Sim. "My wife is a skilled freediver, so on this shoot I asked her to dive towards the middle of this school until I got this beautiful image of her surrounded with storm of jackfish."

Simon Lorenz, Sri Lanka.

 

"When searching for whales in the open ocean we always inspect islands of flotsam as they can be interesting wildlife aggregators," says photographer Simon Lorenz. "This large ghostnet island was a death trap for an Olive Ridley sea turtle which we found entangled and struggling. She still looked healthy and strong so, when approaching her we had to be careful not to aggravate her. Getting her disentangled took a machete and more than 30 minutes of hard work. When all the netting was removed we checked the turtle over and sent her on her way."

Ishino Shota, Japan.

A turtle passes a bleached reef. "Due to the high water temperatures in the summer, the entire coral reef system in this area was seriously damaged," says photographer Ishino Shota. "Almost all of the zooxanthellae that aids the coral's biological activity has gone. A turtle swims past, as if observing the human destruction inflicted upon the reef."

Tom St George, Mexico.

"Safety, conservation and team diving are integral to cave diving, and cave diving photography is no different," says photographer Tom St George. "It is very much a team effort. Featured in this photograph is Ellen Cuylaerts, who hovers motionless and awestruck after passing through a series of small passages and emerging to a view of these gigantic formations, that took millennia to form, and that she is seeing for the first time!"

Christophe Mason-Parker, Seychelles.

"My wife and I were snorkelling over the vast seagrass beds that surround Desroches Island in Seychelles," says photographer Christophe Mason-Parker. "I wanted to capture an image of her snorkelling close to shore that highlighted the healthy Thalassodendron meadows, along with the coconut palms, which fringe the shoreline."

Rafael Fernandez Caballero, Mexico.

A dead sperm whale beached and bloody, its tail showing signs of entanglement. "Seeing a dead animal is always sad," says photographer Rafael Fernandez Caballero, "but seeing a huge mammal dead, like this sperm whale, is indescribable. From land the scene was terrifying, but from the air the situation was even more shocking and dramatic. The river of blood stretched for perhaps more than a mile."

Tom Vierus, French Polynesia.

Shark scientists attach a temperature logger to the dorsal fin of a newborn blacktip reef shark in the shallow waters just off Moorea, French Polynesia. "During fieldwork, the young sharks are captured with a gillnet, measured, tagged and released and some individuals received temperature loggers as seen in this photo," says photographer Tom Vierus. "These loggers will record the surrounding water temperature for as long as they are attached and once retrieved will aid the scientists in understanding how warming waters affect the physiology and ecology of young sharks."

Simone Caprodossi, Baja California, Mexico.

A brown pelican makes the most of fishing boat scraps. "Brown pelicans gather is numbers in ports and landing sites for fishing boats along the coast of Baja California," says photographer Simone Caprodossi. "We spent two days at an historical shark landing site off Bahia Magdalena engaging with the pelicans as they approached the fishing boats ready to take advantage of the fish scraps that are disposed of from the nets. The competition for the discarded catch is fierce with several pelicans swinging their beaks at the same time, pouch open to catch the easy meal. This clever pelican managed to push back its rivals with his open wings, protecting his catch at the same time."

Thien Nguyen, Vietnam.

The protected mangrove forest of Ru Cha, in the Tam Giang lagoon, Thua Thien-Hue Province, Vietnam. "This aerial image of the mangrove forest expresses the connection between humans and nature, and how we rely on nature to survive," says photographer Thien Nguyen Ngoc.

Julian Jacobs, United States.

"Ten weeks after rupturing my eardrums in a scuba diving accident, I got the ok to head back into the ocean," says photographer Julian Jacobs. "On my return to my favourite reef, I was met with the king tide. The visibility was almost nonexistent so I began to think about heading in. At that moment, hundreds of seabirds took to the skies around me - they were chasing bait balls. I swam over to the aggregation, carefully inching closer to the seabirds. As the waves washed over me, I framed the moment, an over/under shot of a juvenile brown pelican and its turbulent home."

Pasquale Vassallo, Italy.

"This winter, I collaborated with AMP Regno di Nettuno from the islands of Ischia and Procida, to produce a guide of the most beautiful dives on the two islands," says photographer Pasquale Vassallo. "During a dive at one of the sites, I was on the boat and noticed something strange on the surface. I decided to check what it was. As I swam closer, through the jellyfish, I realised, to my great sadness, that it was a sea turtle carcass. Its carapace was broken, most probably by the propeller of a boat. The animal was also lying in a large amount of rubbish, abandoned in the sea by us humans."

Simone Caprodossi, Dubai.

Sharks lined up at a fish market. "Several years ago, visiting the Dubai Fish market on any day, you would find hundreds of sharks - species I could only dream of encountering underwater - lined-up, lifeless, waiting to be auctioned. Endangered sharks like this smooth hammerhead were often traded from Oman to the UAE, their fins destined to the Asian markets. After their listing on CITES in 2014 much of this trade has become regulated and the UAE has fully protected the species, so these scenes are hopefully a memory from the past in Dubai, but remain a crude reality in many countries where protection is not yet in place."