“Gentle Giants” won first place in Wide Angle – Photo: François Baelen
Our oceans are teeming with life and beauty. Thankfully, underwater photographers are working to capture some of these wonders for us all to share.
In 2018, the Underwater Photography Guide held their 7th annual contest and the contestants delivered in a big way. The results have just been announced and the winning photos—chosen from thousands of submissions across 70 countries—might just convince you it’s time to start exploring the oceans.
This year’s competition awarded over $80,000 worth of prizes in 16 categories, including marine life behavior, cold water, and an entire section devoted to nudibranchs. We’ve selected some of our favorite winning images from this year’s competition, but you can check out all the top photos and the stories behind them here.
“Devil Ray Ballet” winner of Best of Show – Photo: Duncan Murrell
How many of us will ever witness a pair of rays engaged in courtship, much less three? Duncan Murrell was on scene to capture the fleeting encounter in which two male Spinetail devil rays attempted to court a female in Palawan, the Philippines.
“Ancistrocheirus” won first place in Macro – Photo: Jeff Milisen
Jeff Milisen spotted this sharp-eared enope squid (Ancistricheirus lesseurii), during a nighttime dive off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He chased the teeny kraken nearly 100 feet down into the abyss and captured this exquisitely detailed close-up.
“Yellow Gobies in a Bottle” third place winner in Compact Macro – Photo: Matteo Pighi
Matteo Pighi shot these yellow pigmy gobies, which took up residence in a derelict beer bottle in Anilao, Philippines.
“La Siesta” winner of third place in Compact Behavior – Photo: Jin Woo Lee
This portrait of white tip reef sharks chilling at the edge of an underwater cliff off Mexico’s Revillagigedo Archipelago is just beautiful!
“Love From a Father” third place winner in Marine Life Behavior – Photo: François Baelen
We love this incredible close up of a male clownfish in Padangbai, Bali tending to dozens of baby Nemos.
“Schools of Schools” winner of second place in Mirrorless Behavior – Photo: Debbie Wallace
A female sand tiger shark sizes up some potential lunch options off of Morehead City, North Carolina.
“Sheep on the Shot” received an honorable mention in the Nudibranch category – Photo: Chun Ho Tam
Nudibranchs never fail to put a smile on our faces! This one was shot at Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.
“Roar” received an honorable mention in the Portrait category – Photo: Jinggong Zhang
Here you see a Chaenopsid Blenny “cleaning up its lair” in Kanagawaken, Japan.
“Smile of a Friend” won second place in novice DSLR – Photo: Antonio Pastrana
We love this haunting shot of a crocodile named El Niño in Jucaro, Cuba.
“Face to Face” won an honorable mention in Mirrorless Macro – Photo: Rafi Amar
Rafi Amar apparently waited over an hour near Shark Paradise, Bahamas, to snap this shy guy!
“Million Hope Shipwreck” won an honorable mention in Mirrorless Wide Angle – Photo: Fabrice Dudenhofer
This wreck, Million Hope, is reportedly the biggest shipwreck in the Red Sea. “This ship is so huge that I did not have enough time—or enough air since this is a shallow wreck lying against the reef—to explore everything,” Dudenhofer wrote. “My idea was to show the sheer scale of the ship.”
“Dancing Jellyfish” won first place in Compact Wide Angle – Photo: Melody Chuang
Melody Chuang followed this jellyfish along the northeast coast of Taiwan for over a mile at night. Her husband used a diving torch to create the backlight for this ethereal shot.
If you too want to be able to take images like these, sign up for our Underwater Photography course today!
