If you are following Master Divers on our Social Media channels – such as Facebook, Instagram or our own blog – it should be no secret that we absolutely love underwater photography. Year after year, the ‘Ocean Art Contest’ showcases some of the absolute best underwater shots and makes us want to put all these exotic dive destinations on our scuba diving bucket lists.
And the winner is…
Pretty much exactly one year ago now, we presented our favourite shots from the Ocean Art Contest 2018. Mantas, sharks and macro shots of teeny tiny anemone eggs were just a few of the subjects that caught our attention back then.
Our oceans are teeming with life and beauty. Thankfully, underwater photographers are working to capture some of these wonders for us all to share.
Elaine Brett, Master Divers owner and passionate underwater photographer
And here’s what the ‘Master Divers Photography team’ picked for you this year:
The first picture that caught our attention is this gorgeous formation of bat fish. While we normally don’t dive close to our main pier here on Koh Tao, we certainly see bat fish quite regularly on our dives around the island. They usually like to hang out in big schools and always make for a great picture!
Lionfish are some other regular visitors on Koh Tao’s dive sites. While they always have been around (usually at deeper depths), we seem to be getting more and more regular visits, especially at local favourite Chumphon Pinnacle.
This amazing picture highlights a lionfish on a so called blackwater dive and the photographer managed to almost make it look like a little underwater alien, don’t you think?!
A good photographer does not only try to capture a (special) moment, but also aims to tell a story through their images:
This heartbreaking picture of a dead turtle, entangled in a bit of fishing line, is certainly sending an important message. It won the 1st place in the ‘Conservation’ category and we truly hope that it receives attention on social media as well as the publicity it deserves…
Thankfully, there were also a lot of pictures amidst the winning shots which showcased some very healthy and colourful reefs – like this image which was taken in South Africa and is aptly named ‘Biodiversity’:
Trust us, we could be going on and on with our selection since ALL of the winning pictures are pretty amazing!
But we’ll be closing our selection with one last shot which is quite a whirlwind of a photograph… If you have ever dived in the middle of a ‘fish ball‘ before’ you’ll know exactly how much fun it must have been to take this shot!
You should make sure to check out the full list of winners! Which one is your favourite? Let us know in the comments!
All images are credited and were taken from UW Photography Guide.
