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The winners of the 2022 Ocean Photographer of the 12 months competitors have been introduced, with an image of a surfer held down by one of many world’s heaviest waves, taking the highest prize.
Ben Thouard, a photographer who lives in French Polynesia captured the profitable picture of a courageous surfer in Tahiti battling in opposition to one of many heaviest waves on this planet. The wave is named Teahupo’o, or “place of skulls”.
“That is the unseen a part of browsing,” says Thouard. “I’ve a lot respect for each the wave and the surfers — browsing such a heavy wave is a large problem.”
A complete of 9 classes have been judged within the competitors, starting from Wildlife, Superb Artwork, Conservation Hope and Conservation Influence, Journey, Portfolio, Younger, and Human Connection classes. A prize fund of greater than £500,000 ($554,632) was out there, says the competitors’s organizers Oceanographic.
Photographer Katherine Lu’s picture of a blanket octopus taken on a blackwater night time dive within the Philippines gained second place, by photographer Katherine Lu.
Lu stated she was having difficulties on the dive earlier than taking the photograph and hesitated earlier than going deeper.
“Fortunately, my ears equalized, and there earlier than my eyes was this stunning blanket octopus,” explains Lu. “We swam alongside her after which, like magic, she opened up her blanket to indicate herself in all her glory.”
U.S.-based photographer Brook Peterson took third place, with a shot of a cormorant diving via a college of baitfish below an oil rig.
“There was a big faculty of baitfish below the platform for a number of weeks and, consequently, quite a few different animals [were] there to feed off the baitfish: sea lions, bonita, and cormorants,” says Peterson. “The picture depicts a cormorant searching via a big bait ball.”
Greater than 5,000 candidates submitted pictures throughout all classes — a rise of about 2,000 on the variety of entries final yr.
Thouard’s entry was unanimously voted the winner by the judging panel, which comprised six famend photographers, together with Paul Nicklen, David Doubilet, and Cristina Mittermeier.
A complete of 9 classes have been judged within the competitors, starting from Wildlife, Superb Artwork, Conservation Hope and Conservation Influence, Journey, Portfolio, Younger, and Human Connection classes.
Successful works within the competitors, which is produced by Oceanographic Journal, at the moment are being displayed at a free exhibition at Tower Bridge in London till November 7.
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