The Most Impressive Photos From The Ocean Photography Awards 2021 Finalists

Collective Portfolio Award: Grace Hoarau. Snooty the lemon shark, Jupiter, Florida.

The Ocean Photography Awards are a celebration of our beautiful blue planet, as well as a platform to highlight the many plights it is facing. Finalists across six categories, including Collective Portfolio, Youth Photographer of the Year, and Conservation have been announced for the second annual Ocean Photography Awards.

‘As a keen scuba diver and underwater photographer, I appreciate what it takes to capture extraordinary photographs of the ocean: passion, skill and commitment to your craft. The finalists of the Ocean Photography Awards 2021 display those assets in abundance. Their images reveal the ocean for what it is – or at least what it should be – a place full of life, colour and wonder. They also remind us of the injustices we are inflicting upon it,’ says Marc A Hayek, president and CEO of Blancpain – one of the contest’s partners.

More: Ocean Photography Awards, Instagram h/t: 121clicks

Collective Portfolio Award: Matty Smith. Pacific Man o’ War, a colourful marine invader under an apocalyptic red sky.

Collective Portfolio Award: Stefan Christmann. Male emperor penguins huddling during polar night, to stay warm as a group.

Collective Portfolio Award: Steven Kovacs. Larval lobster carrying four larval acorn worms which are one of its food sources.

Community Choice Award: Phil de Glanville. Surfer Jack Robinson rides the famous break known as ‘The Right’, home to some of the heaviest waves in the world.

Community Choice Award: Fabrice Guerin. A sea lion hunts mackerel off the coast of Baja (California Sur, Mexico).

Youth Photographer of the Year: Hannah Le Leu. A green sea turtle hatchling cautiously surfaces for air, to a sky full of hungry birds in Heron Island, Australia.

Exploration Photographer of the Year: Martin Broen. Speleothems cast long shadows at cenote Dos Pisos (in Quintana Roo, Mexico).

Conservation Photographer of the Year: Nicholas Samaras. A seahorse clings to a face mask (in Stratoni, Greece).

Conservation Photographer of the Year: Kimball Chen. An endangered yellow-eyed penguin under a starry sky (in Curio Bay, New Zealand).

Conservation Photographer of the Year: Henley Spiers. A dead gannet hangs from a piece of discarded fishing gear, used to build its nest (in Isle of Noss, Shetland, UK).

Adventure Photographer of the Year: Sebastien Pontoizeau. A freediver duck dives to capture a photograph of a humpback whale.

Adventure Photographer of the Year: Tanya Houppermans. An American crocodile glides through the water at sunset at Gardens of the Queen, Cuba, a protected marine reserve since 1996.

Adventure Photographer of the Year: Rodrigo Thome. A shiver of hammerhead sharks.