Spectacular Winning Images of The Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022

The Ocean Photographer of the Year is a celebration of our beautiful blue planet, as well as a platform to highlight the many plights it is facing.

Ocean photographers of all disciplines and experience levels – amateurs and professionals alike – are invited to submit their most impactful imagery to be judged by a panel of some of the world’s leading ocean photographers, including International Photography Hall of Fame inductee Paul Nicklen, founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers, Cristina Mittermeier, and Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Shawn Heinrichs.

A total of nine categories will be judged, with the overall winner crowned the Ocean Photographer of the Year in September this year.

Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022 – Second place – Katherine Lu. A blanket octopus shows off its beautiful patterns and colours, Philippines. (Photo by Katherine Lu/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

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Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022 – Third place – Brook Peterson. A cormorant dives through a huge school of baitfish, creating a series of shapes that mimic a human face, United States. (Photo by Brook Peterson/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Human Connection Award: People and Planet Ocean – Winner – Steve Woods. A free diver interacts with a sperm whale among a cloud of sargassum weed, Dominica. (Photo by Steve Woods/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Human Connection Award: People and Planet Ocean – Second place – Simon Lorenz. A dive guide cuts an olive ridley turtle free from plastic debris, Sri Lanka. (Photo by Simon Lorenz/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Human Connection Award: People and Planet Ocean – Highly commended – Josh Munoz. A humpback whale, her calf and a human, French Polynesia. (Photo by Josh Munoz/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Conservation Photographer of the Year (Hope) – Highly commended – Steve Walsh. A school of weedy seadragons – an extremely rare sight for these typically solitary animals, Australia. (Photo by Steve Walsh/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Ocean Wildlife Photographer of the Year – Winner – Rafael Fernandez Caballero. A pod of pilot whales pose for a family portrait, Spain. (Photo by Rafael Fernandez Caballero/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Ocean Wildlife Photographer of the Year – Highly commended – Nadia de Lange. Two polar bear cubs cosy up to their mother, Norway. (Photo by Nadia de Lange/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Conservation Photographer of the Year (Impact) – Third place – Dmitry Kokh. Polar bears make a “home” of an abandoned station on Kolyuchin Island, Russia. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Conservation Photographer of the Year (Impact) – Winner – Simon Lorenz. An olive ridley sea turtle entangled in a mass of ocean debris, Sri Lanka. (Photo by Simon Lorenz/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Conservation Photographer of the Year (Hope) – Winner – Nicolas Remy. An aggregation of critically endangered grey nurse sharks off the coast of New South Wales, Australia. (Photo by Nicolas & Léna Remy/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Portfolio Award Winner – Matty Smith. A split-shot of a great white shark. (Photo by Matty Smith/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Portfolio Award Winner – Matty Smith. A male cuttlefish, still displaying its courting colours, next to the ink of two other males that had been fighting over a female. (Photo by Matty Smith/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Portfolio Award Winner – Matty Smith. Anemone fish in their colourful home. (Photo by Matty Smith/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Ocean Conservation Photographer of the Year (Impact) – Second place – Rafael Fernandez Caballero. A dead sperm whale, beached and bloody, its tail showing signs of entanglement, Mexico. (Photo by Rafael Fernandez Caballero/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Female Fifty Fathoms Award – Brooke Pyke. Two Stokes’s sea snakes mating, Western Australia. (Photo by Brooke Pyke/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Female Fifty Fathoms Award – Brooke Pyke. A whale shark, and company, Western Australia. (Photo by Brooke Pyke/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

Female Fifty Fathoms Award – Brooke Pyke. A leopard shark cruises over the sandy bottom of the Ningaloo Reef lagoon. (Photo by Brooke Pyke/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)

The Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022 – Winner – Ben Thouard. A surfer battles with the underwater turbulence created by the “heaviest wave in the world” – Teahupo’o – which translate as “place of skulls”, French Polynesia. (Photo by Ben Thouard/Ocean Photographer of the Year 2022)