After submitting his first-ever photograph to the celebrated Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, photographer and drone pilot Matt Deakin has been topped the competitors’s Overall Winner. His ghost-like picture Ethereal Encounter stood out to the judges, capturing a critically endangered inexperienced sawfish swimming alongside a inexperienced turtle within the waters off the Pilbara within the far north of his dwelling State.
This 12 months’s competitors attracted 2,129 entries from 501 photographers throughout 17 nations. Deakin took the 2026 title with a picture so surreal that folks preserve asking him whether or not it is AI. He says, ” That’s not an insult though, because it just doesn’t seem real.”
But capturing the successful shot had Deakin feeling the nerves. His drone – the DJI Mavic 3 Pro – was around 2.5km offshore as the light began to fade, and its battery warning was beeping. Then, a sawfish emerged from the deep water. “I just said ‘wow’,” he explains.
“I pushed the drone as long as I could to get the pictures.”
‘Ethereal Encounter’ – Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Tech info
Drone: DJI Mavic 3 Pro
Deakin shares on Instagram, “On a remote part of the WA coastline, I saw a spectral shape moving through the shallow water from the drone.
“As I hovered over the realm, the form emerged from cloudy water, revealing itself as a critically endangered Green Sawfish.
“To see and capture such a large one in the wild was a privilege, but what made this encounter even more special was that the sawfish was swimming through an area full of turtles.
“With the sunshine fading and the drone battery beeping, I waited patiently for this precise second earlier than bringing the drone again to land at a crucial 3%, all whereas being eaten by mozzies and sand flies to keep up connection!!”
Winner announcement and exhibition
The winners of the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, had been revealed by video announcement, and an exhibition that includes the 100 shortlisted photographs opens on the South Australian Museum on August 29 and runs till February 14, 2027.
A People’s Choice award can be introduced in early January.
The full gallery of pictures from this 12 months’s competitors might be discovered on the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year website.
Find out extra in regards to the exhibition on the South Australian Museum website.
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