This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you may go to the hyperlink bellow: https://petapixel.com/2026/02/26/underwater-photographer-of-the-year-2026-elephant-seal-pups/and if you wish to take away this text from our website please contact us [ad_1] Two elephant seals on Sealion Island within the Falklands. Winner of the Portrait class and Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026. | Matty Smith/UPY2026 An lovely pair of Southern elephant seal pups, photographed in a rockpool on the Falkland Islands, sees Matty Smith from Australia named Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) 2026. Smith’s {photograph} ‘Rockpool Rookies’ triumphed over 7,900 photos entered by underwater photographers from around the globe. “Once their pups are weaned, elephant seal mothers abandon them ashore,” explains Smith. “I watched dozens clamber over one another in shallow rockpools, awkwardly learning to swim. On my very first evening, the sky ignited with colour and I captured a handful of frames before the light vanished. It was the defining moment of the long trip.” Smith constructed a particular dome-shaped digital camera housing to seize the under-over perspective of the pups. “Elephant seals were hunted right to the brink of extinction,” says chair of the judging panel, marine ecologist Dr. Alex Mustard. “Their oil-rich blubber was used for everything from fuel for lighting to margarine. Fortunately, the hunt was stopped just in time, and their recovery over the last 100 years is a great example of resilience of the ocean. A beautiful and hopeful photograph.” 10 Winners of Underwater Photographer of the Year A curious and playful juvenile sperm whale approaches the photographer who referred to as it an ‘unforgettable moment’. Winner of the Wide Angle class. | Cecile Gabillon Barats/UPY2026 A commensal shrimp captured inside its naturally spirally whip coral residence. Winner of the Macro class. | SeongCheol Cho/UPY2026 IJN Nagato, a famed Japanese battleship from which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is claimed to have issued the order to assault Pearl Harbor and was later sunk by the United States on the finish of World War II, sits the other way up on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. Winner of the Wrecks class. | Niclas Andersson/UPY2026 Clownfish eggs hatch in entrance of the mother or father’s watchful gaze. Winner of the Behaviour class. | Kazushige Horiguchi/UPY2026 A uncommon picture exhibiting a coral reproducing. Winner of the Coral Reefs class. | Dr. Tom Shlesinger/UPY2026 A lone wrasse punctuates a coral window off Sado Island, Japan. Winner of the Black and White class. | Shunsuke Nakano/UPY2026 A leopard seal bears its tooth because it lunges towards the digital camera within the icy waters of Antarctica. Winner of the Up and Coming class. | Sam Blount/UPY2026 Taken on a Sony RX100 M7, a freshwater crayfish poses in entrance of an Alpine peak. Winner of the Compact class. | Andrea Michelutti/UPY2026 A frogfish lies in await its prey. Winner of the Smartphone class. | Cack Ho/UPY2026 A bit boy sits on high of a slain pilot whale throughout the controversial Gridadrap, an annual hunt within the Faroe Islands. Winner of the Marine Conservation class. | Khaichuin Sim/UPY2026 The Underwater Photographer of the Year contest is predicated within the U.Okay. and goals to advertise underwater pictures. To see all the awarded photographs, head to the website. [ad_2] This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you may go to the hyperlink bellow: https://petapixel.com/2026/02/26/underwater-photographer-of-the-year-2026-elephant-seal-pups/and if you wish to take away this text from our website please contact us