The Underwater Photography Guide, organizer of the annual Ocean Art Underwater Photography Competition, has announced this year’s winners.
Although the artificial intelligence revolution has quickly changed the global photographic landscape, this year’s winners are a testament to creative perseverance over machine. With new rules against the use of generative AI imagery in the primary categories, the winning photos are 100% real.
This year’s best in show image features a rare and fascinating portrait of a Crab-Eating
Macaque resolutely swimming through the ocean, captured by Suliman Alatiqi.
This year’s competition separated the old Underwater Art categories into Underwater Digital Art and Underwater Fashion. As with the old Underwater Art category, organizers removed editing rules for these two categories and allowed imaginations to fly.
Other winners included never-before-seen behaviors, extra-terrestrial blackwater scenes, images that brought hope and solutions for ocean conservation, ingenious lighting techniques and stunning animal portraits.
Fourteen different categories ensure a competitive contest for all levels and disciplines of underwater photography. The judges evaluated thousands of entries from over 90 countries before selecting the final set of images as Ocean Art winners.
Competition judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Mark Strickland and Marty Snyderman.
Check out the winning photos here.
Below is the complete list of winners:
Best in Show
“Aquatic Primate” by Suliman Alatiqi
Wide Angle
1st Place: Suliman Alatiqi
2nd Place: Ines Goovaerts
3rd Place: Bryant Turffs
4th Place: Giancarlo Mazarese
Honorable Mention: Fabien Michenet
Honorable Mention: Ipah Uid Lynn
Macro
1st Place: Alberto Casati
2nd Place: Byron Conroy
3rd Place: Dennis Corpuz
4th Place: Lilian Koh
5th Place: Guillermo Viveros
Honorable Mention: Greg Sherman
Honorable Mention: Keith Mash
Marine Life Behavior
1st Place: Kenji Sato
2nd Place: Josh Raia
3rd Place: Kat Zhou
4th Place: Johan Sundelin
Honorable Mention: Brandi Romano
Honorable Mention: Todd Aki
Portrait
1st Place: Suliman Alatiqi
2nd Place: Alessandro Raho
3rd Place: Jules Casey
4th Place: Gabriel Jensen
Honorable Mention: Celia Kujala
Honorable Mention: Kat Zhou
Coldwater
1st Place: Alessandro Giannaccini
2nd Place: Celia Kujala
3rd Place: Johan Sundelin
4th Place: Ferenc Lorincz
Honorable Mention: Josh Raia
Honorable Mention: Mayumi Takeuchi-Ebbins
Nudibranch
1st Place: Peter Pogany
2nd Place: Yen-po Huang
3rd Place: Jenny Stock
Honorable Mention: Cédric Péneau
Blackwater
1st Place: Keigo Kawamura
2nd Place: Peter Pogany
3rd Place: Jialing Cai
4th Place: Chris Gug
Honorable Mention: Kat Zhou
Honorable Mention: Steven Kovacs
Underwater Conservation
1st Place: Victor Huertas
2nd Place: Yinan Liu
3rd Place: Andrea Michelutti
Honorable Mention: Dan Mele
Underwater Digital Art
1st Place: Justin Lutsky
2nd Place: Francisco Sedano Vera
3rd Place: Conor Culver
Honorable Mention: Anna Aita
Black & White
1st Place: Joergen Rasmussen
2nd Place: Jon Anderson
3rd Place: Serge Melesan
4th Place: Enrico Pompei
Honorable Mention: Serge Melesan
Underwater Fashion
1st Place: Lucie Drlikova
2nd Place: Anna Aita
3rd Place: Julian Nedev
4th Place: Lucie Drlikova
Honorable Mention: Vanessa Torres Macho
Honorable Mention: Lucie Drlikova
Compact Wide Angle
1st Place: Bryat Turffs
2nd Place: Enrico Somogyi
3rd Place: Andrea Michelutti
Compact Macro
1st Place: Imogen Manins
2nd Place: Marcus Commodore
3rd Place: Regie Casia
Honorable Mention: Miguel Ramirez
Compact Behavior
1st Place: Derek Singer
2nd Place: Brandon Hannan
3rd Place: Andrea Michelutti
Honorable Mention: Keri Frankenstein
Honorable Mention: Andrea Michelutti
