[imagesource: Grant Thomas]

Grant Thomas, who snapped the image above, was the runner-up in the Wrecks category in the Underwater Photographer of the Year competition, 2021.

It was taken in Aqaba, Jordan, and shows a diver circling a tank in the ocean.

His is one of the 135 winning photographers from this year’s competition, spanning an extensive range of categories. the scope of which highlights just how much there is to capture in the ocean.

As Lewis Pugh, UN Patron of the Oceans wrote in his forward to the UPY yearbook:

Technology makes us amphibious. It allows us to enter an element that seems alien, but without which all life on Earth would perish.

Many of the images collected here play on the meniscus between two worlds: the one above and the one below the surface. Some bring you face to face with astonishing creatures; others lend us a fish-eyed view of their world, and make us feel part of something vast and mysterious.

Enjoy seven of those vast and mysterious images below, with the winners and runner-ups in a few of the main categories:

Image: Sharks’ Skylight by Renee Capozzola (US), taken near the shore of the island of Mo’orea, French Polynesia / Underwater photographer of the year 2021 and wide-angle category winner

Image: Gothic Chamber by Martin Broen (US), taken in Cenote Monkey Dust, Mexico/ Wide-angle category runner-up

Image: Pontohi Pigmy Seahorse by Galice Hoarau (Norway), taken in Siladen Back, Indonesia / Macro category winner

Image: Larval Lionfish by Steven Kovacs (US), taken in Palm Beach, Florida / Macro category runner-up

Image: Bowlander by Tobias Friedrich (Germany), taken near Nassau, Bahamas / Wrecks category winner

Image: A Striped Marlin in a High-Speed Hunt by Karim Iliya (US), taken in San Carlos, Baja California, Mexico / Behaviour category winner

Image: The Cut by Diana Fernie (Australia), taken in Leru Cut, Solomon Islands / Black & White category winner

If that wasn’t enough, you can download the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021 Yearbook which gives you a look at all 135 winning images, as well as back-stories and interviews with the judges.

[source:upy]