A pair of Southern elephant seal pups photographed in a rockpool in the Falkland Islands have earnt Matty Smith from Australia the title Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) 2026. His photograph Rockpool Rookies triumphed over some 7,900 other pictures entered for the competition by photographers from 28 countries.
“Once their pups are weaned, elephant seal mothers abandon them ashore,” explained 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.”
The UPY contest aims to promote underwater photography and this year joins other international competitions in introducing a Smartphone category in a bid to encourage more people to try their luck – and in fact the number of entries was up 17% on the 2025 total.
The UK-based competition has 14 categories, including three for photos taken specifically in British waters. The three judges were once again experienced underwater photographers Alex Mustard, Peter Rowlands and Tobias Friedrich.
The winners were announced last night (26 February) at an awards ceremony in central London hosted by seabed manager the Crown Estate, which also sponsors the British Waters Living Together category of the competition and supports an annual print display at the Go Diving Show in the UK.
Other category sponsors are diver training agency PADI (Up & Coming); phone-housing maker Divevolk (Smartphone); the Save Our Seas Foundation, which says it has funded more than 425 mainly shark and ray projects in 85 countries (Marine Conservation); and trip-booker Scuba Finders (Wide Angle).
Wide Angle winner:
Happy Baby by Cecile Gabillon Barats (France)
“As a tour leader and photographer in Dominica, I was fortunate to experience a truly magical encounter with a curious juvenile sperm whale,” says Barats, who was 8km offshore from Roseau at the time. “We entered the water at a respectful distance alongside the mother and her calf, watching as the mother prepared to dive in search of food, leaving her youngster at the surface.
“Almost immediately the calf spun around and approached us, coming remarkably close, mouth wide open to reveal his emerging teeth, rolling playfully upside-down. It seemed he was eager to interact. We could clearly see a chunk of squid held in his jaw and the many scars already etched into his skin.
“Over the years, I’ve photographed sperm whales countless times for documentaries and a feature film, but this unforgettable moment will always hold a special place in my heart. Looking back at the encounter, it’s tempting to believe he was smiling – and perhaps even about to give us a cheeky wink!”
Alex Mustard comments: “The curiosity and exuberance of youth bursts out of this photo connecting us with one of our planet’s most magnificent species. Sperm whales live strange and secret lives, diving deep into the ocean’s interior, but we now know that when they are young they can be full of mischief.”
Macro winner:
Calm At The Heart Of Turmoil by SeongCheol Cho (S Korea)
Cho was diving with guide Jaye in Tulamben, Bali in Indonesia when he encountered a commensal shrimp living within a naturally spiralling whip coral – something he had long hoped to see.
“The coral’s deep, rich green formed a striking nest for the brightly coloured shrimp resting inside,” he says. “By introducing red and blue light against the green coral, I wanted to create a sense of intense beauty combined with visual turbulence, while expressing the shrimp’s stillness at the centre.
“Everything about this dive was a first for me: the location, the guide and working with continuous light, but meeting a subject I had dreamed of photographing and capturing it in a satisfying way made the experience especially memorable.”
Alex Mustard comments: “Creative macro is hugely popular in underwater photography. This is the very best of the genre, first finding an amazing creature and then elevating it to an artistic vision using only the kiss of innovative lighting.”
Wrecks winner:
The Guns Of The Nagato by Niclas Andersson (Sweden)
“IJN Nagato is a famed Japanese battleship from which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is said to have issued the order to attack Pearl Harbor,” explains Andersson. Seized by the USA at the end of WW2, the ship was later towed to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands and used as a target during Operation Crossroads, the early nuclear weapons tests.
“Today Nagato rests upside-down at roughly 52m, making it a demanding but highly rewarding dive. On descent, divers are greeted by four enormous propellers, while the stand-out features are the twin stern guns, best approached from the port side.
“This image was carefully staged by a four-person team to maximise safety and reduce silt, since visibility can be limited and particles stir easily.”
Peter Rowlands comments: “A powerful image of powerful subjects complemented by well-placed lighting produces an image which grabs one’s attention immediately and still has plenty of subtle detail to entertain the eye on repeated viewings. A credit to the team.”
Behaviour winner:
Clownfish Hatchout by Kazushige Horiguchi (Japan)
“This photograph captures the exact moment clownfish eggs hatch in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan,” says Horiguchi. “In the late afternoon, my close friend Koji Matsuda told me that the eggs would hatch that day.
“Even before hatching, the parent clownfish carefully guarded the eggs, constantly watching for predators as they waited for the moment to come. I was able to capture the instant the larvae emerged. Holding a snoot in one hand, I carefully controlled the light so that it illuminated only the clownfish and their newborn larvae, allowing them to stand out against the darkness.
“I have been photographing clownfish for over three years and pressed the shutter countless times that day, but this single image is the only one that truly succeeded.”
Alex Mustard comments: “The moment. We’ve never seen an image like this before. Kazushige Horiguchi not only shows the egg-tending by the anemonefish, but amazingly the moment the babies burst free, with the adult looking on. We also loved the babies’ perspective of the adult anemonefish, which looks comparatively huge in the picture.”
Portrait winner & Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026: Rockpool Rookies by Matty Smith, Australia
“Once several weeks old and weaned from their mother’s milk, elephant seal pups are abandoned by their parents on shore, left to navigate life alone,” says Smith. “On Sealion Island in the Falklands, I watched dozens of them clamber over one another in shallow rockpools, awkwardly learning to swim, and quite engaging to my presence.
“I’d come here for this moment, to witness and photograph their first solo lessons in life. On the very first evening of my arrival, the sky ignited with colour. I donned my drysuit and rushed into the water, capturing a handful of frames before the light vanished.”
Alex Mustard notes that Smith used a special dome he had built himself to capture the revealing under-over perspective, perfectly balancing his lighting on the pups’ fur with the setting sun.
“Cold water contrasts with heartwarming cuteness,” he says. “Southern elephant seals traverse land and sea, born on wild shores but thriving in the frigid waters.
“Elephant seals were hunted remorselessly from the end of the 1700s until the 20th century, pushing them right to the brink of extinction. Their oil-rich blubber was used for everything from lighting to margarine.
“Fortunately the hunt was stopped just in time, and their recovery over the last 100 years is a great example of the resilience of the ocean. A beautiful and hopeful photograph.”
Peter Rowlands says: “In hindsight, it’s easy and obvious but when you have nearly 8,000 images vying for your eye’s attention it can be a tough call.
“Fortunately, this year, the winner almost chose itself by being so good. Cute, puppy eyes and perfectly lit with a sunset background; top it with a perfect split-level and you have the judges on their feet. Deserved congratulations.”
Tobias Friedrich adds: “What a cutie! I love the split-image approach that the photographer took to capture this beautiful and emotionally very engaging image. The look of the baby elephant seal below the surface is just magic and a very well-deserved and undisputed winner of this year’s competition. Well done!”
Coral Reefs winner:
Underwater Meteor Shower by Tom Shlesinger (Israel)
“Corals are animals, and this is how they reproduce,” says Schlesinger. “Revealing the hidden world of coral reproduction exposes one of the ocean’s most extraordinary spectacles. Like clockwork, thousands of corals across hundreds of kilometres synchronise to release egg-and-sperm bundles into the open sea.
“Capturing this fleeting event is exceptionally challenging: it occurs only once a year, on a specific night of a particular month, within a narrow window of just minutes.
“Using a slow shutter-speed as waves break and sweep the buoyant bundles upward transforms the scene into a colourful underwater meteor shower.
“This image is part of an ongoing scientific-documentary journey exploring the vibrant nocturnal life and reproductive rituals of corals in the northern Red Sea, a project shaped by more than 300 nights spent under water during spawning season.”
Alex Mustard comments: “Coral reefs are under pressure and struggling around the world, so it was fantastic to award such an uplifting image, celebrating the effervescent start of the next generation.”
Black & White winner:
Coral Window by Shunsuke Nakano (Japan)
“Light enters the wreck through a window, a square cut into history and now taken over by life,” says Nakano. “Choosing to shoot in black and white, I am inviting the viewer to contrast the thick, straight man-made lines with the delicate and intricate patterns of nature.
“Gorgonians fan outward like frozen breath, turning rust into art. Between them, a lone wrasse punctuates the frame, providing movement in an otherwise still composition.
“Off Sado Island the past is not lost, it is inhabited. The window no longer looks out; it invites us to look in, framing the story of nature reclaiming metal.”
Alex Mustard comments: “The ocean framed. Simply a perfectly observed scene for an underwater monochrome image but the image also captures the decisive moment. I suspect there was also a lot of patience waiting for the wrasse to so perfectly complete the composition.”
Up & Coming winner & Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026:
Lunging Leopard by Sam Blount (USA)
“For years, the leopard seal topped my Antarctic wish list, a predator I dreamed of encountering face to face,” says Blount. “This dive was everything I could have hoped for: clear water, good lighting, and a playful seal.
“Leopard seals wield an astonishing array of dominance displays and this one put them all to use, darting around me with effortless power. Watching that massive mouth lined with sharp teeth charge straight toward me is a thrill I’ll never forget.”
Tobias Friedrich comments: “Probably one of the best shots of a leopard seal that close that I have ever seen! I think we all agreed very soon that this is the clear category winner, as such a shot is everything but easy to take.
“The sheer short distance and the light that has to be perfect is just perfect. Very well done in such an intense moment!”
Compact winner:
Alpine Lookout by Andrea Michelutti (Italy)
Michelutti took his winning shot at Lake Cornino in Friuli Venezia Giulia. “After years of waiting, I dived into a cold Alpine lake near my home in north-eastern Italy,” he says. “ Its clear, deep-blue waters rise from a spring, making it a gem among the mountains.
“Low nutrients favour green algae growth; the constant low temperature (around 9-11°C) contributes to the water’s clarity and unique colour. Life is sparse, but I spotted a freshwater crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) among the aquatic plants. Impetuous, it swam toward me until it was touching my wet lens.
“With the housing too low to use the LCD I had to shoot blind, holding the camera in one hand and one strobe in the other. I turned off my second strobe, positioning the remaining light above the dome for natural top-down illumination.
“The composition I’d planned for years is built on the transition from green vegetation to deep blue water, with mountain peaks framed in Snell’s window.”
Peter Rowlands comments: “A distinctive image with complementary colours, unambiguous composition and a great upward angle up through Snell’s window to the distant mountains. A compliment to the capabilities of compacts in the right hands.”
Smartphone winner:
The Roar by Jack Ho (China)
“While shooting on the sandy seabed at 15m in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, I found this well-camouflaged frogfish patiently lying in wait for prey,” says Ho. “I waited for at least 15 minutes. To get a clean shot against the messy background, I aimed a macro light at its head to capture the split second it opened its huge mouth. Luckily, I got the perfect moment.”
Tobias Friedrich comments: “Wow! The focus, the image quality, the composition, the light and the moment are just perfect! Very well done by the photographer and an impressive showcase of the potential of the smartphone category. The clear and well-deserved winner of this category.”
British Waters Wide Angle winner:
A Meeting Of Giants by Evan Johnston (UK)
“What started out with two large sharks feeding at the surface turned into three, then four, then five over the course of the day,” says Johnston, who took this ground-breaking shot in the Sea of the Hebrides in Scotland. “At some point most of the sharks had gone, and after watching the last tail fade away, I turned around and was greeted with the image here.
“These sharks had stopped feeding and formed a tight shoal before breaking off and swimming in slow rhythmic circles, eventually spiralling off into the deep. This behaviour is known as a torus and is thought to be a courtship behaviour and the precursor to mating – although that remains a mystery.
“Over the course of the summer we observed multiple toruses from the boat, with close to 20 sharks slowly circling for hours at a time. It felt like an ancient ritual that happens out of sight from the world and was an incredible moment to witness and capture.”
Peter Rowlands comments: “The sea still reveals its secrets slowly and the discovery of these toruses is the latest revelation. Traditionally, single basking shark shots were celebrated but now images of several of these large sharks, not feeding but possibly building up to a mating ritual, are a most exciting phenomenon visually and biologically. A first in UK waters.”
British Waters Macro winner:
Mum by Tom Ingram (UK)
“2025 was undoubtedly the Year of the Octopus,” says Ingram, whose winning image was captured off Porthkerris Beach on Cornwall’s Lizard peninsula. “Being such an imposing creature under water, these intelligent and charismatic animals had brought delight not just to me but to many fellow UK divers.
“Throughout 2025 I’ve been treated to an array of natural behaviour, ranging from hunting prey to mating, but in this case I wanted to capture a female’s final act of selflessness, as after she lays her eggs she diligently guards, cleans and wafts oxygen-rich water over them to keep them healthy.
“During this time, which can last for several months, she doesn’t leave their side, not even to feed herself, and once the eggs hatch she will sadly die. In this bittersweet and quite poignant time I spent with her, I wanted to try to capture the narrative of her final few weeks by shooting her face-on, and encircling her offspring in the background.
Tobias Friedrich comments: “Wonderful overall sharpness of the image and great capture of the moment when the octopus surrounds itself with its arms. Especially having such an amazing encounter from the UK makes the image very special – as well as the excellent execution.”
British Waters Living Together winner:
Life Under The Pier by Valerie Reid (Netherlands)
“Last summer, I was fortunate to dive on my native west coast of Scotland after many years, and this pier dive was a particular highlight,” says Reid. “The man-made steel piles provide a great substrate for marine life to grow and flourish.
“I managed to find a pile where the dead men’s fingers soft coral had its polyps out. I chose a close-focus wide-angle perspective, using a Seacam mini dome with a fisheye lens and Retra strobes in the “12 and 6 o’clock” position and shooting at an extreme upward angle to capture the pile’s full height, keeping it vertically centred for a strong symmetrical image.
“I dedicate this image to the late Martin Edge, who taught and inspired me to appreciate the photographic opportunities under piers and jetties.”
Alex Mustard comments: “A stunning combination of colour and light, both expertly controlled in a flawless composition by Valerie Reid.”
Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation winner & SOSF Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year 2026:
Where Innocence Meets Tradition by Khaichuin Sim (Malaysia)
“In the Faroe Islands, the annual pilot whale hunt known as Grindadráp remains one of the world’s most controversial traditions,” says Sim. “Seen by locals as a cultural heritage and source of food, it is condemned globally for its brutality and impact on marine life.
“In this poignant scene at Hvítanes, a young boy sits atop a slain whale amid blood-red waters, a haunting reflection of how tradition, identity, and ethics collide. It captures not just a moment, but a generational question: what should be preserved, and what should change?”
Peter Rowlands comments: “A sad but powerful image which asks more questions than it answers. The message must be that traditions such as these have no place in modern society regardless of the food justification. Photography has the power to bring change.”
See these and all the other placed and highly commended Underwater Photographer of the Year images at the UPY website. You can also see a print exhibition of winning UPY images at the Go Diving Show at the NAEC Stoneleigh Park, Coventry this weekend (28 March – 1 April).
