Discover the winners of the 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year competition in photos, as well as the overall winner, China's Jialing Cai, for her surprising photo of an argonaut riding, taken in the Philippines.
Every year, the Ocean Photographer of the Year competition celebrates the world's best photographers, both professional and amateur. A total of nine categories are represented, from which the judges select the winners, as well as a grand prize winner for Ocean Photographer of the Year. The jury is made up of the world's leading specialists in underwater photography.
The categories are broad and open to personal interpretation to encourage courage and daring. Underwater, on the surface, on the coast or at sea, any ocean-themed photo can be entered. Each photographer then chooses the category or categories that interest them, for a participation fee of £10, entirely donated to SeaLegacy, a marketing and communications agency working to protect the oceans.
The jury has decided on the winners of this 2023 edition, which showcases the full spectrum of ocean life, captured by drone, underwater and terrestrial photography. There's a superb shot of black water, a portrait of an anemone, and a shocking image of an endangered whale.
Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023 winners in pictures
Russian photographer Andrei Savin captured this photo of a crab in an anemone in the Philippines. As he photographed the anemone under various settings, a crab popped out to settle right in the center. All he had to do was press the button.
Third place in the all-round competition
This photo of a humpback whale dying a slow, painful death after being entangled in ropes and buoys, rendering its tail completely useless, is the work of Mexican photographer Alvaro Herrero López-Beltran. He explains: "The image is a sad metaphor for the slow and painful death we are causing our planet and the oceans. It was the saddest moment I've ever experienced in the ocean."
