Ocean Art Contest Announces the Best Underwater Photos of the Year
Culver City, CA – January 17, 2022 – The prestigious Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced the world’s best underwater photos with its 2021 winners. While we continue to see challenges and travel restrictions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 10th annual competition was a testament to the high caliber of craftmanship found in our global community of underwater artists. This year’s competition celebrates a decade in the search for the world’s best photos of marine life behavior, unique portraits of
intriguing underwater critters, and images that instill an urgency for conserving our invaluable subsurface planet. Ocean Art could not have been possible without the help of our generous sponsors who have all had to navigate a changing travel and dive industry.
Winning photos can be seen at the Underwater Photography Guide at https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/ocean-art-contest-winners-2021
This year’s Best of Show is unique among previous best of show winners for featuring freshwater fish – a pair of Pike locked in a ferocious battle. The photo was captured by photographer Luc Rooman at the Domein Muisbroek dive site near Antwerp, Belgium. Other extraordinary winners include stirring black & white scenes in our new Black & White category, images that bring hope and solutions for ocean conservation, exhibitions of imaginative photographic technique, and dramatic animal portraits. The judges evaluated thousands of entries from 81 countries before selecting the final set of images as Ocean Art winners.
Ocean Art 2021 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Mark Strickland, and Marty Snyderman.
Over $35,000 in prizes have been awarded, making the Ocean Art prize value among the highest in the world.
Ocean Art prizes are provided by some of the world’s top scuba diving resorts, liveaboard dive yachts, and underwater photo gear manufacturers. Grand prizes include a choice of 7 or 8 nights aboard the Coralia Liveaboard in Raja Ampat or Komodo, a 7-night dive package in Bali with Villa Markisa, a 14 night dive package in Lembeh with Eco Divers (White Sands Beach Resort), an Indonesian dive cruise and 50% off a companion with M.Y. Oceanic, an Indonesian dive cruise and 50% off a companion with S.M.Y Ondina, and gift certificates from Bluewater Photo and Bluewater Travel. Premium travel prizes are provided by El Galleon/Asia Divers (Philippines) and Siladen Resort & Spa (Indonesia). Premium gear prizes are provided by Sea & Sea, SeaLife, Ikelite, and Think Tank. 13 different categories ensure a competitive contest for all levels and disciplines of underwater photography.
After ten years of judging this competition, there has been no shortage of novel photographic techniques and fresh ideas in the winning photographs. Bluewater Photo and Bluewater Travel owner and Underwater Photography Guide publisher, Scott Gietler commented, “We were excited to see photographers continue to travel locally and internationally to capture amazing photos. For the incredible best of show, they did not have to travel far. To obtain such a gripping / jaw-biting / jawdropping photo, the photographer almost had to have had a personal relationship with these two fish!”
Best of Show – Luc Rooman
Shot near Antwerp, Belgium
Complete list of winners:
Best of Show
“Snoeken” by Luc Rooman
Wide Angle
1st Place Eduardo Acevedo
2nd Place Nicolas Remy
3rd Place Hannah Le Leu
4th Place Gabriel Guzman
Honorable Mention Magnus Lundgren
Macro
1st Place Nigel Motyer
2nd Place Sarah Vasend
3rd Place Magnus Lundgren
4th Place Steven Walsh
Honorable Mention Matteo Visconti
Marine Life Behavior
1st Place Luc Rooman
2nd Place Julian Hsu
3rd Place Louise Nott
Honorable Mention Lionel Houde
Portrait
1st Place Paolo Bausani
2nd Place Andrey Savin
3rd Place Marco Gargiulo
4th Place Salvatore Gambacurta
Honorable Mention Michal Štros
Honorable Mention Portrait Damir Zurub
Coldwater
1st Place Matthew Sullivan
2nd Place Celia Kujala
3rd Place Nigel Motyer
Honorable Mention Luc Rooman
Honorable Mention Celia Kujala
Nudibranch
1st Place Salvatore Ianniello
2nd Place Virginia Salzedo
3rd Place Cedric Peneau
Blackwater
1st Place Steven Kovacs
2nd Place Steven Kovacs
3rd Place Rajiv Bhambri
Honorable Mention Fabien Michenet
Honorable Mention Steven Kovacs
Underwater Conservation
1st Place Catherine Holmes
2nd Place Steven Kovacs
3rd Place Michael Vogelsang
Honorable Mention Catherine Holmes
Underwater Art
1st Place Jenny Stock
2nd Place Julian Nedev
3rd Place Julian Nedev
Honorable Mention Virginia Salzedo
Black & White
1st Place Tom St George
2nd Place Kyle Lucy
3rd Place Plamena Mileva
Honorable Mention Serge Melesan
Compact Wide Angle
1st Place Kate Rister
2nd Place Jack Berthomier
3rd Place Enrico Somogyi
Honorable Mention Enrico Somogyi
Compact Macro
1st Place Kathrin Landgraf-Kluge
2nd Place Salvatore Gambacurta
3rd Place Nicole Helgason
Honorable Mention Eurico Roseiro
Compact Behavior
1st Place PT Hirschfield
2nd Place Ilaria Mariagiulia
3rd Place PT Hirschfield
Honorable Mention Abimael Márquez
Honorable Mention Nino Perović
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