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Winners of the 2020 Underwater Photographer of the Year Contest (15 photos)

The winners of this year’s Underwater Photographer of the Year contest were just announced, and the photographer Greg Lecoeur was named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 for his image of crabeater seals in Antarctica. More than 5,500 images were submitted by photographers from around the world. Prizes and commendations were handed out in categories including Wide Angle, Macro, Wrecks, Behavior, Portrait, Black and White, Compact, Up and Coming, Marine Conservation, and in British waters, Wide Angle, Living Together, Compact, and Macro Shots. UPY was once again kind enough to share some of this year’s honorees with us below, with captions written by the photographers.

Frozen Mobile Home: Category Winner and Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020. Massive and mysterious habitats, icebergs are dynamic kingdoms that support marine life. As they swing and rotate slowly through polar currents, icebergs fertilize the oceans by carrying nutrients from land that spark blooms of phytoplankton, fundamental to the carbon cycle. During an expedition in Antarctica Peninsula with filmmaker Florian Fisher and freediver Guillaume Nery, we explored and documented the hidden face of this iceberg where crabeater seals have taken up residence among icebergs that drift at the whim of polar currents. (© Copyright Greg Lecoeur / UPY2020)
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/02/winners-2020-underwater-photographer-year-contest/607006/