Winners of Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024

Alan Taylor
September 16, 2024
20 Photos
In Focus

The winning and commended images of the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024 competition were just announced, with Rafael Fernández Caballe named as the overall winner for his image of a Bryde’s whale swimming up to swallow a bait ball of sardines off Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Contest organizers at Oceanographic Magazine were once again kind enough to share some of this year’s top images below, and their full gallery can be seen here.

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Overall Winner. A Bryde’s whale about to devour a heart-shaped bait ball off Baja California Sur, Mexico. #

© Rafael Fernández Caballero / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Adventure. A scuba diver explores the Silfra fissure in Iceland, the tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates. #

© Byron Conroy / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, the Human Connection. A large school of sardines gets eyed up by a local fisherman in his traditional canoe in Milen Bay, in Papua New Guinea. #

© Noam Kortler / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Wildlife. The Grinch, a polar bear with a distinctive character, rests on ice floes after a day of playing and hunting in Svalbard. #

© Florian Ledoux / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Third Place, Ocean Portfolio Award. One of several photos in Borghi's portfolio, depicting one of the Southern Ocean’s most formidable predators, the leopard seal, in Antarctica. #

© Filippo Borghi / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Third Place, Ocean Portfolio Award. One of several photos in Borghi's portfolio, depicting a transparent juvenile wonderpus, taken at night, in the Philippines. #

© Filippo Borghi / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Adventure. A surfer duck-dives his board under a large wave over a shallow reef break in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia. #

© John Barton / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Fine Art. A peacock mantis shrimp in a stunning display of vibrant blue, green, and orange hues against a dark background, in Bali, Indonesia. #

© Ajiex Dharma / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Third place, Fine Art. An orca exhales on the surface, off Vancouver Island, Canada. #

© Mark Williams / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Third place, Wildlife. A giant Pacific octopus in the shallows, photographed in Russia. #

© Andrey Shpatak / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Second place, Conservation (Hope). A whale shark swims alongside the Sharkwater research vessel, a ship that was initially used by the Japanese fishing fleet but is now used for research, off Cocos Island, Costa Rica. #

© Edwar Herreño Parra / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Wildlife. A hingebeak-shrimp colony in the hollow of a barrel sponge. These striking shrimp, with vivid red and white stripes, display dancelike movement, swaying back and forth with their beaks pointed upward, seen near Koh Haa, Thailand. #

© Nataya Chonecadeedumrongkul / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Conservation (Impact). A polar bear plays with a piece of plastic—a stark reminder that even the uninhabited reaches of the Arctic are not exempt from the pervasive grip of plastic pollution, photographed on Kiepert Island, Svalbard. #

© Celia Kujala / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Third place, Adventure. Freediver Sun Young Kim dives in the "no fins" category at Vertical Blue 2021, a freediving competition, in the famous Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas. #

© Daan Verhoeven / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Wildlife. A breaching humpback whale on its migration path along the Australian coastline, seen near New South Wales, Australia. #

© Clayton Harris / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Wildlife. A fever of mobula rays seen from above in the Sea of Cortez. When the photographer’s drone inched closer, some rays started to jump out of the water, off Baja California Sur, Mexico. #

© Laura Leusko / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Winner, Conservation (Hope). A green sea turtle is released after being accidentally caught in the Seychelles. Researchers trying to catch sharks quickly untangled the turtle, took measurements, and tagged it before releasing it. #

© Shane Gross / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Third Place Overall. A fishing boat off Hon Yen, Vietnam, with its green nets fanning out under the surface. #

© Thien Nguyen Ngoc / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Highly commended, Conservation (Hope). A healthy coral reef in one of the most biodiverse places in the world, seen near Raja Ampat, Indonesia. #

© Brook Peterson / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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Winner, Young Photographer. An elusive algae octopus shows off its fluorescence under ultraviolet light in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. #

© Jacob Guy / Ocean Photographer of the Year

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