The winner of this year’s Underwater Photographer of the Year contest is a shot featuring a pair of the white-bellied sharks cruising underneath a French Polynesian Sunset, which was captured by California-based photographer Renee Capozzola, “I dedicated several evenings to photographing in the shallows at sunset, and I was finally rewarded with this scene: glass-calm water, a rich sunset, sharks, and even birds,” says the first female photographer who ever wins the annual contest held since 1965. The UK-based photography contest is open to photographers around the world, this year received over 4,500 entries from 68 countries, with a wide range of subjects and perspectives from sea animals to deep diving, etc. Source
Category Winner. Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021 © Renee Capozzola (U.S.) /UPY2021.
Winner. British Waters Wide Angle, My Backyard © Mark Kirkland (U.K.)/UPY2021
Third Place. Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021. © Danny Lee (Australia)/UPY2021
Runner Up. Behavior. © Jing Gong Zhang (China)/UPY2021
Left: Winner. Portrait. © Ryohei Ito (Japan)/UPY202. Right: Runner Up. Portrait. © Keigo Kawamura (Japan)/UPY2021
Winner. Wrecks © Tobias Friedrich (Germany)/UPY2021
Runner Up. Macro © Steven Kovacs (U.S.)/UPY2021
Third Place. Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021 © Oleg Gaponyuk (Russian Federation)/UPY2021
Runner Up. Wide Angle © Martin Broen (U.S.)/UPY2021
Third Place. British Waters Wide Angle © Kirsty Andrews (U.K.)/UPY2021