Beautiful and haunting images from the Ocean Photographer of the Year competition
By Jack Guy, CNN
(CNN) — A spellbinding image of two tiny but vibrant “ladybugs of the sea” has won the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 award.
Taken by Indonesia-based photographer Yury Ivanov at his local dive site in Bali, the winning photograph shows two amphipods, which stand at just three millimeters tall, resting on a piece of coral, according to a press release from competition organizers Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain on Thursday.
“It required a lot of patience and precision to compose and light the shot properly,” said Ivanov in a statement. “The result reveals an intimate glimpse of underwater life that is often overlooked.”
Winning the competition “is an incredible feeling,” added Ivanov. “This award is not just about one image, but about celebrating the ocean itself – its fragility, its diversity, and its extraordinary power to inspire us.”
His picture was chosen as the overall winner from a field of more than 15,000 images submitted by photographers all over the world, with nine category winners also selected.
Category winners include a stunning shot of a personal watercraft navigating huge waves at the famed Nazaré surf spot in Portugal; a haunting image of a long-finned pilot whale foetus lying under their dead mother’s body during whale hunting season in the Faroe Islands; and a beautiful photo of a female yellow pygmy goby fish releasing newly-hatched larvae from her mouth.
“The winners of this year’s Ocean Photographer of the Year remind us that photography is more than art – it is a bridge. Their images connect people to the ocean in ways words cannot, reaching those who may never dive in it or paddle on it, but whose lives are deeply intertwined with it,” said Will Harrison, director of Ocean Photographer of the Year, in the release.
“In a time of planetary urgency, this year’s photographers invite the world to see, feel, and ultimately care. Their work is critical, because we protect what we understand,” he added.
The winning photographs will form part of an Ocean Photographer of the Year exhibition, which will make its first stop at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney from November 6.
Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.
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