As deep swells from an offshore hurricane coincided with king tides in Southern California, some beaches virtually disappeared in a matter of days, a stark reminder of how coasts are reshaped as oceans continue to warm and rise. Against this backdrop, Oceanographic magazine and Blancpains annual Ocean Photographer of the Year competition turns attention to beloved, impressive, and little-seen aspects of the sea.
The contest announced its 2026 winners this week, with top honors going to Julien Anton for a black-and-white portrait of an adult seahorse flanked by two very small juveniles in the shallow, seaweed-filled waters of Moorea, French Polynesia.
Highlights from this years images
- Jenny Stock, winner of the Female Fifty Fathoms Award which recognizes an overall practice that pushes the boundaries of women in ocean photography captured, during a dusk dive in a Scottish sea loch, a torchlit seabed covered in thousands of brittle stars, and in Western Australias Jurien Bay Marine Park, curious sea lion pups approaching the camera.
- Gergo Rugli, winner of the Adventure category, photographed dolphins riding the waves alongside surfers at Tamarama Beach, Sydney, during a powerful swell and offshore winds. Another scene shows a teenager at Bronte Ocean Pool, Sydney, as waves crash over the closed bathing site.
- Matty Smith, a finalist in Wildlife, followed southern elephant seal pups exploring shallow rock pools on Sea Lion Island in the Falkland Islands as they tested their first movements in the water after weaning.
- Steven Lopez offered a close look at a giant black sea bass in a Catalina Island kelp forest in Southern California, its eye surrounded by many parasitic copepods.
- Rui Filipe Cardoso Duarte, winner of the Human Connection category, documented volunteers, surfers, lifeguards, and conservation groups in Boa Vista, Cape Verde, working together to re-float stranded short-finned pilot whales.
- Sun Qingsheng, a Human Connection finalist, depicted thousands of fish-farming cages in Fujian Province, China, linked by floating walkways and small wooden huts to form a vast community at sea.
- Andrea Michelutti, a Wildlife finalist, recorded a scorpionfish consuming a lizardfish near Anilao, Philippines, a stark moment of reef survival.
Taken together, the 2026 selections traverse wildlife behavior, human connection, and high-energy coastal scenes. In a year when erosion and extreme swells have underscored oceanic force along vulnerable shores, Ocean Photographer of the Year makes a compelling case for looking closely at the life, labor, and drama carried by the worlds waters.
