PHOTOGRAPHY
Q Underwater Meteor Shower
Category: Coral Reefs Photographer: Dr Tom Shlesinger Corals are animals, and this is how they reproduce. Like clockwork, thousands of corals across hundreds of kilometres synchronize to release egg-and-sperm bundles into the open sea. Capturing this fleeting event is exceptionally challenging: it occurs only once a year, on a specific night of a particular month, within a narrow window of just minutes. Dr Tom Shlesinger / UPY2026
S Happy Baby
Category: Wide Angle Photographer: Cecile Gabillon Barats As a tour leader and photographer in Dominica, I was fortunate to experience a truly magical encounter with a curious juvenile sperm whale. We entered the water at a respectful distance alongside the mother and her calf, watching as the mother prepared to dive in search of food, leaving her youngster at the surface. Almost immediately, the calf spun around and approached us, coming remarkably close, mouth wide open to reveal his emerging teeth, rolling playfully upside down. Cecile Gabillon Barats / UPY2026
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