Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2018
THE STATE OF THE OCEANS has been in the news a lot recently. Hot topics such as coral bleaching and plastic pollution have captured headlines and done the rounds on social media. Clean-up efforts and plastic bans have sprung up around the nation and there’s a groundswell of grassroots support for exploring practical solutions to these problems. It’s heartening to see such growing concern for a realm most of us never see for ourselves. It can be hard to reconcile the environmental threats faced under water with the sparkling blue waters and beautiful white beaches above that bless Australia in abundance. That we are able to understand and appreciate what lies beneath has much to do with the people who document this extraordinary world.
Underwater photography is a highly specialised form of picture-taking that combines technical wizardry (in both cameras and life-support systems), adventure, courage, creative artistry and biological expertise. Its exponents are a special breed and tend to specialise in this field.The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year (AGNPY) competition has always attracted the best of them, and in 2018 they have dominated the top prizes.The waters of the broader ANZANG region boast many of the world’s great dive spots, not to mention the Great Barrier Reef, so it’s no surprise the submarine world features strongly in this contest.
This year’s winning photo does what underwater photography does so well – puts us, the viewers, squarely into the scene.We find ourselves on the seabed surrounded by a swirling mass of schooling fish. This teeming world of biological richness was captured in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, by Tracey Jennings, a Yorkshire-born engineer working around the world on oil and gas industry projects. She only took up photography in 2012 and now describes it as her obsession. Tracey first entered the AGNPY competition in 2015 and has participated every year since.
“I’m not a very technical photographer; I shoot from my heart and soul,” she says. “I particularly enjoy jetties and schools of fish because I love the way the light plays through the structure/school.
“I am a Master Scuba Diver, and hope by taking and sharing photographs I can inspire others to protect the wonder of the underwater world.”
Tracey had seen images on social media taken under this jetty, and booked a trip to visit the Raja Ampat site. She dived there for a few days, both from the shore and a live-aboard boat. “We arrived at the jetty in the early afternoon. My fellow divers left after an hour or so. I stayed for another hour or two until I finished my tank, then I went back to the boat,” Tracey recalls. “The dive master asked in humour if I would like another tank. I changed my battery, changed my tank and went back under again. I spent about six hours in total at a depth of less than 5m under a single small jetty – sometimes taking pictures, sometimes just watching in awe. I only left when I finished my second tank, way after sunset.”
The winning photo lay unnoticed on her hard drive for almost a year until she found time to go through her pictures. “This image jumped out at me,” she says. “I love how the light plays through the fish, and also it really describes the essence of the feeling below the jetty where life and death play around you.”
Tracey is the first female winner of the top prize in the 14 years of the AGNPY competition. She admits to being inspired by fellow underwater specialist
Matty Smith, who’s taken out this year’s portfolio prize after winning the overall prize back in 2014 with his memorable bluebottle portrait. Matt is also an engineer and has used his technical ingenuity to
develop highly specialised gear that creates photos that simultaneously show the scene above water and what’s going on beneath. It’s Matt’s adorable seahorse image gracing our cover this month.
The photography of both Tracey and Matt reveals aspects of ocean life that thrill and delight while fostering an appreciation of the underwater world that none of us can afford to take for granted.Turn the page to see Tracey’s winning photo, all category winners and runners-up and one or two other shortlisted images included in the two major exhibitions showcasing this year’s top 100 photos.
The 2018 AGNPY attracted a record 2288 entries and the standard continues to rise, making judging very challenging.We thank Peter Eastway, David
Evans and Stanley Breeden for their expert deliberations that led to the results; acknowledge the competition’s owner, the South Australian Museum; and thank all sponsors and the major prize donor.We are particularly thrilled to welcome Coral Expeditions as the presenting partner of Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year from 2018 onwards.