British World War II military vehicles deep inside a shipwreck in the Red Sea captured by German photographer Tobias Friedrich wins Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018
An underwater panorama of British World War II Norton 16H motorbikes frozen in time deep inside a shipwreck in the Red Sea has crowned German photographer Tobias Friedrich Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018.
Friedrich’s “Cycle War”
Friedrich’s “Cycle War” was taken in the Red Sea in Egypt and shows Norton 16H motorbikes loaded in Fordson WOT 3 trucks, with soldierfish schooling above.
Friedrich explained: “I had had this image in mind for a few years, but it is impossible to capture in one photo, because there is not space inside the wreck to photograph this scene in a single frame. My solution was take a series pictures and stitch them together as a panorama.”
Chair of the judges, Peter Rowlands, explained: “Perfectly lit and composed, I predict that there will never be a better shot of this subject from now on.”
More than 5,000 underwater pictures were entered by underwater photographers from all around the world.
Rowlands continued: “This is a quite extraordinary shot which must be viewed as large as possible. The artistic skill is to visualise such an image and the photographic talent is to achieve it.”
Grant Thomas’ Love Birds. Underwater photographer of the year 2018
British photographer Grant Thomas was named British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018 for his romantic photo of two swans called “Love Birds”. The photo was taken in Loch Lomond, Scotland. Thomas said: “I have always been fascinated by over-under photography, connecting the everyday terrestrial world that we all know with the less familiar underwater secrets. I waded slowly into the shallow water, allowing the swans to become comfortable with my presence. When they began searching for food below the water line I just had to wait for that perfect moment of synchronicity.”
Malaysian Man BD was named as Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018 for his image “Roar”, showing a pair of sea slugs with a gaping moray eel as a background, photographed in Indonesia. “When shooting these nudibranchs I was focusing on getting the shot,” explains Man, “when suddenly a moray eel appeared behind. It still took me about 30 minutes to get this shot.”
Other award winners:
Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year ‘ROAR’ – Man BD
Man BD’s photo shows a a moray eel suddenly appearing out from the blue behind the nudi
Most Promising British Underwater Photographer ‘How many pike?’ by Tony Stephenson
