Sometimes, the best images create warring emotions – and that's certainly the case with a photograph that recently won the “Connecting Oceans” category of the Photo Competition for United Nations (UN) World Oceans Day.
Created by Valentina Cucchiara (Italy), the frame depicts a diver seemingly suspended in the water while navigating what looks like a bottomless cave. This is, in fact, Cenote Nariz, a huge subterranean aquifer located on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
From the terrifying composition to the inspiring messaging behind it, in my eyes, the scene is certainly a deserved winner.
The way in which the diver looks like nothing more than a bright speck among the sheer darkness is what has my heart beating faster than normal.
Cucchiara has emphasized the darkness with the diver's light and smart post-processing, but, regardless, I’m sure being in the underwater cave was a lot more intimidating than the image reveals.
Cucchiara used a Sony A1 paired with a Canon 8-15mm f/4L USM fisheye lens (via an EF-to-E mount adapter). She opted for a 15mm focal length, capturing the dark expanses of the cenote, a 1/60 shutter speed, and an f/6.3 aperture, along with an ISO 2500.
While I’m mostly gripped by the slightly scary composition, I’m also inspired by it.
Cenotes are a primary source of fresh water in Mexico’s southernmost state, but they are under threat from industrial megaprojects like the Maya Train, mass tourism, and land mismanagement, which directly pollute the water and damage the porous limestone caverns.
Commenting on her winning image, Cucchiara said these aquifers represent an “interconnected ancestral legacy that has nurtured life across countless generations,” and that it’s our responsibility to protect them.
The Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day is a free annual contest. Each year, the event explores thematic categories encouraging photographers to creatively highlight environmental issues affecting marine ecosystems.
You may also like...
Browse the best waterproof cameras or explore photo contests to enter this month.
