This underwater photo turns a murky suburban pond into a cathedral of light, and a dead chick into one of the year's most haunting close-ups

"The scene, though macabre, inspired me," says French underwater photographer Gaël Modrak. That instinct – to pause, to look deeper, to reach for a wide-angle lens where others might have turned away – produced one of the most quietly devastating images in this year's Close Up Photographer of the Year 'Death & Decay' challenge.

Modrak's image, Dead Chick of the Pond, shows the body of a waterfowl chick lying on the floor of a pond in Viry-Châtillon, on the southern outskirts of Paris. Shot entirely underwater, the image is remarkable not for shock value, but for its atmosphere. Ghostly light rays filter down through the murky green water above the tiny, still body, lending the scene what Modrak himself describes as a "mystical, almost reverential quality."

It is, essentially, a funeral portrait. And it's extraordinary.

3rd Place: 'Dead Chick of the Pond'

Shot info
Gear: Nikon D300s + Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye
Accessories: Hugyfot underwater housing, two Ikelite underwater strobes
Exposure: 1/60sec, f/13, ISO 640

Modrak was diving in the pond with a group when he made the discovery. Suburban ponds near Paris are rarely the stuff of wildlife photography dreams: think turbid water, low visibility, sparse life. But Modrak was searching for anything that might reward a closer look.

What he found was a chick, recently dead, resting on the silty bottom. Its downy feathers drifted slightly in the water, its beak slightly open, its eyes closed. Undisturbed. Almost peaceful. "I switched to my wide-angle lens to capture the sombre atmosphere," he explains, "positioning myself to incorporate rays of light filtering down through the murky water."

That compositional decision – to pull back rather than move in close – is what elevates the image from document to artwork. Where a macro lens might have catalogued the chick's physical details, the fisheye contextualises it: the body is small, vulnerable and alone in a vast, dark, green world. The crepuscular light rays converging from above give the image a stained-glass quality, as if the water itself were performing some kind of last rite.

To manage exposure in the dim, green-tinged water, Modrak relied on two Ikelite underwater strobes, housed alongside his Nikon D300s inside a Hugyfot housing. The strobes illuminate the chick's delicate downy feathers with just enough warmth to lift the subject from the background, while the available ambient light, handled at ISO 640, f/13 and 1/60sec, preserves the mood of those ethereal rays above.

The result is an image that sits outside the usual vocabulary of wildlife close-up photography. There is no action, no predator-prey tension, no moment of biological drama. There is only stillness... yet, somehow, Modrak has made that stillness speak louder than movement ever could.

The CUPOTY competition

The main Close Up Photographer of the Year competition invites photographers from all levels and corners of the globe to showcase their finest close-up work, captured with any camera, camera phone, or even microscope.

Next to this annual competition, the CUPOTY runs themed challenges with a specific theme, like 'Death & Decay'. For more information and to discover more winning images, visit the CUPOTY website.

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