A dramatic photograph of a leopard seal with its mouth wide open in Antarctic waters has captured the top prize at the 2025 Underwater Awards Australasia. The winning image, titled "Wide Open" by South Florida photographer James Ferrara, earned both Best in Show and first place in the International category, highlighting the incredible diversity of marine life in the Australasia region.
The competition, organized for the second year by DivePhotoGuide (DPG), Underwater Australasia, and UW Images, invites underwater photographers from around the world to submit their finest work captured in the Australasia region. This vast geographic area encompasses Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and numerous other locations in the southern hemisphere, offering some of the world's most spectacular underwater environments.
Ferrara's award-winning photograph captured an intense encounter with one of Antarctica's most formidable predators. "When it comes to photographic subjects in Antarctica, the leopard seal sits at the top of my list," Ferrara explained. "Known for their mix of curiosity and aggression, they're a dream subject for any underwater photographer." The leopard seal, weighing between 400 and 1,300 pounds, initially kept its distance but gradually became more curious and bold during their underwater encounter.
The photographer described the thrilling experience of being face-to-face with the powerful marine predator. "At first, it was standoffish, keeping its distance, but as the encounter progressed, it became increasingly curious," he noted. "By the end, it was opening its mouth and flashing its teeth—a clear display of dominance, a reminder of who's in charge! Though I felt a jolt of nerves, the thrill of experiencing my dream scenario kept me focused, present, and absolutely in awe."
The competition featured eight photography categories plus one video category, with winners showcasing the remarkable biodiversity of the Australasia region. Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef emerged as a particularly popular shooting location among photographers, with numerous winning images featuring manta rays, sea turtles, and reef sharks from this World Heritage Site.
Among the standout winners was Imogen Manins, who took first place in the Tough TG category with "Mosely's Glistening Brood," featuring a weedy seadragon at Flinders Pier. The photograph captures a male seadragon known as "Mosely" in the SeadragonSearch database, who has returned to the same location annually since 2018 to court, mate, and carry eggs. Manins described encountering this "very relaxed and photogenic seadragon" during an early morning dive, with his freshly placed brood glistening in the sunlight.
Talia Greis earned first place in the Sydney category with "The Conductor," showcasing a giant cuttlefish gracefully drifting through the waters at Shark Point in Clovelly. Her image highlights how these magnificent creatures make seasonal appearances in Sydney's waters during peak winter, offering divers exceptional opportunities to observe them in crystal-clear conditions.
The Australia category winner, "Minke Elegance" by Marcia Riederer, captures an intimate moment with a dwarf minke whale. Riederer described the profound experience of floating eye-to-eye with the marine giant: "For a moment, I wonder, am I observing it, or is it studying me? Scientists still don't know why minkes approach humans, but it feels like we are both simply curious about each other."
One of the competition's most impactful images came from the Conservation category, where Neil Vincent's "Crocodile and Plastic Bottle" took first place. The photograph shows a crocodile with a plastic water bottle in its mouth at Cahill Crossing in Australia's Northern Territory. Vincent witnessed a tourist throw the bottle into the water, which the crocodile reflexively grabbed and swallowed. "In the heat of the hunt, crocodiles don't understand plastic water bottles," Vincent observed, using his image to highlight the serious issue of plastic pollution affecting wildlife.
The portfolio category was dominated by Jake Wilton's "Ningaloo: A Living Tapestry," a six-image series showcasing the extraordinary diversity of Ningaloo Reef. His collection includes split-level shots of manta rays gliding through schools of fish, encounters with whale sharks, and unexpected wildlife interactions including a rare southern giant petrel from Antarctica. Wilton's work demonstrates both the abundance of life and the rare interactions that make Ningaloo Reef a remarkable ecosystem worth protecting.
Smartphone photography was well-represented in the competition, with first place going to Luciano Morales Corinaldesi for "Green Turtle Stack," an unusual image of three turtles stacked atop one another at Ningaloo Reef. The photographer maintained careful distance to avoid disturbing what appeared to be mating behavior, capturing this extraordinary natural phenomenon with remarkable detail despite using only a smartphone camera.
Other notable winners included Daniel Sly's "The Exchange," which captured the extremely rare mating behavior of pygmy pipehorses with visible egg transfer—a fleeting moment that lasted only seconds but represented weeks of patient observation. The intimate photograph shows the female passing her clutch of tiny orange eggs to the male's brood pouch, where he would carry and protect them until hatching.
The competition also recognized technical excellence in macro photography, with William Gladstone's "Tiny Cleaner" earning third place in the Sydney category. The image shows an eastern cleaner-clingfish working inside a Port Jackson shark's gill slits, demonstrating the intricate symbiotic relationships that exist in marine ecosystems. Gladstone used specialized macro techniques and lighting to capture this delicate interaction between the tiny cleaner fish and its much larger host.
Several winning images employed the challenging split-shot technique, which captures both underwater and above-water elements in a single frame. Gabriel Guzman's "Edge of Two Worlds" portfolio exemplified this approach, featuring six different marine species photographed with similar techniques. His work demonstrates how the underwater and surface environments complement each other to create unified, compelling compositions.
The 2025 Underwater Awards Australasia winners collectively showcase not only the incredible biodiversity of the region but also the dedication and skill required to capture these fleeting underwater moments. From the intimate behavior of tiny sea creatures to encounters with massive marine predators, these photographs serve as both artistic achievements and important documentation of the marine life that inhabits one of the world's most biodiverse regions. The competition continues to grow in prestige, attracting talented photographers from around the globe who are drawn to the unique underwater landscapes and marine life that make Australasia a premier destination for underwater photography.
