Honorable Mention Black & White
Tom ingram
“Just Chilling“
The Story:
Lundy island is situated roughly 12 miles off the north Devon coast in the UK. It’s regarded as a true wildlife haven, both on land and in the surrounding seas, which is why its waters were designated Englands first marine conservation area. It’s also home to a healthy population of Atlantic grey seals.
Due to the unpredictability of the British weather, and the location of Lundy island, it can be a tricky place, not only to get to, but with strong tidal currents, variable visibility and prevailing winds it can make underwater conditions challenging at times.
On this particular day in mid August Lady Luck was on our side. On arrival my plan was to navigate to an area of sandy, shingle, kelp lined gullies and position myself inside one of these and just be patient and let the seals come to me. I wanted to capture the true natural environment along with these magnificent creatures which I felt would have more of a narrative to the photo.
Even though they are incredibly inquisitive they are obviously wild animals and it took an hour and a half of patiently waiting for them to really be accepted into their amazing world. But in the last 30 minutes of the dive I observed such wonderful natural behaviour between the seals and adorable close interactions and I felt totally part of the group, best of all it was all on their terms. As the picture shows they were so relaxed around me, they even stared to fall asleep. I’ve been to Lundy 4 times now and never had an experience like that.
I decided to do a black and white image as I felt this really made the subjects pop and I felt it complemented and captured the mood of the environment.
Location:
Lundy Island located about 12 miles off the north Devon coast, UK
Equipment Used:
- Camera – Canon G7X Mark III
- Housing – Isotta
- Strobe/light – 2x Inon Z-330 strobes
- Lens – Fantasea UWL-09F Wide Angle Wet Lens.
Camera Settings:
- ISO 400
- F/8
- Shutter speed 1/200s
