-
Thanks Gabriel, it was high time to bring up WPY deadline indeed.
Great to have Laurent Ballesta as a judge… more chances for the rest of us to win!
Laurent has won the grand title twice and category wins multiple times, he’s my favorite underwater photographer/explorer, I’ve been a long-time admirer. Laurent’s work isn’t that visible in non-French speaking media, but I take this chance to invite everyone to explore his work: https://laurentballesta.com/ Many agree is the closest thing we get to a 21st century Cousteau.
You can browse Laurent’s winning WPY photos here and there are a couple of take aways:
-Laurent doesn’t mind awarding photos with a diver in the frame.
-Your photo doesn’t have to be picture-perfect to win WPY, and whilst you can’t remove backscatter, you can tune down distractions. I am told there’s a diver fin visible in this grand-title winner, but dodging & burning came to the rescue.
I’ve shared my thoughts & experience entering (many times) and being awarded (once) in WPY during our last webinar, on replay here: https://theunderwaterclub.com/webinar-2025-11-stories-behind-the-winning-shots/
WPY is the most competitive contest of all, I’d be pretty happy to see a TUC member (or more!) get awarded this year, all the best everyone!!