You may have your own vacation photos of rock pools, beaches, and seashells from your travels this summer, but if you want to see how the professionals do it, check out the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 awards.
Taken from the air, the shore, and beneath the waves, there are 84 image finalists in total, though we’ve picked out some of our favorites below. From huge waves to tiny sea creatures, the photos showcase wonder and wildlife in the oceans, as well as some of the challenges that endanger these incredible ecosystems. The contest features nine categories, and is run by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain.
“These photographs don’t just capture what’s beneath the surface; they surface the stories our planet most needs us to hear,” said Will Harrison, Ocean Photographer of the Year founder and director, in a statement. “As the pressures on our ocean grow, so does the importance of the artists who bear witness to them.”
The Wildlife category asks photographers to capture the story of a specific creature or ecosystem. This shot of southern elephant seal pups from Matthew Smith certainly fits the brief, taken on Sea Lion Island in the Falklands, as the seals learn to swim and survive on their own.
Also in Wildlife, Ariel Mei Gliboff captured this colorful shot of 11 gunnels off the coast of Seattle. While the fish are commonly seen around these shores, it’s rare to see them bunching together so tightly, and showing off so many different colors at once.
The Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds category celebrates creatures that are a bit harder to spot—as with this compelling picture of a pygmy seahorse by Iris Uijttewaal, taken in the reefs of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. These camouflaged hydroids are as small as a grain of rice.
Few of the shortlisted images are as vibrant and colorful as this one by Andrea Michelutti. You’re looking at a shrimp carrying a clutch of eggs, sheltering within the branches of a coral, with a snoot used to illuminate the scene from behind without affecting the delicate habitat.
The idea behind the Human Connection: People and Planet Ocean category is to highlight our own place within nature. We definitely get that in this Anita Verde photo, showcasing an encounter between a free diver and a giant oceanic sunfish (Mola Mola) in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.
This image from Rémi Conte shows how closely humanity and the ocean exist side-by-side, and how much we depend on each other to co-exist. The picture is taken from above in Nosy Iranja, Madagascar, with the Indian Ocean on the right and a fishing village on the left, including part of a soccer pitch.
This Chelsea Mayer shot wouldn’t look out of place in an art gallery, depicting a pod of short-beaked common dolphins off the California coast, under the reflections of a passing boat.
Black-and-white submissions are encouraged in the Fine Art category, and this photo of a common octopus by James Ferrara is a detailed example. Taken in the waters of Blue Heron Bridge, Florida, the image shows off the suckers, skin, and eye of the octopus, plus the siphon it uses to move water through its body.
And then there’s the Adventure category. Case in point. This Dan Sullivan image of a surfer, a windsurfer, and a kitesurfer sharing the same giant wave on Maui’s North Shore.
Here’s an underwater adventure shot by Ben Yávar: A freediver surrounded by a huge school of sardines moving around her. It was captured during an unplanned morning dive, and it gives a sense of people and marine life co-existing peacefully.
Two of the categories focus on conversation. This black-and-white image by Daniel Taylor shows a silky shark caught by an illegal longline off the California coast as a group of pilot fish look on.
This overhead shot from Lu Minqiang is of a scene from the Malé Fish Market in the Maldives. Fish waste is emptied into the sea as rays gather below to feast on it—a demonstration of how human activity can alter natural feeding patterns if easy food sources are available.
The final category looks at conservation with a more hopeful angle: This photo by Francesca Page shows juvenile European lobsters being raised at a hatchery in the United Kingdom to improve their chances of long-term survival.
A hopeful image from Leighton Lum, in which we can see Hawaiian green sea turtles (honu) resting together inside a sheltered sea cave on Maui, as the sun goes down. This species of turtle has recovered significantly in recent years, thanks to conservation efforts—for which there is now some iconic photographic evidence.
Ocean Photographer of the Year is presented by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain. 
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Lead image: Leighton Lum / Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026
