2021 EPoY finalist, Scott Portelli

Finalist Exploration Photographer of the Year

Scott Portelli Australia

32°59'41.3"S 137°44'12.8"E

A diver observes mating cuttlefish. “Hundreds of thousands of giant Australian cuttlefish gather each winter from May to August in the shallow waters of South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf for their once-in-a-lifetime spawning event,” says photographer Scott Portelli. “The cuttlefish display an array of patterns, textures and colours to indicate their mating intentions.”

BEHIND THE LENS

Scott Portelli Australia

ABOUT THE IMAGE

Late afternoon
Light wind
Taken while scuba diving
Access via shore walk-in

Scott Portelli is an award-winning wildlife, nature, aerial, and underwater photographer and filmmaker based in Esperance, Western Australia. With thousands of hours spent in remote regions, his work focuses on conservation, education, and capturing wildlife with a low-impact, non-invasive approach. Scott has won Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year (2021, 2024) and earned recognition from Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2016, 2022). He has spent over a decade documenting Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic, producing a fine art portfolio that reveals rare glimpses above and below the surface in some of Earth’s harshest environments.