Winners Gallery
Finalist Conservation (Hope) Photographer of the Year
Yuta Shigeno Kagoshima, Japan
A male white-spotted pufferfish creates an intricate spawning nest in the sand. The fish carefully shapes a two-metre-wide radial pattern using only his fins. Built over several days, this structure and its subtle details reveal the extraordinary effort this small fish invests in reproduction. Fine sand, shells and fragments are arranged from the centre outward, each piece carried into place by the fish.
BEHIND THE LENS
Yuta Shigeno Japan
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Accessed by boat
- Nikon Z8
- Taken while scuba diving
- ISO500, F7.1, SS1/80
Yuta Shigeno is a Japan-based underwater photographer. A former banker, he now documents the beauty of the ocean and the lives within it, from familiar seas around Japan to the Arctic. His work has received awards in Japan and overseas, and through his photography, he shares the wonder of the underwater world and the changes facing our marine environment.
MORE IMAGES BY Yuta Shigeno
Conservation (Hope)Photographer of the Year
2026 Shikoku, Japan
