Winners Gallery
1st place Ocean Portfolio Award
Shane Gross British Columbia, Canada
Baby plainfin midshipman fish, still attached to their yolk sacs in British Columbia, Canada. “They are guarded over by their father until they are big enough to swim out from under the rock they are living on in the intertidal zone and swim to ocean depths,” explains Gross.
All of Shane's Collective Portfolio Award entry
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BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm and sunny
- Coastal walk-in
- Evening
“A critically endangered Cuban crocodile, after several days of getting used to me, mouths my camera dome,” says Gross. “With less than 2,000 left in the wild and interbreeding American crocodiles rampant, the outlook is bleak. However, efforts to breed the animals are in place in a desperate attempt to save the species.”
BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm and sunny
- Taken with a drone
- Afternoon
Nurse sharks cross on a shallow sand flat in the Bahamas. “This moment was part of a days-long courtship ritual,” says Gross.
BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm and sunny
- Taken while scuba diving
- Site accessed by boat
- Morning
“An octopus explores the most pristine coral reef I’ve ever seen,” says Gross. “Here, in remote Indonesia only accessible via liveaboard, cold water upwellings meet warm tropical waters in a current-swept area.”
BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Dawn
- Coastal walk-in
- Calm and sunny
An endangered chupare stingray feeds on a sand flat at dawn in The Bahamas.
BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm, chilly water
- Taken while snorkelling
- Coastal walk-in
- Morning
A male and female pink salmon spawn as their last act before perishing and feeding the forest in Campbell River, British Columbia.
BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm and sunny
- Taken while snorkelling
- Site accessed by boat
- Morning
A crested sculpin hides in the stinging tentacles of a lion’s mane jellyfish. “The tentacles provide both shelter and food for the cryptic fish in Alaska’s Prince William Sound,” explains Gross.
BEHIND THE LENS
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm
- Taken while scuba diving
- Night
Opalescent squid mate and lay their eggs off Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. “The female will deposit 100 to 300 eggs into the sand and cover them with a sticky substance to anchor them to the seabed and protect them from predators,” explains Gross. “The male squid uses its fifth arm, called the hectocotylus, to grab the female and insert spermatophores. Eggs present at the bottom of the ocean stimulate other females to lay their eggs so that vast fields of the eggs can result.”
BEHIND THE LENS
Shane Gross Canada
ABOUT THE IMAGE
- Calm and sunny
- Coastal walk-in
- Taken during tide pooling
Shane Gross is a Canadian marine conservation photojournalist and Emerging League member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He is currently based in The Bahamas working to conserve queen conch, Nassau grouper, seagrass and mangrove habitats, among others. Shane's work has been recognised by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Underwater Photographer of the Year, Nature Photographer of the Year and many others. He is widely published around the world and his first book, Bahamas Underwater, is out soon.
MORE IMAGES BY Shane Gross
Conservation (Hope)Photographer of the Year
2024 Seychelles
WildlifePhotographer of the Year
2024 Seychelles
WildlifePhotographer of the Year
2023 Alaska, United States
Conservation (Hope)Photographer of the Year
2023 Saskatchewan, Canada
Reconnect. Immerse yourself. Be inspired.
Enjoy the vibrancy, beauty and impact of each year's finalist photography, celebrated in our Ocean Photographer of the Year coffee table book collection.
