- The Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024 award has brought 118 aquatic works to the Australian National Maritime Museum.
- The exhibition was one of the museum’s most successful last year, with its second year hoped to attract even more visitors and locals.
- Spanish photographer Rafael Fernandez Caballero was this year’s winner for his epic shot of a Byrde whale.
A critically endangered Cuban crocodile mouths the Shane Gross’s camera dome in Cuba, the detail on its teeth intensified by the glassy water. Over in the narrow watery stretch of Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait, photographer Ipah Uid Lynn catches an incredible, and slightly terrifying, portrait of a skeletal shrimp dancing with its prey.
The beauty of ocean photography is that it boldly captures objects, creatures and scenes that most people will never see in their lifetime. The deep fascination we hold for the ocean is boundless, which makes the current Ocean Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum so essential.
Feature 118 extraordinary images from some of the world’s most talented ocean photographers, the exhibition is hinged on exploring the beauty and fragility of our oceans and tell a dynamic story about a rapidly changing ecosystem. A message of urgency and conservation is gently threaded across the works, which were curated by a panel of expert judges in the award categories of Ocean, Wildlife, Fine Art, Adventure, Conservation (Hope), Conservation (Impact), Human Connection Award, Young Photographer of the Year and the Ocean Portfolio Award
This is the fifth year of Oceanographic Magazine’s Ocean Photographer of the Year competition, which had its inaugural year in at the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2023. Not only is it primed to exceed last year’s massive success, but it’s also the perfect time to visit the museum, which sits on the edge of Darling Harbour and features a cold-war era submarine called HMAS Onslow
Drawing attention to the traumas faced by our marine environments and the importance of ocean conversation is a major throughline for this exhibition, which features the winning image of the Ocean Photographer of the Year by Spain’s Rafael Fernandez Caballero. For his crowning achievement, Rafael shot a Bryde’s whale feeding on a baitball, besting a sizeable shortlist of over 15,000 ocean images across all genres, including underwater, surf and drone.
Ocean Photographer of the Year
Where: Australian National Maritime Museum; 2 Murray St, Sydney NSW 2000
When: November 28, 2024 – April 27, 2025
Price: $25 (adult), $15 (child)
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