Animals
Finalist
Galice Hoarau | Diamond squid
Name: Galice Hoarau
Picture title: Diamond squid
Category: Animals
Nationality: French
Occupation: Professor in marine molecular ecology
Galice says:
‘I photographed this diamond squid (Thysanoteuthis rhombus) off the island of Siladen (Indonesia) during a blackwater dive. Blackwater diving is essentially diving at night in the open ocean, usually over deep or very deep water. Divers are surrounded by darkness, with only a lit downline as a visual reference. Peering through the darkness with your torch can be quite stressful the first time you do it, but it gets fascinating very quickly.
What makes blackwater diving so magical is the abundance of rarely seen planktonic creatures you spot as they take part in one of the largest daily migrations of any animal on Earth. After sunset, small pelagic animals (like this squid) rise close to the surface to feed where the sunlight has allowed planktonic algae to grow. At sunrise, they dive into the depths and stay down there during the day to escape predators.’
Technical information:
Olympus E-M1 Mk II
Olympus 30mm Macro
ISO 400
f/22
1/320sec
Accessories: Nauticam underwater housing, 2x Inon Z-330 strobes, 2x Sola lights
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Lightroom.