MontPhoto, international photography contest (Mountain and Nature Photography Awards)

1st Award
Frozen Mobil Home de Greg Lecoeur de Nice ()
Place: Península Antàrtica
Description: During an expedition on a small sailboat, we explored the Antarctica Peninsula by diving below its surface. Although the conditions were extreme with a temperature of minus 1°C, we documented extraordinary marine fauna within its fragile ecosystem as shown in this picture: crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) swimming among their natural habitat: icebergs, which are dramatically affected by global warming.

Greg Lecoeur

1st Award

2st Award
Sadness de Franco Banfi de Cadro (Lugano) (TI)
Place: Tenerife, Illes Canàries (Espanya)
Description: Last summer I was on the island of Tenerife, the biggest in the Canary Islands, to document the underwater life of this island. On the second day I went into the water to photograph a pod that we had approached, and once I was in the water I saw a Long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) carrying something in its mouth. I swam closer to better understand what I was seeing and I found out it was a mother carrying her dead newborn.

Franco Banfi

2st Award

Honor award
Sardine Run de Greg Lecoeur de Nice ()
Place: Sud-àfrica
Description: Long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis) and Cape Gannets (Morus capensis) feeding on a Southern African pilchard (Sardinops sagax ocellatus) bait ball during the annual Sardine Run along the Wild Coast of South Africa. Capturing this kind of predation in a picture requires a lot of patience and to be in the right place at the right time, but when luck kicks in it is certainly the most beautiful show in the animal kingdom.

Greg Lecoeur

Honor award

Honor award
Blue Arrow 2 de David Salvatori de Cerveteri (Rome)
Place: Baja Magdalena (Baixa Califòrnia Sud, Mèxic)
Description: Magdalena Bay, off the Western coast of Mexico, on the side of the Pacific Ocean, is a remote destination where you have the possibility to encounter Striped Marlin (Kajikia audax) fish every year. They are very fast (swimming at 130 km/h), so getting close to them is not easy. In this picture, a beautiful specimen was portrayed while swimming in the open ocean and getting ready to attack a ball of mackerel fishes (Scombridae).

David Salvatori

Honor award

Honor award
In my mother's arms de Renli Zhao de GuangZhou (GuangDong)
Place: Illes Vava´u (Tonga)
Description: Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mothers have it in their nature to protect their children. A picture of that, picturing that moment, feels very warm. August ,2018.

Renli Zhao

Honor award

Honor award
Croc impressionism de Jacob Degee de Warszawa ()
Place: Banco Chinchorro (Mèxic)
Description: Having spent many hours in the water with big crocodiles over the past few years I wanted to present this magnificent American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in a new way. I decided to show the colours of the areas in which crocs live emulating an impressionist painter. Blurred green and blue have been achieved by long exposure and a proper movement of my camera.

Jacob Degee

Honor award

Honor award
Fishing de Mikhail Korostelev de Moscow (Moscow)
Place: Riu Ozernaya, Sud de Kamtxatka (Rússia)
Description: This picture was taken using a camera with remote control placed under the water in a fish sanctuary to the Ozernaya River where bears like to fish. Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus) try to catch sockeye salmon here. Approximately 1000 bears fish around the Kurilskoe Lake during the summer season. Only one river (Ozernaya) comes out of the lake and enters the Sea of Okhotsk.

Mikhail Korostelev

Honor award

Honor award
Curvas de Isaias Cruz Irujo de Pamplona (Navarra)
Place: Mar Cantàbrica, Bermeo (Biscaia)
Description: The silhouette of a Blue shark (Prionace glauca) is highllighted in the open ocean thanks to its slender shape and its elegant moves. This picture was taken during a snorkel tour aimed at learning how to swim while surrounded by these animals. It was all under the control of expert guides in the matter.

Isaias Cruz Irujo

Honor award

Honor award
Bostezo de Marc Casanovas Felix de Barcelona (Barcelona)
Place: Tossa de Mar (Espanya)
Description: If I had to point out one animal I feel special sympathy for, that is the Angler (Lophius piscatorius). I wait for the winter to dive in search for it and most of these dives are unsuccessful because of how they camouflage in the environment, but when I took this picture I was not only lucky to actually see it, I was lucky to see it yawning.

Marc Casanovas Felix

Honor award

GALLERY MONTPHOTO 2020

Underwater world