The winners of the 2025 Ocean Photographer of the Year competition captured the ocean and its wildlife like you’ve never seen before.
While floating in the crystal-clear waters of the northern Great Barrier Reef, a sleek, dark shape glided toward Marcia Riederer. The Brazilian-born wildlife and underwater photographer watched as the dwarf minke whale approached, snapping a photo at the exact moment it turned and fixed one eye on her.
“These curious giants approach swimmers with an almost playful curiosity,” Riederer told Oceanographic Magazine. “The whales seem to acknowledge your presence, circling and interacting with you. It’s a humbling experience, reaffirming the wonder of the ocean and its inhabitants, and the urgent need to conserve it.”
Her stunning photo, shown above, won Riederer first place in the fine art category of the 2025 Ocean Photographer of the Year awards. This competition, presented by Oceanographic and Blancpain, honors awe-inspiring images that showcase the ocean’s beauty and its fragility. Read on to dive into the rest of this year’s winning photos.Wildlife photographer of the year: Takumi Oyama
The yellow pygmy goby is a small, brightly colored fish native to the western Pacific Ocean. Japanese marine researcher Takumi Oyama photographed this one mid-larval dispersal. “In gobiid fishes, male parental care is common, but unusually, in the yellow pigmy goby, females also participate in parental hatching care,” he explained. “This individual is a female, releasing newly hatched larvae into the water column from her mouth.”
Oyama’s research focuses on the reproductive ecology of fish, particularly of reef fish in Japan. He conducts scuba-based fieldwork to get up close and personal with marine life, using underwater photography to aid his research and share his observations with the world.Adventure photographer of the year: Ben Thouard
The coast of Nazaré, Portugal, is infamous for its massive waves, producing some of the largest swells ever surfed. French photographer Ben Thouard snapped this dramatic shot on a particularly rough day. “The wind was blowing from the north which makes the surf tricky,” he said. “It was the end of the afternoon; the light was interesting from the beach instead as from the usual cliff view. It was hard to shoot anything because of the big sets and the saltwater in the air. But, eventually, this moment happened.”
Thouard has been photographing the ocean ever since he was a teenager. He is now based in Tahiti—another part of the world known for its powerful waves—where he has developed his unique visual style.
