The inaugural People’s Choice competition featured 20 contending images from 12 countries and garnered nearly 5,000 votes! Last year, Wayne Lai became the first-ever winner for his image, Hunting Cape Gannet. Scroll down to learn more about this incredible image!
BigPicture is delighted to announce that the People’s Choice Award will continue in 2025! 20 Finalists will be determined by the BigPicture team, based on judges scores, and public voting will take place in July 2025. The winner—the photographer whose image garners the most votes—will receive $300 and see their image featured on the BigPicture website. Their image will also be featured in the BigPicture exhibition interactive, on view at California Academy of Sciences starting Fall 2025.
While sardine (family Clupeidae) runs are often in murky water, a strobe light helped illuminate the moment a Cape gannet (Morus capensis) dove straight into a school of unlucky fish. Not only were the gannets attacking the bait ball from the air, dolphins were circling down below, driving the fish to the surface.
Wayne Lai began his underwater photography on a macro-imagery focused trip to Anilao in 2016. Deeply impressed by the beauty and behavior of their creatures under the focus light, his enthusiasm for underwater macro photography has escalated. In just under two years, and after frequent visits to Lembeh, Romblon and Anilao, Wayne was able to hone his skills in wide-angle photography. Since 2017, Wayne’s photos have been recognized in top underwater and nature and wildlife photography competitions such as Spotlight UW Macro Photographer 2017; Ocean Geographic Pictures of the Year 2021; DPG/Wetpixel Masters 2021; Nature Photographer of the Year 2021; Art of Nature, Glanzlichter 2024.
