Ocean Photographer of the Year accessibility - Female Fifty Fathoms

Female Fifty Fathoms Award presented by Blancpain

The Female Fifty Fathoms Award celebrates women in ocean photography. These women have overcome barriers to excel in what is still a male-dominated space.

The Female Fifty Fathoms Award was created in 2021 by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain to promote women in the field. Each year it celebrates one woman’s portfolio of work.

Of the 118 images selected for this year’s Ocean Photographer of the Year, 29% were taken by women. The inclusion of this award increases that figure to 35%.

What makes this award different is that the photographers are nominated by their peers, their fellow photographers. In the other categories, photographers submit their own work. The winner is selected by the overall judging panel and the Blancpain President & CEO, Marc A. Hayek, and his team.

Winner The Female Fifty Fathoms Award - Ipah Uid Lynn

Malaysian photographer Ipah Uid Lynn was raised in Kuching and lives in Kuala Lumpur. Ipah says her photography style is like storytelling with a dash of magic. Ipah Uid Lynn is the first Asian to win Oceanographic Magazine's Female Fifty Fathoms Award.

Image size (overall image size 143.5 x 143.5cm) this image is made up of 10 of Ipah Uid Lynn’s images. A brief description of all images is included here, together with a more detailed description of just one of these remarkable photographs. Listen through to the end to hear it.

On a black background, the following are showcased:

Location Romblon Island, Philippines

A tiny goby fish perches on a delicate sea whip plant, blending into its vibrant surroundings. It’s a confusing image,

Bright and colourful. Pink and purple blurred light, cylindrical at the centre with a halo of yellow and green. “The image employs a shallow depth of field, focusing sharply on the fish’s eye while the surrounding colours swirl. A tiny yellow and clear fish and a stick of coral with fronds.

A red plant frill on our right, like an open jaw, with transluscent spikes.

Above is a small black pupil rimmed in yellow and a strip of yellow-flecked clear jelly rising vertically (the tiny fishes body).Vertically, through the middle of the image the coral’s white spine, On our left, onto the spine, the coral is horizontally pleated, like red fabric shot through with white thread. The pleats also have spikes, pointing up. Around them is a radiating violet hue.

Tenggol Island, Malaysia

A diver swims through a small cavern. “The scene is bathed in soft, natural light filtering through the water . Within a narrow passage of formidable, looming rocks, A diver swims towards us in full gear, bubbles rising. They are surrounded by lilac and green light. Below is a green-tinged pebbly floor

The Maldives

A whale shark surrounded by a swirling school of fish.

Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

This striking macro image captures a skeletal shrimp, in the midst of consuming its prey. “The shrimp’s spindly, orange-tinged, almost transparent body is framed against a dark background, highlighting its delicate, stick-like, alien-like structure.” Its forelegs and antennae are outstretched.

Bau Bau, Indonesia

A diver explores a cave system filled with intricate rock formations. “The shot was taken with a wide-angle lens to encompass the vastness of the cave and the surrounding environment.” Underwater stalagmites and sharp rocky outcrops in the crystal-clear water, frame a scuba diver bathed in greenish-blue, bright, light, swimming right to left.

Koh Tao, Thailand

A large school of batfish swim in unison, forming a loose vertical half circle with their white , black and yellow rounded bodies, on the right of the image. They are moving gracefully through the deep blue water. “The diver below the school is captured mid-movement, adding a sense of scale and adventure”

Selakan Island, Malaysia

“captured in the heart of a mangrove forest in Selakan Island, showcasing the intricate underwater world beneath the surface. Sunlight filters through the dense canopy above. Ethereal beams of light penetrate the water.” A sunsoaked underwater image of a diver surrounded by knobbly tree roots. Above the diver, is a halo of greenish-white mottled light.

Selakan Island, Malaysia

A member of the Bajau, in his traditional wooden boat at sunset. “The Bajau are a nomadic people of Southeast Asia, known for their deep connection to the ocean.” The black water ripples, the wooden boat is vibrant in the camera flash, whitening the brown canoe. Against a cloud streaked, moody peach, white and blue sky and central in the image, a tanned, bare-chested man sits at the back of the canoe with his shins and feet in the water holding a modern fishing spear skyward.

Selakan Island, Malaysia

A moray eel peeks out from its hiding spot within coral. “The eel’s face is highlighted by a beam of light, making its eyes and sharp teeth stand out against the dark background.” The eel is speckled brown, one, side-mounted, black-pupiled eye trained on the camera, its mouth ajar to reveal a mouthful of small, inconsistent, razor sharp teeth.

Tenggol Island, Malaysia

This light-coloured, close-up image of a goby fish presents a captivating view of its face. “The background is softly blurred, featuring gentle shades of blue, green, and pink that make the goby stand out. Proudly centra, its little translucent face has side mounted eyes, a strong, silvery flecked forehead and drooping jowls below.

Returning to the whaleshark image in the top right, 

Here is a more detailed description of it.

The Maldives

A whale shark surrounded by a swirling school of fish. “I shot this image during sunrise in shallow water and I used an underwater video light, as well as a coloured light to highlight the whale shark and the fish against the dark background.

explains Uid Lynn. "The composition emphasises the scale and grace of the whale shark and the image beautifully showcases the mesmerising interplay between light, motion, and marine life."

In an interview published in The Edge Singapore November 8, 2024 Ipah says “It’s really about mastering light, composition and understanding and respecting animals and their behaviour.

You can have the fanciest gear in the world but if you don’t know how to use it creatively, it’s just metal and glass.”

This is a busy, high contrast image illuminating the white underbelly and open mouth of a feeding whale shark. The black water is alive with scrambling, swirling fish. Long and thin, the panicked swarm are swimming down on our left and their bodies form a pattern, curving towards the centre on our right. At the bottom of the image, in the water below the whale shark, one vibrant fish’s colouring is singled out by the photographer’s light. Its pinky-red head and body bears a light blue and black stripe down its narrow side. A blue-tinged dorsal fin runs the length of its spine, narrowing into a translucent tail tip.

Towards the bottom of the image the school swims close to the whale-shark. Their bodies, a mix of light green, pale yellow and lightest blue, reflect cooly in the underwater light. They change course below the shark, angling to our right, a curve in each of a hundred tails conveying their movement.

Above the tiny ambassador, singled out, is the soft white underbelly and pale yawning mouth of a whale shark. Opening its mouth wide to profit in the swirling, panicked feast, the great toothless whale is emerging from the gloom. It swims at an angle to us, off to the right. Between us and the whale shark the school appears like long, lean leaves against the whale shark’s imposing, white underbelly.

To the right of the whale shark and below it, the deluge of small bodies presses down, blurring at extreme right of the image into a swirl of tightly packed squirming lines, reduced to downward strokes of pinky-grey and dark stripes in the gloom.

The whale shark is speckled grey around its mouth-opening. A small dark eye on the side of its head is obscured by clustering small fish. Around its eye its grey top side is dappled white. Its expanse of off-white, flat underbelly disappears into the dark ocean behind. The thin side profile of a silver flipper cuts the dark water on our left.

The copious smaller fish all around flash predominantly silvery-green in the light, in a swirl reminiscent of rain. Above the whale-shark’s broad head the school eddy down and to the right, their colouring glowing green, blue and silver. Behind the slow-moving predator are criss-crossing bodies deep into the water.