The Ocean Photography Awards is an annual competition where photographers from all over the world are invited to share their best shots captured under and above water ecosystems.
The OPA team writes on their website, ” The Ocean Photography Awards are a celebration of our blue planet, as well as a platform to highlight the many plights it is facing.”
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The winners of the 2020 Ocean Photography Awards have been announced and the results are amusing. The prize-winning shot that stole hearts of almost everybody who saw it was the one taken by German photographer Tobias Baumgaertner that captures two fluffy penguins embracing and comforting each other.
The shot that was captured in Melbourne, Australia was described by the photographer in the following words: “During times like this, the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love the most. These two fairy penguins poised upon a rock overlooking the Melbourne skyline were standing there for hours, flipper in flipper, watching the sparkling lights of the skyline and ocean.”
It was also said that these two penguins had lost their partners and were mourning over their losses together.
The photographer added,” A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left. Since then, they meet regularly, comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights nearby city.”
He also said that it took him 3 full nights with this penguin colony until he was able to get this perfect shot and his toil has definitely paid off.
He said, “Between not being able or allowed to use any lights and the tiny penguins continuously moving, rubbing their flippers on each other’s backs and cleaning one another, it was really hard to get a shot, but i got lucky during one beautiful moment. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.”
Tobias also said,” The way that these two lovebirds were caring for one another stood out from the entire colony. While all the other penguins were sleeping around, those two just seemed to stand there and enjoy every second they had together, holding each other in their flippers and talking about penguin stuff.”
