Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026: Four Stunning Marine Images Make the Shortlist
The first images from Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 have been revealed, with four photographs featuring marine life and underwater environments among the 100 awarded images selected for this year’s exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
The category winners and overall Grand Title winner will be announced at the museum in London on 13 October, with the exhibition opening to the public on 16 October.
Icy Window – Audun Rikardsen
One of the most unusual images was captured from beneath the sea ice north of Svalbard, Norway.
Photographer Audun Rikardsen had spotted polar bear tracks close to a seal breathing hole. He drilled another hole nearby and placed a camera beneath the ice, attaching a motion sensor.
Around eight hours later, a polar bear arrived and looked down through the opening, producing the striking image titled Icy Window.
Seals use gaps in the sea ice to surface for air, but the same openings can also provide opportunities for polar bears hunting for prey.
Lifted to the Surface – Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen
A powerful encounter involving a pod of orcas was captured by Vegard Byrkjeland Aasen during work with the Norwegian Orca Survey.
Using a drone, Aasen spotted an adult orca carrying a dead calf on its head. The animal occasionally dropped the calf and retrieved it as it sank.
Cetacean mothers will sometimes lift newborn calves to the surface to help them breathe, and the behaviour observed by Aasen may have been an attempt to revive the calf. Researchers also interpret behaviour of this kind in some cases as reflecting the strong bond between mothers and their calves.
Calm Amid the Storm – Shane Gross
Shane Gross photographed a school of bigeye trevally swimming just off the beach at D’Arros Island in the Seychelles.
The resulting split-level photograph shows the fish beneath the surface while storm clouds gather above, lit by the rising sun.
The waters around D’Arros Island have been designated a Marine Protected Area and a no-take zone as part of efforts to protect marine and terrestrial environments. Bigeye trevally are fished around the world, but this particular school benefits from the protection afforded to the area.
Gross’s photograph appears in the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category as Calm Amid the Storm.
Ocean Protector – Ralph Pace
In Monterey Bay, California, photographer Ralph Pace captured a sea hare moving through an eelgrass meadow in the evening light.
The marine gastropod gets its name from its distinctive silhouette, while the eelgrass surrounding it forms an important coastal ecosystem.
Eelgrass is a marine plant rather than a seaweed, and its underwater meadows are also valuable carbon sinks. Sea hares help the ecosystem by grazing on red algae that can block sunlight from reaching the eelgrass.
Pace’s photograph, Ocean Protector, is among the images selected for this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
100 Images to Go on Display
The four marine photographs are part of 100 awarded images that will feature in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
The category winners and Grand Title winner will be announced on 13 October, before the exhibition opens on 16 October.
Header Image: Icy Window – Audun Rikardsen
