I sat down with Benjamin Yavar (AKA @ben.freediver), winner of the Photography category of 2024’s ViewSonic ColorPro Awards, who captured this incredible underwater photograph of a diver swimming towards a shoal of sardines in Moalboal, Philippines.
Now in its fifth year, ViewSonic’s Color Pro Awards continues to recognize excellence in photography, videography and digital art. The theme of the 2024 awards was ‘Momentum’ and the organizers challenged photographers and creators to explore the meaning of the word “beyond physical motion, delving into emotional and symbolic dimensions”.
Benjamin Yavar is a professional freediver and a continental record holder in freediving disciplines, from Chile, who also takes photographs underwater. His image is titled ‘Wormhole’ and refers to a phenomenon that occurs on the Moalboal sardine run in the Philippines, where he has lived for the past five years. Captured on a Sony A7 IV and Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G within a Sea Frogs underwater camera housing, it shows Yavar’s girlfriend swimming towards the huge school of fish.
“The sardine run doesn’t happen all year round so we were lucky,” he says. “The weather was perfect, with good conditions, no waves at all and good visibility underwater. We were a bit far from the shore for the sardine run but we saw them all running together. Normally, you get fewer fish than this.
“I was already underwater, shooting towards the sardines, when I saw my girlfriend diving towards them. That’s when this unique form or ‘wormhole’ was created. I started shooting and changing the aperture, then realized this was a unique moment. I looked at the images and knew I had something good.”
"I was already underwater, shooting towards the sardines, when I saw my girlfriend diving towards them..."
Yavar uses only natural light for his underwater photography and says that the Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G is ideal for him; he doesn’t need a faster lens. For settings, he shot at around f/11 to get everything sharp and ISO100. While his Sea Frogs housing isn’t the most expensive on the market, it’s lightweight and waterproof to 40m. He says Sony sensors are well suited for this type of photography as their raw files capture colour well – especially green, which is prevalent in underwater photography, and praises the Sony A7 IV’s fast and accurate autofocus and the sharpness of Sony lenses.
You can see more of Benjamin's work by visiting his website.
The next ColorPro Awards launches in spring. Find out more or follow the contest on Instagram: @colorpro
Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them. If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com
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