Meet the winners of the Ojo de Pez 2022 Photo Contest

The 2022 call brought together 110 participants from the north to the south of the country, and more than 280 photographs, in which a jury of men and women linked to photography, science and dissemination evaluated and highlighted the best.

Lorenzo Palma, Science in Chile.- In a virtual ceremony, on Thursday, October 13, the winners of the photographic contest “Fish Eye: Portray the life of the aquatic world” were announced, an initiative that for 9 uninterrupted years has been transformed into a space to highlight the importance of aquatic ecosystems for citizens through photographs that show the beauty of landscapes, their flora, fauna and the effects that human activities have on them.

Whales, anemones, fish, penguins, birds and immersive landscapes surprise again through the photographs left by the Ojo de Pez 2022 contest. This national contest has been held for 9 years, with more than 1,300 participants, 3000 photographs and more than 30 exhibitions.

José Garcés, professor at the Institute of Marine and Limnological Sciences (ICML) of the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) and a researcher at the Center for Dynamic Research of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL) and member of the contest, expressed his gratitude to all the participants this year and underlined that, “what we can highlight from this version is that for the first time we held a contest launch ceremony in person, as well as giving space for people who do not have social networks can vote directly for the Audience Award, through our Ojo de Pez website”.

“We hope that, with this photographic contest and with these different dissemination platforms, we will fulfill the objective of recognizing the importance of fresh and marine water bodies. I especially congratulate the 2022 winners and my call is for more women to join the following calls”, concluded the UACh academic.

Winners 2022

The winner of the Ojo de Pez 2022 contest went to Felipe Araya Fernández, who titled his participating photograph “Última Esperanza”, and it shows the tail of a whale trapped with fishing ropes.

In the category Antarctic and Subantarctic Environmentsthe third place went to Marcelo Flores Morales, with “Megaptera novaeangliae”; the second place went to Felipe Molina Molina, with the photograph “Papúa entre Cúmulos y Empedrado”; and the first place in the category goes to Gabriela Torretti Cortés, with her image “Un Awakening Magistral”.

In the category Aquatic Flora and Fauna, third place went to Antonio Marasovic Hadad, and his photograph of “Tomoyo entre Algas”; second place went to Gonzalo Bertolotto Quintana and the capture “Delfin Austral posing for the photo”; and the first place was awarded to Raúl Martín Geisse, with the photograph titled “Joyitas de Mar”.

In the category, Landscape, Work and Aquatic Conservation, the third place went to José Alonso Díaz, and the photograph “Centinilla”; Second place went to Carlos Marín Morales, with the composition “Olas de Arsenico y Carbón”; and the first place, with a black and white photograph, went to Daniel Vidal Pollarolo, and his image “The Pelicans and the Fisherman”.

The winner of the Los Ríos Region award went to Harold Gillibrand Guerra, and the photograph of a heron feeding, which he titled: “In Search of Shrimp”. The popular vote was not out of the 2022 contest and the winner of the third place in the Audience Award category was obtained by Carol Valetin Bohle, with “Paseando al dusk”; Second place goes to Constanza Abaud Zapata, with the photograph: “Fin Whale Survivor of a Boat Collision”; and finally, first place went to Javiera Pérez-Cotapos Duncker, with a spectacular “Humpback Whale”.

All the photographs that participated in the popular vote will be part of the Ojo de Pez 2022 Exhibition. The first exhibition will be held at the RA Philippi Exploration Museum and we invite you to view it for free from Tuesday, October 18 until on November 15. Soon, the photographs will be exhibited in the Magallanes Region.

the contest “Ojo de Pez: Portrays the life of the aquatic world” is the result of the collaborative work between the Institute of Marine and Limnological Sciences (ICML) of the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh), the Regional Associative Project (PAR) Explore The Rivers of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation and the Dynamic Research Center of High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (IDEAL).

The Ojo de Pez Contest has in this 2022 version sponsored by the School of Marine Biologythe Vice President for Research, Development and Artistic Creation and the PhD in Marine Biology dependent on the UACh. In addition, it collaborates RA Philippi Museum of Exploration of the UACh and the Sea and Science Foundation.

Awards

To reconnect with nature after two years of the pandemic, the winner of the Ojo de Pez 2022 Contest will be able to access a Photographic Expedition in the Los Ríos Region, consisting of two kayak trips (total duration 4 days and 3 nights). The first, second and third place in each category will receive, respectively, an action camera with a stabilizer, a gimbal, a professional photography tripod and a photo printer.

In two additional categories, the winner of the Los Ríos Region will receive a 4tb hard drive and the 3 photographs that received the most votes will receive a physical copy of the Ojo de Pez Book: Chile in images of Water and Life, which can be obtained digitally and free of charge on the website of Fish eye.

You can see the video of the winners here