DIVE IN!
Nature POTY winner, Ben Yavar, explains the beauty beneath the surface, the challenges of working underwater and his winning image ‘Sardines’
WINNER
NATURE
2024
Pictured
Sardines
“In this photo, I love how the sardines look like they are welcoming the freediver. Or, depending on how you see it, swallowing them”
3x © Ben Yavar
“For years, I’ve been exploring the sardine run, which is such a dynamic and unpredictable phenomenon. The complete number of fish and their synchronised movements create mesmerising, brief moments that are gone in a blink. Capturing this particular vortex was a dream of mine, as it represented the harmony and chaos of nature in a single frame.
When capturing the scene, my focus was on conveying the beauty of nature’s synchronicity. With the sardine school swirling into a nearperfect vortex and the human figure in the middle, I wanted to mix the magnitude of nature with the smallness of human presence.