Natural beauty of flooded caves

• Prize
  Bronze in Nature/Underwater
• Photographer
  Petr Polach, Czech Republic
• Date of Photograph
  2017 - 2019
• Socials
• Website
  https://www.polachpetr.cz

Nature is a great magician who can create beautiful things. The flooded caves of Yucatan are undoubtedly one of those things. Nature took many millions of years to create them in their final form. The caves are very large, hundreds of kilometres long. They are characterised by their variety of shapes and sizes, their variety of colours and their magnificent stalactite decoration. The series of photographs you see here brings a glimpse of the splendour of flooded caves into our world "above water". The photos were taken while cave diving in Yucatan using special UW equipment.

• Biography
  I come from the Czech Republic. My photography has almost always accompanied my sports activities, including diving. I have adapted my photography equipment to be able to take photos under water and in flooded caves. Caves are characterized by an unfavorable situation for a photographer, that is: absolute darkness. Nevertheless, the world of flooded caves, in which a diver floats in a state of weightlessness between the beautiful stalactite decoration, has absolutely captivated me and forces me to capture this beauty in photographs and share it with people.
• Awards
  Some of my photographic achievements: * Grand Prize: Chromatic Discovery of the Year 2021 and 1st Place in the „Nature, Amateur" category in the international color photography contest "Chromatic Awards 2021 * 3rd place in the „Sports, Amateur" category in the international color photography contest "Chromatic Awards 2021" * Honorable Mentions in the international black & white photography contest "Monochrome Awards 2021" in the "Nature, Amateur" and in the "Street, Amateur" category * Placing in the final in the "Masterpiece by SanDisk Professional" category in the world’s greatest adventure and action sports contest "Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021" * 2nd place in the international photography contest „ND Awards 2021“ in the „Nature: Underwater“ professional category * Honorable Mention in the "Wildlife" category in the worldwide competition "Neil Dankoff Photography Competition 2021, 500px Fall Edition * 1st place in the international competition „MonoVisions Photography Awards 2021“ in the category „Nature and Wildlife“ with the series of 8 photos * Second in Category „Documentary & Journalist Photography“ with a series of 4 photographs * Runners-Up position in the "Landscape" category in the worldwide competition "Neil Dankoff Photography Competition 500px Edition 2021" * 2nd place in the world wide competition “Ocean Art Safe Under The Sea 2020” in category “Underwater Art” * 2nd place in the world wide competition “Ocean Art Safe Under The Sea 2020” in category “Wide Angle” * 1st place (Gold) in the world wide competition "DEEP Indonesia 2020" in category "Divers" * 2nd place (Silver) in the world wide competition "DPG/Wetpixel Masters Underwater Imaging Competition 2020" in category "Wide Angle Traditional" * 4th place in one of the world's most prestigious "Ocean Art 2019" in the "Macro" category * semi-finalists in the category "Creative by Skylum" in the competition "Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019"