Simone Matucci, The Beauty of the Ocean (Wildlife and Animal 2019)

The ocean, now more than ever, needs our help. Every time that I am in the water with these beautiful animals I am so grateful, but at the same time it saddens me beyond belief to envision the tragedy that it will be to be an ocean without these fascinating creatures - and that is the path we are headed on. The ocean itself is a living breathing being and without it, filled with all these incredible species, and instead pumped with chemicals and plastics, it will eventually collapse, and so will we as humans. Every breath we take is tied to the ocean. We are all connected in this way. It is my greatest hope that my future son (my wife is 37 week pregnant freediving next to a whale shark in the photo) will be able to witness all of these undeniably awe-inspiring creatures in the future in an ocean packed full of all different types of life. Now is the critical time for change on our part to make sure that all of our future generations are able to witness these blessings as well - the true beauty and magic of the ocean.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.