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Winner, Project//21 category, “Dwellers of the Night” by Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya
 

Two underwater shooters are among the seven winners of this year’s Hasselblad Masters photo competition. The winners were selected from 10 finalists in each of the seven categories—Art, Architecture, Portrait, Landscape, Street, Project//21, and Wildlife. These latter two categories—Project//21 and Wildlife—were won by Thai photographer Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya and South African photographer Alfred Minnaar, respectively. Project//21 is only open to photographers who were 21 years old or younger at the end of the competition’s submission period—and Ayudhya was only 14!
 

Winner, Project//21 category, “Dwellers of the Night” by Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya
 

Winner, Project//21 category, “Dwellers of the Night” by Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya
 

Ayudhya’s winning series of three blackwater images in the Project//21 category, called “Dwellers of the Night,” was shot in Anilao, Philippines, one of the world’s most popular spots for photographing pelagic and larval marine animals as they migrate from the depths to feed under the cover of darkness. The series includes powerful portraits of a ribbon eel, a larval wonderpus, and a hatchetfish.

Meanwhile, Minnaar’s winning threesome, named “The Forest I Roam,” all feature the same tiny subject: a goby living amongst different types of coral. By placing the goby within its environment, the reef itself becomes the subject, inviting viewers to imagine its vastness from the perspective of one of its smallest inhabitants.

Congratulations to Panitbhand and Alfred—and all the category winners. Check them out on the Hasselbald website.
 

Winner, Wildlife category, “The Forest I Roam” by Alfred Minnaar
 

Winner, Wildlife category, “The Forest I Roam” by Alfred Minnaar
 

Winner, Wildlife category, “The Forest I Roam” by Alfred Minnaar