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In a year filled with uncertainty, frustration, and hardship, one thing has remained constant: our commitment to showcasing the work of brilliant underwater shooters around the world in our regular column, Photographer of the Week. Seven years after publishing our first feature, we’re still going strong, discovering both new and hidden talent—not to mention chasing a few established masters who remain elusive!

For the last day of the year, we decided it would be fun to put together a “best of” to celebrate another spectacular 12 months of stunning portfolios: 20 awesome images representing 20 photographers whose work really blew us away in 2020—see what we did there?! (In truth, it would have been easier to do 30, or 40, such has been the quality of the imagery, so if you didn’t make the cut, take solace in the fact that these things are wholly subjective. No angry emails, please!)

Before you feast your eyes on these exceptional pictures, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank, once again, each and every photographer that contributed to the column this year. We do indeed greatly appreciate your sharing your work. Needless to say, we’re looking forward to another year of inspiring images by fabulous photographers in 2021.
 

Alex Permiakov: A juvenile warty frogfish shows off its spots
 

Galice Hoarau: Juvenile fish in a box jellyfish, Lembeh, Indonesia
 

Ross Gudgeon: Red jellyfish, Ningaloo Reef, Australia
 

Simon Buxton: Diamond squid
 

Fabio Iardino: Green sea turtle, Tenerife, Canary Islands
 

Evans Baudin: Mako shark, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico
 

Tom St George: Julia Gugelmeier descending through a column of light at Cenote Maravilla, Puerto Morelos, Mexico
 

Timo Dersch: A freediver takes an icy plunge
 

James Emery: Snake eel with slow shutter speed, Lembeh Strait, Indonesia
 

Songda Cai: A beautiful shot of the paper nautilus, or argonaut, which is a rare pelagic octopus
 

Mark Kirkland: Common starfish, Loch Leven, Highlands, Scotland
 

Sam Glenn-Smith: Southern blue-ringed octopus with eggs, Blairgowrie, Victoria, Australia
 

Anna and Ned DeLoach: Lacy Rhinopias, Papua New Guinea
 

Paolo Isgro: A rare shot of a seahorse in Cerianthus coral, Ambon, Indonesia
 

Beau Pilgrim: Sharks gather below off the island of Kauai, Hawaii
 

Stephen Frink: Manatee reflections at Key Largo, Florida, USA
 

Anita Kainrath: A critically endangered Cuban crocodile in a cenote, Zapata National Park, Cuba
 

Caine Delacy: A big group of sperm whales resting in Dominica
 

Julia Sumerling: A brave juvenile golden trevally accompanies a large potato cod at Cod Hole, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
 

Massimo Zannini: Sea lion, Baja California, Mexico