Articles

Black goby, Weymouth, Dorset
 

It’s more than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and many of us have spent what seems like an eternity out of the water, longing to travel and dive again, but our latest Photographer of the Week, Georgie Bull, from the southwest of England, has managed to keep diving regularly in the UK—and has taken some excellent underwater images while doing so. She recently featured in a BBC television show, where she discussed diving during the pandemic, and how spending time underwater helped her cope and maintain her wellbeing during these trying times. She admits that despite the obvious difficulties, 2020 was her best year of scuba diving ever.

A student of marine biology and coastal ecology at the University of Plymouth, Georgie spends most of her spare time taking pictures of wildlife both above and below the surface. All of the images in this feature were captured locally with a compact camera, and considering she only learned to dive a few years ago and picked up her first underwater camera in 2018, she has made quick and impressive progress. Indeed, Georgie clinched the top spot in the 2020 British and Irish Underwater Photography Championship, a one-day contest for image-makers in the UK aimed at highlighting the country’s marine life and promoting scuba diving along its coastline. Two of her images also recently placed in the British Waters Compact Category of the prestigious Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.

Georgie’s images capture the intricacies of some of the southwest’s most charismatic critters, including colorful gobies, shrimps, cuttlefish and seahorses, while her wonderful shot of a seagrass meadow with an afternoon sunburst shows she can also take fantastic wide-angle images as well. At only 21 years of age, Georgie is only just getting started in her journey as an underwater photographer, and she is most definitely one to keep an eye on in the future. If she was this busy in 2020, great things surely await once things return to normal soon!
 

British and Irish Underwater Photography Championship 2020 winner, Weymouth, Dorset
 

Cuttlefish and ballan wrasse, Porthkerris (UPY 2021, Highly Commended in British Compact Category)
 

Anemone shrimp in a snakelocks anemone, Chesil Cove, Portland, Dorset
 

Baitball at Babbacombe, Torbay, Devon
 

Night dive squid at Hive Beach, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
 

John Dory, Chesil Cove, Portland, Dorset
 

Juvenile spiny seahorse, Dorset
 

Plaice at Newton’s Cove, Weymouth, Dorset (UPY 2021, Commended in British Compact Category)
 

Pretty in pink, East Narrows Maerl Beds, Falmouth, Cornwall
 

Velvet swimming crab in snakelocks anemone, Babbacombe, Torbay, Devon
 

Tompot blenny, Hive Beach, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
 

Georgie all kitted up at Hive Beach, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
 

Check out more of Georgie’s wonderful images on her website, www.georgiebull.co.uk, or follow her on Instagram.