Coll took the image while diving in a cenote, and it recently won the Underwater Seascapes category of the Photo Competition<\/a> for United Nations (UN) World Oceans Day.<\/p>\n Latest Videos From A wider part of the UN\u2019s annual World Oceans Day campaign, the competition celebrates photographers that draw attention to oceans and the environmental challenges they face.<\/p>\n “Emerging from the darkness of a Mexican cenote, we entered this underwater garden teeming with colorful water lilies and small fish,” said Coll.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n “The sudden contrast transformed the scene into a dreamlike world, where light, color and life replaced the silence of the cave.”<\/p>\n \n Cenotes are vital freshwater reservoirs that sustain biodiversity and surrounding communities, yet pollution and climate change increasingly threaten their fragile balance (Image credit: Ysabela Coll, Dominican Republic @alvarezcollphoto <\/a>\/ www.unworldoceansday.org<\/a>\u00a0)<\/p>\n Coll was diving with a decade-old Nikon D500<\/a> in an underwater housing<\/a>, using a Tokina<\/a> AT-X 107 DX 10-17mm f\/3.5 fisheye lens<\/a>. She used a 1\/160 sec shutter speed at ISO640, along with an f\/10 aperture and focal length of 10mm (a 15mm equivalent, on Nikon’s former flagship APS-C body).<\/p>\n I love how sharply the entire scene is focused, but also how the wide-angle field of view packs in so many exotically colored lilies.<\/p>\n Alongside her stepfather and equal ocean apasionado, Jos\u00e9 Alejandro Alvarez, Coll co-founded \u00c1lvarez+Coll<\/a> \u2013 a fine art and conservation photography business focusing on the beauty of (and threats to) marine ecosystems around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cCenotes are vital freshwater reservoirs that sustain biodiversity and surrounding communities, yet pollution and climate change increasingly threaten their fragile balance,\u201d said Coll.<\/p>\n This year’s competition winners were announced during the UN World Oceans Day event on June 08 in New York.<\/p>\n You can view the 2026 winners online at the competition website<\/a>, with four winning photos due to be printed for exhibitions around the world.<\/p>\n You might also like\u2026<\/p>\n Take a look at the best waterproof cameras<\/a> along with the best underwater housings for cameras<\/a> and the best underwater drones and ROVs<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.digitalcameraworld.com\/media\/img\/digitalcameraworld_logo.svg\"){kind=logo}
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