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Matinee: 'Inside Ocean Photographer of the Year'
12 September 2026
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 673rd in our series of Saturday matinees today: Inside Ocean Photographer of the Year.
In this 4:22 "mini-documentary," you can "step inside the judging room for the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026." The judges you'll meet talk about their approach to judging "thousands of global entries, debating composition, story and technical mastery to crown this year's winners."
The images get a brief montage, none of them on the screen long enough to actually see. But we pointed you to the finalists last month in an Around The Horn column. And, while the video falls short of revealing the winner, we can tell you it's Julien Anton's black-and-white image of an adult seahorse on the left side of the image with two baby seahorses in the obscurity on the left. It's shown in both links in this paragraph.
The judges wrote of the image:
Although they are unlikely to be related, their arrangement creates the impression of a farewell, as if the tiny seahorses are gathering around a father after he has released them into the world. Seahorses are now rare in French Polynesia so this image was the result of long hours of searching among the seaweed.
Halfway through the video, the judges also elaborate on their emotional reaction to the winning image. While praising the technical skill required, they all add that it goes beyond that. A one-in-a-million shot that tells a story of hope in a world that is bigger than any of us.
Tall order.