An image that looks more like the night sky than the Great Barrier Reef has won a museum photographer one of the nation’s highest photographic awards as it captures a rare insight into the underwater world.

Queensland Museum photographer Gary Cranitch recently took out gold in the Nature category at the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) awards.

The image captures a split-second moment of coral spawning on the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island off the central Queensland coast.

“Imagine looking at the stars in a night sky but in fact you’re looking at an ocean in the middle of the night,” Mr Cranitch said.

“It’s filled with coral spawn pink flecks and it’s like watching a massive star show.

“It’s seeing another world in a very simple photo with three tones in it — black, pink and blue.”

He took the image while shooting as part of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s study into restoring coral reefs through larval seeding, similar to IVF.

“The ocean continues to shift and move, and you see new things every time you get in the ocean so it’s like a fresh start every time you go back in.”

Source
Jessica Hinchliffe
ABC News