Ocean Photographer of the Year - Portfolio Ocean Photographer of the Year - Portfolio  

Winner Ocean Photographer of the Year – Portfolio

Matthew Sullivan

The Ocean Portfolio Award is awarded to the photographer who most convincingly showcases a long-held commitment to ocean conservation through a striking body of work.    

Originally from New Jersey and now based in Florida, Matthew Sullivan is an underwater and wildlife photographer. As a 10 year old with a disposable kodak camera, to 20 years later, his passion for and commitment to underwater image-making has only grown. Weird, and unusual marine critters are his favourite subjects.

 

Image size: 2.4 x 2.4m, containing 10 photos.  

 

What follows is a brief description of each of these underwater images. They are all landscape images on a black background. A black border separates each one.  The manatee is at the top of the collection. Below it are 3 rows, each of 3 images. This description navigates through the images left to right, along each row.

 

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Florida, USA  

Taken under permit, this photograph of a manatee in a spring-fed river showcases the animal’s curiosity. “The river is home to a population of manatees. Like a puppy, this individual followed me around for hours,” says Sullivan.  

 

Description

With the shape of a seal, the snout of a hippo and the sluggishness of a sloth, manatees are sometimes referred to as sea cows.  

Its snout and large head are rounded. The manatee is grey with a smooth, rounded body tapering to a horizontal, paddle-shaped tail that droops behind her in the darker water. She floats in the water, angled slightly to our right.

The dappled skin on her wide, blunt snout is covered in whiskers and at the right of her head, these are picked up by the light from the surface. Her flexible, right forelimb flipper is at a vertical 90 degree angle to her body and to her body, in the central of the image. Above it is her dimpled reflection in the underside of the surface water. Quite some distance beneath, is the sandy and rocky undulating river bed. The deep river water around her is a rich and vibrant blue.  

 

On the left, below the manatee

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Florida, USA  

Staring into the camera, a batfish lies on the seabed. “Polka-dot batfish are a common sight in Florida waters, but they are notoriously difficult to photograph,” says Sullivan. “After years of trying, this individual seemed relaxed and I was finally able to take a head-on portrait.”  

 

Description

This is a remarkable looking fish, some might say ugly. They are arrow shaped and this one is front on, shaped like a pointed oval. Polka dot batfish don’t have scales. Its marking comprise small brown polka dots rimmed with white in a motley pattern. It’s rough, textured head and body mimics the debris-filled ocean floor in colour and texture. A jagged, pointy growth protrudes from its forehead and either side, its wide-set, dark eyes are rimmed in white.  

Behind its head is a bright stripe of orange. Its round mouth hangs open and beneath its rough little chin, a hint of its reddish pink underbelly.

Its reddish-pink, paddle-like pectoral fins rest on the sea floor. They ‘walk’ by shuffling side to side on the sea floor using these and their pelvic fins. They can grow up to 38cm wide. Its pinkish fins are dusted with sea-floor debris as if it has recently been on the move.  

 

To the right of the batfish  

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Strytan, Iceland  

Northern Iceland’s geothermal vents are strongholds for Atlantic wolffish. “I came across this huge male perched upright on its fins at the entrance to its den,” says Sullivan. “I had just enough air to shoot a few frames.”  

 

About the image

Atlantic wolffish are voracious predators, named for their canine-like front teeth. These are a cylindrical, transparent and whitish in colour, protruding at the front of its mouth. They have large heads and powerful jaws, all used to hunt and eat hard-bodied or spiny invertebrates, such as sea urchins, crabs and large marine snails. They grow up to 1.5 min length. Over the last several decades, scientists have observed steep declines in their numbers.

 

Description

Blue-ish grey in colour with fine, almost fur-like patterning around its mouth, this one’s head is protruding from a dark brown coral setting with a portion of its darkly striped body and long top fin trailing behind in the shadows at right. Its head points to our left, slightly uptilted.  

Two, round, front fins fan out below its big head, resting on the coral. At the bottom of its curved head, are thick lips, just open and pinkish yellow within. Its sharp teeth are exposed at its mouth’s entrance. At the top of its fleshy, grey-ish blue cheek is one, top-mounted eye. It has an amber iris with a black pupil. Around its eye, its markings are ridged and splayed, as though formed by little streams of water over time.  

Mesmeric, wrinkled and interesting, the fish stares out.  

 

To the right of the wolffish

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Florida, USA  

A portrait of a curious jawfish. “2025 was an exceptional year for spotting mouth-brooding males,” explains Sullivan. “This particular male was quite bold and after he got comfortable with me, he allowed me to take this image.”  

 

Description

The photo has been taken very close to the fish. Frog-like dome shaped and top mounted eyes with dark pupils and yellow surrounds stare out. The jawfish’s eyes are reflecting the electric blue underwater light. Its skin is a dappled, two-tone brown and beneath the curved top lip of its open mouth, pearlescent and plentiful fish eggs are piled high. Each one has a tiny, light blue jewel-like pinpoint within. The males incubate fertilised eggs in their mouths ‘til they hatch.

 

To the left of the image, below the batfish, row 2 of 3.

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Florida, USA  

Resting on the bottom of a cypress swamp, a large American alligator lies motionless. “Around 12 foot long, she never moved a muscle for over an hour,” says Sullivan. “The setting sun darkened the water, upping the intimidation factor of those big white teeth.”  

 

Description

Her snout takes pride of place, the flesh on her elongated, rounded snout looks like rock, heavily dappled in a variety of shades of grey, light pink and black. Her mouth is closed and a row of razer-sharp pointed teeth protrude from beneath her top lip. One top mounted eye is open and covered in a milky film. Beneath her are sticks and leaves. At right, off in the distance fish swim in the tea-coloured swamp water. Light streams in on an angle from above. It’s … menacingly peaceful.  

 

In the middle of the images, at right of the Alligator  

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Florida, USA  

A longnose gar swims in a spring-fed river, home to a small population of these fish. “Despite their fearsome appearance, they are skittish. It took me an hour to get within photographic range of this large female,” says Sullivan.  

 

Description

The silvery longnose gar faces to our right. It has a torpedo shaped body and a long snout, which is nearly twice the length of its head and filled with short, razor-sharp teeth that protrude even when, like this one, its jaw is closed. It has thick, overlapping scales down its body and a white underbelly. They can grow up to 2m long.  

In profile, this one eyes us, with one countersunk, filmy, blue eye. The texture on the side of its head is like crackling paint, broken up into organic, hexagonal markings that shine both silver and gold.  Behind its head, one curved big gill and two short, fanning flippers. Further down its body are two more flippers. Its tail is obscured by the turn in its body.

Around and behind it, sunlight streams into the light blue water. Below are lush green seagrasses, hinting at the river’s depths.

 

 A slightly larger image than the garfish, at right

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Florida, USA  

A school of spadefish. “When this school of spadefish showed up, the darker water conditions allowed me to try some very long, slow shutter images,” says Sullivan.  

 

Description

There are more than 20 fish in this ghostly image. The water has a streaky, light and dark blue smoky effect. The spadefish are swimming at 6’s and 7’ – all in the same direction with a little room around each body. Spadefish have a disk-shaped body and a blunt snout. They are silver with 3 black vertical bands on the sides of their bodies. The eye of the fish is focused on the camera.  

 

On the left of the image, row 2 of 3, below the alligator

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Jupiter, Florida

A Goliath grouper shows off its scars. “Of the many Goliath groupers I’ve seen, this one may be the biggest and the most battle-worn,” says Sullivan. “It looked like it had lived a brutal life.”  

 

Description

The largest member of the sea bass family, groupers are solitary fish. They can grow to 2.4m in length, weighing 360kgs. And they are territorial. This one’s rounded snout is facing us, angled slightly to the right and open. Inside is a pale, cushiony mouth floor, coloured by a smattering of white, dark, light brown, and yellowy patches. The inside edges of its lips have a mucky, yellowish mustard tint.

One beady eye and two round, nostril holes sit above its thick mouth. Behind its eye and up its back, the usually mottled, yellow-brown of its skin is marred with lighter, scarred patches. One, short, fin, further down its body peaks out to our left. In the water behind the big fish is a stunted, shadowy pylon rising from the sea floor. All around is blue water, and beneath the Goliath sandy and blurred. At right, a sparce school of much smaller fish reflect the light from the surface off their silvery, darting bodies.

 

to the right of the grouper  

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British Columbia, Canada  

A male salmon prepares to make a leap over a waterfall. “Campbell River is known for its salmon runs,” explains Sullivan. “When I watched the show of thousands of salmon moving upstream, the chaotic environment called for slow shutter pictures.”  

 

Description

The rushing water is a multitude of short, white streaks and curving horizontal line, against a greenish-black background. Surrounded by the blurred outlines of other salmon bodies, one is in full focus. It’s arching, concave body faces our right. Directly in front of its body are a smattering of clear, round bubbles.  

The salmon’s light grey head is up-tilted. At the side of its head one bright, round yellow eye with a black iris appears to glint determinedly.  

Its underbelly is unevenly light coloured, as though its side is dryer at the bottom and wetter towards the middle of its side.  

There is a sense of swirling urgency to this perfectly timed image.  

 

And finally, in the bottom right…

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British Columbia, Canada  

Discarded bottles beneath the dock at God’s Pocket Resort are refuges for mosshead warbonnets. “Though shy, with patience, the warbonnets would slowly re-emerge and rest at the bottle mouth with just their heads exposed,” says Sullivan.

 

Description

For scale these mosshead warbonnets grow to around 15cm in length.  

To the right in this black image, a warbonnet’s head is illuminated in a craggy blue hole. The top of its head is covered in light and dark brown, spikey, groundcover-like tufts. At the side of its head is one striking, russet-coloured bulbous eyeball with an amber and black striped pupil. Underneath its eye, a thick, wavey stripe of dark brown travels down its rounded cheek.  

The downturned, closed, thick lips of its wide mouth are off-white. On its chin are light green stripes.  

The rest of the little fish is cloaked in shadow.  

A touch panel of the batfish to accompany is located to your right, if you are standing at the tactile floor panel, on an adjacent angled wall.

This is the end of the audio description.