Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2019, Cruz Erdmann, is from New Zealand. Now 14, he has been shooting underwater photography since he was 12.
Cruz was on a night dive with his dad when he saw a pair of bigfin reef squid in the shallow water. One swam off but Cruz quickly adjusted his camera and strobe settings, knowing that the opportunity was too good to miss. He shot four frames of the remaining squid before it too disappeared into the inky blackness to create his winning photo “Night Glow”.
Bigfin reef squid are masters of camouflage and alter their appearance to help them communicate. A 2019 study shows squid will survive and may even flourish under even the worst-case ocean acidification scenarios and projected end-of-century CO2 levels.
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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition runs at the at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour until October 11 (subject to Covid-19 restrictions). See www.sea.museum/whats-on/exhibitions/wildlife
