Wildlife / Animals nominee

While diving in Baixa do Ambrosio, a submarine mountain near the Santa Maria Island shore in Azores islands, this is place is known for a rich marine life where you can find a different variety of animals including whale sharks and of course Mantas. After an unsuccessful dive a few days before, where no sign of life was found, we decided to give it another try to this mitical location and I was presented by several mantas, but they were keeping their distance not trusting us completly. We were a small group of divers, and I was positioned in the end of the line looking at the action in front of the other divers but I remember to look at the blue behind me just to see if something is happening, and boom, this beautiful animal is right in front of me with no ideas to stop. I held still and it became so close that it wouldn't fit anymore in my lens frame, and it stood still there for a few seconds leaving without a breath, a wonderful photo and most importantly a beautiful memory.

I am young man from Portugal currently living in Switzerland, recent to the underwater photography who loves to dive and explore nature as whole. There's not a lot of things that make me appreciate the present and one of them is diving and document what I see down there and bring it up not as just photos but stories.