Noss gannet photo lands £100k prize in global competition

A PICTURE of a gannet shooting into the waters off Noss has seen a photographer pick up an international award – and a cool £100,000 in the process.

Henley Spiers’ underwater photo, taken in 2021, reigned supreme in the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) nature competition. The overall winner bags a $120,000 prize.

The UK-based photographer said it was a “once in a lifetime achievement”.

A “stunned” Spiers added: “I wanted to create a novel image of these handsome seabirds and resolved to try and capture their movement through a slow exposure.

“The speed of the gannets led to innumerable failures but in this frame we retain strong eye contact with the gannet, even as the scene is artistically softened.”

The eye-catching image previously picked up a prize in the global Underwater Photographer of the Year awards.

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