Diving gannet shot earns Ocean Photographer award praise

A PHOTO of a gannet diving underwater at Noss has earned a photographer who grew up in the Philippines international acclaim. 

Jade Hoksbergen’s image of the plunging gannet earned second place at the 2024 Ocean Photographer of the Year awards.

Describing her reaction to the news, she said: “Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.

“This year over 15,000 images were submitted, so to have your image picked out and deemed as ‘second best in the whole competition’ is a pretty big achievement.”

Hoksbergen – who now lives in Devon with her husband, fellow photographer Henley Spiers – said the couple first took up underwater photography as a hobby in the Philippines.

She said it has not become “not only our passion, but our work”.

“My husband has been to the Shetland numerous times now, and every year for the last few years,” she said.

“Last year, in the summer of 2023, my husband was in Shetland to do some photography work and I tagged along with our two daughters, who were aged three and six.

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“Seeing that my daughters were on summer holiday, it was the perfect opportunity for join him and see for ourselves what it was like to be entranced by Shetland’s spell.”

The family went out on a wildlife tour with Shetland Seabird Tours around Noss, witnessing “over 25,000 northern gannets lining the high sandstone cliffs”.

Hoksbergen said she had taken her suit and underwater camera with her, and decided to get in the water.

“The water was cold, but I quickly forgot about it when suddenly I was in the middle of a gannet feeding frenzy.

“It was jaw-dropping watching this unique foraging behaviour unfold in front of my eyes.

“The most special part of all this though was to be able to share this moment with my daughters and to know they were right with me when I took the image.

“They were watching the diving gannets from the surface on the boat, while I watched the very same ones from down below.”

She said she took several photos that day which she loves, but described the one which was highly commended as “very atmospheric”.

“I am a big fan of paleontology and dinosaurs, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the Jurassic seas, and that northern gannets were diving pterodactyls,” she added.

Hoksbergen said she is “very keen to return” to Shetland – and to cross off another much-photographed bird from her bucket list.

“My daughters are keen to spend time with the ponies there again, and I’m keen to spend more time in the water there.

“And hopefully, next time we are there, we get to see the puffins.”

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You can see more of her work on Instagram at @jadehoksbergen, or by going to her website http://www.jadehoksbergen.com/

Meanwhile her partner Spiers is no stranger to enjoying success with photos from Shetland.

Back in 2022 he scooped a cool £100,000 prize for an underwater image he took in Shetland – ironically also of a gannet shooting into the waters off Noss.

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