The police officer's photo has put him in the running for a prestigious photography award. Photo / Supplied via police
The police officer's photo has put him in the running for a prestigious photography award. Photo / Supplied via police
A police officer's stunning photo of a tiny fish sheltering among the tentacles of a jellyfish has put him in the running for a prestigious photography award.
Constable Alex Stammers took the snap when diving of the Poor Knights Islands, in Northland, and is now a finalist in the wildlifecategory of the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year competition.
Mr Stammers, a photographer with Auckland Forensic Imaging Unit, took the picture while diving at Cave Bay - "the next stop was pretty much South America".
He said he swapped his wide-angle lens for a macro lens but was struggling to find any suitable subjects until he spotted the large moon jellyfish and the fish, possibly a juvenile cod.
On the way back up Mr Stammers found another jellyfish, with another juvenile fish, near the surface. Some fish species are known to hide among the stinging tentacles of jellyfish to avoid predators.
He was using a Nikon D200 camera with a 60-millimetre macro lens and Ikelite strobe kit.
Twenty-nine finalists were announced from more than 5800 entries in five categories: society and culture, wildlife, landscape, photo story and timelapse.
