On World Oceans Day, June 8 2022, we launched a global photography competition in partnership with AnOther magazine. The premise was simple – anyone could enter, from anywhere in the world, using any camera equipment they had available. The requirement was that the photos represented the beauty and/or the fragility of the oceans and were tagged on Instagram with #StateOfTheOceans. Parley curated the shortlist, with the winner picked by leading fashion photographer Harley Weir and given the opportunity to shoot an editorial on a Parley expedition next year.

The standard of submissions from the Parley community blew us away and we were left with a stunning shortlist of 25 photos from oceans around the world, packed with a variety of styles and perspectives. Entrants’ work ranged from shoals of squid, a whale and her calf, and evidence of the plastic that is polluting our planet. Each one tells its own story.

THE WINNER IS HELEN WALNE!

After much deliberation, Harley selected Helen Walne’s photo as the winner of the contest. Helen is a South African underwater photographer who heads out into the cold sea off Cape Town almost every day in search of life in the region’s kelp forests. Her close-up photo of a small fish traveling inside a jellyfish is a tender reminder of the beauty and playfulness of life in our oceans, and the millions of species that exist within them.

“I came across this odd couple while freediving in the shallows on a churned-up day off the Cape Town coast near Simons Town,” says Helen. “At first I thought the fish – likely a man-of-war fish (Nomeus gronovii) – was either being eaten by the jelly (a night-light jelly, also known as Pelagica noctiluca), or had already shuffled off this mortal coil and was being dragged along in a somewhat macabre funeral procession. As I swam next to them, I realized the fish was probably hitchhiking a ride with the jelly while also snacking on its gelatinous body – kind of like taking an Uber and nibbling on the upholstery. Usually these fish are found further offshore, catching rides with the Portuguese man o' war, a type of hydrozoan with viciously toxic tentacles. The fish has adapted to being so agile it is able to hide in the drifting demon's venomous skirts while seeking protection. Perhaps this particular individual fancied a more bling ride — the marine version of an Uber Lux — and decided to latch on to the night-light. Whatever the story, I feel so lucky to have witnessed this extraordinary sight.”