Paul Nicklen, The Underwater World, highly commended.

 

"Constant storms meant that the seawater was too murky for underwater photography, but Paul Nicklen was desperate to get images of elephant seals. He eventually found this young seal playing in a crystal-clear freshwater creek, and joined it in the water for more than two hours. 'After waiting months in vain for a picture of a polar bear in the Arctic,' he says, 'here I was on the other side of the world, being mobbed by countless curious animals, including this plump and healthy seal.' "