Today's Object of the Week is an award-winning photograph of an elusive underwater creature.
Childhood trips to Durham and the North-East coast helped hone a lifelong interest in the sea for a young photographer who has won a major international award for his picture of a rare underwater creature.
Jacob Guy's image of an algae octopus in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, capturing the intense look from its yellow eyeshas earned him the Young Ocean Photographer of the Year title for 2024.
His fascination with the sea was sparked during his childhood, with frequent trips to Durham and the North-East coast.
He said: "Throughout my childhood, I was always lucky enough to live by the coast.
"I spent a lot of time with parts of my family who are based in Durham exploring the coast of Whitley Bay and first learning about tides from stories my grandparents used to tell me about St Mary's Lighthouse and the fast-changing tides.
"For me, Durham is like a second home with so much of my immediate family living there.
"I just hope one day I can highlight the underwater world around the North-East."
Jacob's journey into photography began with a passion for surfing and surf photography.
He said: "Whilst studying photography I kept on specialising in water-based subjects and with my love of nature I ended up doing a degree in Marine and Natural History Photography which then pushed me to start my diving journey and ignited my love for underwater photography."
His education and training provided him with a solid foundation for his career.
He said: "The training and education really helped me get a head start with my skills within the industry.
"Around the age of 18, I also started my diving education journey which has led me to become a divemaster.
"But for me, one of the most valuable educational aspects of my career was when I volunteered at a dive resort and being able to dive every single day really allowed me to advance my photography dramatically and learn a lot."
Having spent most of his recent years in Indonesia, Jacob has also worked on several conservation documentaries in the UK and has a love for diving in British waters.
He said: "The subjects within my images and videos all depend on the story I am trying to tell, most of these are tropical which have led me to spend most of my recent years in Indonesia however, I have worked on a few conservation documentaries back within the UK and I absolutely love diving in British waters and the diversity of marine life is often surprising to people."
Describing his winning photograph, Jacob said: "The winning image is actually one of my favourite images I've taken throughout my photography career.
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"This image is of a rare octopus called an algae octopus which can only be seen just after sunset on shallow reefs.
"It took several dives to find one and for me, I love this image so much as it has had extremely little editing done to it so what came out the camera is something I was extremely happy with right away."
Looking to the future, Jacob hopes to continue capturing imagery and stories of the underwater world and work within the wildlife filming industry, specialising in the underwater world.
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