April 2026 Photo Contest Theme: Feeling Fishy?

The 140th (wow!) edition of the contest is now live!

Since it’s April Fools’ month and I’m a diver at heart, I had to pick a theme around the sea and fish.

This month’s theme is: sea fishing 🙂. Deep-sea fishing, rockpooling, shore casting, shellfish & crustaceans—anything remotely related to sea fishing fits the bill 😉

Photos of fishing boats, fishing ports, fish auctions, seafood stalls, nets and trawls, lobster pots, fishermen, your kids collecting cockles, even those New Year’s oyster shells 😏—no limits as long as it ties into the theme 😛 And of course, a special shout-out to anglers worldwide! 🙂

I’m traveling right now, so I don’t have many photos on hand. To illustrate the theme, I’ve chosen this shot of a small Vietnamese fishing boat I spotted near the Cham Islands, returning from a dive.



Contest rules: You can post up to three photos, each in a separate message, clearly numbering them (1, 2, or 3) and including the location where the photo was taken. Any explanations about your photos are welcome.

When voting, you’ll choose three photos, clearly stating the participant’s name followed by their photo number. The first photo in your vote gets three points, the second gets two, and the third gets one.

The winner will be the person whose photo earns the most points. In case of a tie, the winner will be the one with the most first-place votes, or if still tied, the most second-place votes. If it’s a perfect tie, the person who reached their score first wins. The winner then gets the honor of choosing and organizing May 2026’s contest theme. Ties for any other position won’t be broken. Finally, you don’t need to enter the contest to vote, but participants (and I hope there’ll be lots of you!) are *strongly* encouraged to vote!

Please only post contest photos in this thread. Starting Saturday, April 25 (00:01 Paris time), only votes should be posted.

Key dates: You can submit your photos from today until Friday, April 24, 2026 (23:59 Paris time—Xavier, you can do the math for Perth 😏). Voting starts the very next minute and ends on Thursday, April 29 (23:59 Paris time). Results will be announced on Thursday, April 30, 2026... The next host can take over on Saturday, May 2 (yeah, May 1 is a no-work day 😛)

Ready, set, shoot!

xrctn-1 - Crabbing, Mandurah, Western Australia Here

PHOTO 1: HAVANA, CUBA

Fishermen at sunset on the Malecón in Havana, Cuba:

PHOTO 2: MANAUS, BRAZIL

Fishing boats arrive with their catch at the port of Manaus. The white cubes are the refrigerators where the fish are stored, and you can also see fish under the boat’s parasol in the foreground. Manaus port is a real spectacle with its variety of goods, different boats, and passengers.

PHOTO 3: HAVANA, CUBA

The Malecón in Havana is the meet-up spot for fishermen, as well as strollers and couples at sunset. These photos are from 2015.

Photo 1: Essaouira’s fishing port

Photo #1: Door of the restrooms at the Norges Fiskerimuseum (Norwegian Fisheries Museum), Bergen, Norway.

The museum is uniquely built over the sea and focuses on Norway’s fishing techniques and marine resources.

xrctn-2 - The catch was good, now it just needs to be sold, but that’s Madame’s job! 😊 Busan, South Korea

Hi there,

Photo 1: Aya Marina, Leros, Greece



Catherine

xrctn-3 - The fish are biting at every level along the Corniche in Beirut, Lebanon

Photo 1: Tarrafal Beach, Santiago Island, Cape Verde

The excitement is palpable as people buy the freshest fish straight from the returning fishing boats.

Photo #2: Back from fishing at Marché Dior, Dakar, Senegal.

Photo #3: Back from fishing, Ndangane, Senegal.

Hello,

Photo 1: Boat for night squid fishing, Thunk Maha, Chumphon, Thailand.

Photo 2: Preparing the boat for squid fishing. Chumphon, Thailand.

Photo 3: Fishing net, Phuket, Thailand.

Hi everyone!

Photo #1: A fishing return on Ngapali Beach (Myanmar), which we watched every morning from our hotel (located in the village).

PHOTO 1: Fishing huts



On Île Madame, in Charente-Maritime. The coastline here is low and there are tides. Fishing huts (or *carrelets*) are quite common.

Photo 1 : Great catch for this Atlantic puffin on Skomer Island (Wales)

Photo 2: Rize, on the Black Sea, Turkey.

Photo 3: fisherman in the Saronic Gulf, Greece

Photo #2: the fish corner at Tetebatu Market (Lombok)

Hi there,

Photo 1: Iceland

Photo 2: Cape Verde

Photo 3: Chiloé, Chile

Hi Michaël

To illustrate your theme, I wanted to share part of my series "Layover in Sète", a major maritime festival held in the port of Sète on the Mediterranean coast. I chose black and white because I think it works well for these images that bring a bygone era back to life.

Photo number 1 Facing the Wind



Ouch, Kate—those are pirates, not fishermen 😕

The same shot with a fishing rod or holding a fish by the tail would work 😉

These photos are still stunning, and the B&W really gives them a great perspective 🙂

Photo number 1

Fisherman’s boat in the port of Essaouira, Morocco.

Photo number 2

Fishermen in Cherai, India

Photo number 3

Crab collecting, Haad Chao Samran, Thailand

Hello hello!

There's one week left to join in.

Like Erwann, I’m sure you’ll be full of energy for this final stretch! 🙂

Hello!

Last day, final hours to enter this month’s contest.

Three photos—and tough luck for the rest!

Three countries: India, Italy, and Indonesia.

Photo No. 1

We’re hauling the boat up the beach, using nothing but arm and shoulder strength.

Photo No. 2

In the port of Gallipoli (Puglia, Italy), a very colorful scene of a boat returning from fishing.

It was late June 2007, and the temperature was about to break a record (43.6°C) that the press would mention.

Photo No. 3

Off the west coast of Sumatra, an outrigger canoe cuts through the waves at high speed

Raga’s right, I haven’t used up my photo quotas yet!

Photo 2: Net fishing, Ilha de Boipeba, Brazil

And to finish:

Photo 3: Fishing at Hansons Bay Beach, Kangaroo Island, Australia.

But I’d be tempted to think the fishing wasn’t exactly miraculous...

Hey everyone,

Okay, so I totally forgot I was in Rome this weekend and missed the voting kickoff time...

Let’s get started right now—you’ve got until midnight on Thursday, April 30th to vote! I’ll announce the results the next day, May 1st 🙂

I couldn’t put together a slideshow, but since this contest didn’t exactly draw a crowd 😐, you should have no trouble scrolling through the two pages of photos 😉

Three votes, with rankings from 1 to 3. 3 points for the first photo, 2 for the second, and 1 for the third.

See you soon!

Ugh! I thought we had until tonight to post.

Oh well, my bad.

Argh! I thought we had until tonight to post.

Oh well, my bad.

Since we're a bit short on entries, I'm extending the deadline until midnight tonight to post photos related to sea fishing.

Voting will start on Monday, April 27th and end on Thursday, April 30th.

Get your photos in for the final stretch, then get ready to vote! :)

Thanks Michaël! 🙂

Photo 2: Fisherman from Portugal

Photo 3: Back from fishing, Puerto Lopez, Ecuador

Alright, I'll go for it then!

Rouquine38 1 🙂🙂🙂 Kate 2 🙂🙂 Pagaljavab 1 😄

Hi, for me it’ll be: Kate: photo 2 Muriel18: photo 1 Ragamuffin: photo 1

Hi everyone,

My votes for April:

3 points: Attila no.2 (Portugal)

2 points: Rouquine38 no.1 (Wales)

1 point: Pagaljavab no.3 (Senegal)

It’s really too bad that Kate’s stunning black-and-white photos got a bit overlooked...

hgb

Hello

Just one little regret—the lack of participation. 3 points – Attila-2 (Portugal) 2 points – Kate-3 (Thailand) 1 point – Montagnard74-3 (Australia... pure chauvinism!) See you soon

Hi,

Philippebrg photo 1: 3 points Ragamuffin photo 1: 2 points Rouquine 38 photo 1: 1 point

It’s still so tough and frustrating to only be able to choose three photos... Alright, we’ve got to make a decision.

Rouquine38, photo 1 (Wales) 😉😉🙂 Kate, photo 2 (India) 🙂🙂 Montagnard 74, photo 2 (Brazil) 🙂

And so many honorable mentions: Muriel18, Ragamuffin, Attila, Philippebrg, and others...

Hello

Here’s my vote

Philippebrg, photo 2, 3 points I love the very soft vibe, enhanced by the pastel tones of the blue water, golden sand, and bright sky. The atmosphere is peaceful and immersive, but there’s still energy with the fisherman’s gesture guiding the eye and adding movement.

Attila, photo 2, 2 points Unlike Philippebrg’s photo, the mood here is pretty tumultuous! The light is a bit harsh, but I like the presence of three strong natural elements: rocks, foam, and clouds, which add great textures. The fisherman brings scale and tells a story.

Pagaljavab, photo 2, 1 point This is probably a scanned film photo, which might affect the grain quality. Some flaws (a bit blurry and partly overexposed) don’t, in my opinion, detract from the atmosphere, the interaction between the two women, or the dynamic diagonal composition with the sequence of characters.

I also really liked Rouquine38’s photo 1 (the puffin), though it’s a bit dark for my taste. I always love the energy in Ragamuffin’s images, xrctn’s photo 2 (Busan) with that impressive amount of fish, and the lively scene in Montagnard74’s Cape Verde shot—you can practically hear the hustle and bustle!

Hello, here’s my vote.

3 points Ragamuffin Photo 1 2 points Kate Photo 2 1 point Rouquine38 Photo 1

Philippe

Hi everyone, Here’s my vote for April:

🙂🙂🙂 Photo #2 by Kate, India 🙂🙂 Photo #3 by Philippebrg, Thailand 🙂 Photo #1 by Ragamuffin, India

Thanks to all of you. Maevita

Here’s my vote

Philippebrg, photo 2, 3 points

Oops, I made a mistake—it’s actually photo 3!

(Thanks Voyou 😉)