Greg Lecoeur

Role: French underwater photographer Website: greglecoeur.com First appearance: 2016 (Wetpixel coverage of WPOTY and National Geographic wins)

Biography

Greg Lecoeur is a French underwater photographer who gained international recognition in 2016 when his sardine run split image won both the National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year grand prize and a placing in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPOTY) contest — two of the most prestigious wildlife photography awards in the same year.

Sardine Run Image (2016)

Lecoeur’s award-winning image depicts dolphins, sardines, and Cape gannets during the South African sardine run — a split-level composition showing the dramatic above-and-below view of one of the ocean’s great annual wildlife spectacles.

National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2016: Lecoeur’s sardine run image was awarded the grand prize (first place, Action category). (^[1])

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016: Lecoeur was among the finalists in the Under Water category. The overall underwater category winner was Tony Wu, with an image of two-spot snappers mass spawning in Palau. Other finalists in the underwater category alongside Lecoeur included Geo Cloete, Joris van Alphen, Audun Rikardsen, and Ralph Pace. (^[2])

Wetpixel’s reporting described him as “fresh from being placed in the 2016 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest” when announcing the National Geographic win. (^[3])

Timeline

• 2016-10-19: WPOTY 2016 results announced; Lecoeur is a finalist in the Underwater category (^[4])
• 2016-12-12: National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2016 — sardine run image wins grand prize (^[5])

References

• ^[6] — editorial
• ^[7] — editorial