"People keep asking me if it's AI. That's not an insult though, because it just doesn't seem real": photographer captures threatened species that wins Australia's most prestigious nature photo competition – but his drone almost died out on the ocean

Underwater scene of a sawfish swimming alongside a small sea turtle in clear blue water.

After submitting his first-ever photo to the prestigious Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year, photographer and drone pilot Matt Deakin has been crowned the competition's Overall Winner. His ghost-like image Ethereal Encounter stood out to the judges, capturing a critically endangered green sawfish swimming alongside a green turtle in the waters off the Pilbara in the far north of his home State.

This year's competition attracted 2,129 entries from 501 photographers across 17 countries. Deakin took the 2026 title with an image so surreal that people keep asking him whether it's AI. He says, " That’s not an insult though, because it just doesn’t seem real."