Benizi Santamaria, Balloons by Sea (LANDSCAPE & ENVIRONMENT 2024)

To these two boys, the playing of balloons at this fishing beach on Siargao Island, Philippines may appear innocuous. To the tourist, it's the making of a pretty photograph. The fishermen, with their longer memories, know well that the Ocean is both losing it's generosity and patience. Each year they have to venture further out to sea for equal returns. Then upon their return, there is that added task and time to clean their nets of their own discarded waste. A pretty tree has its ugly roots.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.