Julian Cohen's Image

Julian is drawn to the striking patterns formed when animals group together, whether birds, mammals or, in this case, fish - a giant school of them.

Here the silversides swirl as one to escape the potential (human) predator, on the basis that when each individual is part of a huge, flashing, moving group, it has less chance of being caught, both statistically and because of the confusion effect. Julian was watching them five metres down underneath a wharf on the island of Samarai in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. 'I would like to say that I had a creative vision in my mind,' he says. 'I knew that the coral-encrusted pier legs formed strong and interesting lines, but in truth I was more concerned with the difficulties in getting the shot.' To stop his air bubbles from invading the scene, he had to hold his breath while ascending slowly, something that if done without caution can cause a pulmonary embolism. 'I just let the fish do their own thing and photographed them as they formed this gloriously abstract pattern above me.'