SINGAPORE – He was in the waters off the Philippines in January when he chanced upon a lone nautilus clinging on to a plastic bag.

Mr Toh Xing Jie immediately snapped three pictures of the shelled deep-sea creature while about 20m underwater.

One of those shots, titled The Sad Poncho, won the top prize in the Human and Nature category at 2023’s Nature Photographer of the Year (NPOTY) awards. Category winners receive a cash prize of €500 (S$730).

Mr Toh, 29, is the youngest winner in the open category and the first Singaporean to win this prestigious international photography award.

The global nature photo competition attracted 21,474 entries from 96 countries this year, and the winners were announced last Saturday at the annual Nature Talks Photo Festival in the Netherlands.

Mr Toh encountered the nautilus during a blackwater dive in Anilao, a popular diving spot about a three-hour drive from Manila. Blackwater diving is an open-water night dive where one uses a torchlight to find deep-sea creatures.

“I did a double take at how cartoonish this nautilus looked when I first saw it,” the professional photographer said. “But its initial silliness hides a sobering truth. Somehow, this nautilus – despite living more than 20m underwater – had found this plastic packaging.”

Nautiluses – a type of mollusc – are known to latch onto passing jellyfish in the ocean as a mode of travel and rely on their stinging cells for protection against predators.

He later learnt from locals that people would dump their rubbish at a nearby mountain, and the trash would then be washed into the ocean during the typhoon season.

He recalled that the sea animal appeared fearful, uncertain and sorrowful.

Mr Toh, a sustainability advocate, said: “(The nautilus’) distress was probably due to its confusion on realising the lifeless nature of this desolate vessel it was clinging on to for survival.

“I hope this photo conveys the impact of human behaviour on nature and the urgent need for proper sanitation for this community to bring about the much-needed change to protect our environment.”

The underwater photography enthusiast has his own creative agency, which he founded in 2021.

He has also won other accolades, such as the Photo of the Year award at the Adex Voice Of The Ocean Competition – a global underwater photography and videography contest – in 2022 and 2023.

He was also recognised on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list under the Media, Marketing and Advertising category in 2022.

Mr Toh’s fascination with marine photography began in 2015, when he came across Shepherds Of The Sea, an underwater photography exhibition by Montreal-based photographer Benjamin Von Wong.

Inspired, Mr Toh took to the seas the same year when he obtained an open-water diving licence, although he almost gave up the sport in 2017.

He almost lost his life during a dive that year, when his breathing apparatus failed at 38m underwater.

He survived because he immediately rushed to the surface, risking decompression sickness.

He returned to the water only in June 2022 after attending a diving class, and finally realised his underwater photography dream.

Asked if fear from the near-death experience still affects him, Mr Toh said: “No, I feel very comfortable in the water now because I bought my own gear and maintain it properly.”

He added that his diving gear costs about $5,000, while the waterproofing gear for his camera costs around $15,000.

The avid diver, who has been on five international diving trips in the past year, also said that blackwater diving is one of the most magical experiences that one can have, as the bioluminescent light emitted from deep-sea creatures against the pitch-black water is akin to swimming in glitter or floating through space.

Since winning the NPOTY award, Mr Toh has launched a new company to offer underwater photography workshops, free-diving courses and underwater portrait photography.

In free-diving, a diver holds his or her breath while going underwater, instead of using breathing apparatus such as air tanks.

Mr Toh will also launch the Uglydiving Podcast at the end of November. It aims to build a diving community in South-east Asia by inviting guests to share their personal diving experiences.

He said: “The most rewarding part (of underwater photography and diving) is actually sharing the images and bringing back all these different stories that a lot of people would probably never encounter.”