Meet the Judges

Get to know our 2026 Ocean Conservancy Photo Contest judges! This year’s expert panel of judges features professional conservation photographers from around the globe. They’ll review, evaluate and rank your top-voted images to help us determine the grand prize winner of our 2026 Photo Contest: the Judges’ Choice Award.

Andrés Ballesteros is a Galápagos-based naturalist guide, wildlife photographer, and visual storyteller. His work captures the raw interaction between wildlife, evolution, and environment in one of the world’s most unique ecosystems. Specializing in underwater and aerial imagery, he documents species in their natural state to create compelling narratives that bridge science, conservation, and visual art. Through his work, he seeks to inspire a deeper connection with the ocean and raise awareness about the importance of protecting fragile ecosystems like the Galápagos Islands.

Angela J. Farmer is an award-winning conservation photographer, storyteller, and ocean advocate based between British Columbia, California and Gibraltar. A two-time winner of Ocean Conservancy’s Human Impact and Marine Wildlife categories, her work explores the intersection of climate change, endangered species, and the preservation of fragile ecosystems.

Her latest series, Scavenged Earth, documents wildlife surviving in landfill environments—a raw and unfiltered look at the global waste crisis. Through this work, Angela draws a direct line from land to sea, revealing how discarded materials move through waterways and ultimately into the ocean, impacting marine life and the ecosystems that sustain it.

Angela has worked with ANIWA as the lead photographer for Waters of Peace at the Aniwa Gathering, capturing the only known image of over 50 Indigenous elders united in ceremony—Wisdom Keepers from around the world honoring water as a living entity and carrying forward its message to create ripples of change for planetary healing.

She continues to work with Indigenous communities and was part of the movement to protect the first Indigenous stewarded coastline in the United States, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, alongside the Northern Chumash Tribal Council—highlighting the deep connection between cultural and environmental stewardship.

As a judge for Ocean Conservancy, Angela brings a land-to-sea perspective on environmental storytelling, emphasizing the interconnected impact of human consumption across ecosystems.

Harvey Hergett is a civil engineer and a landscape, nature and wildlife photographer currently based in Western Montana. He recently moved from Alaska where he spent his time photographing bears, eagles, whales and the fantastic Alaska landscapes. A past winner of Ocean Conservancy’s Staff Choice award, he is particularly passionate about the biodiversity of ocean environments and spends most of his free time traveling, enjoying and photographing that environment with his wife Pam.

Harvey’s work has been featured in a variety of publications including calendars, visitor centers and tourist travel guides.