HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY OTHER ANIMALS
Sergio Rivero Beneitez | Cocos Island

Name: Sergio Rivero Beneitez
Picture title: Cocos Island
Category: Other animals
Nationality: Mexico
Occupation: Photographer, book editor and recently teacher 

Technical information
Camera: Canon Eos 7D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 28-105 mm
EXIF: ISO 250, f/4, 1/350sec at 28 mm

Sergio says:

I was traveling south in Costa Rica to a National Reserve called Carara. Just before going over a tall bridge the guide stopped. The bridge was narrow, so the cars were passing very close to us, but being from Mexico, this is quite normal for us. The other group members were not that comfortable with the situation, so they didn’t want to cross over.

I stopped right in the center of the bridge and observed the panoramic picture with the huge crocodiles below me. I was immediately reminded of that one Disney scene from Haunted Mansion, where a balancer might fall into a pit full of them. The setting was pretty flat because of the light conditions. It was a hot day, and I thought to myself that I wouldn’t be taking one good photograph.  Because of those hot conditions it was not that clear how many animals were down there. As I refocus on the scene through my camera, I started to realize the size and number of the crocodiles. I just started shooting right away.

In Spanish, crocodiles is spelled “Cocodrilos” hence the title of the photo.