Author: Brent Durant
The prestigious Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition,
organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced the 2014 winners.
This year’s Ocean Art Competition attracted a very high caliber of photos,
representing entrants from over 50 countries.
Over $70,000 of prizes will be awarded to 60 underwater photographers,
highlighted by an 11-day Indonesia liveaboard trip on the SMY Ondina, a 7-night
dive package at Paradise Taveuni Resort in Fiji, a 7-night Maldives liveaboard
trip on the Manthiri, a 7-night Solomon Islands liveaboard trip on the Bilikiki,
a 10-night dive package at Lissenung Dive Resort in Papua New Guinea and a
variety of gift certificates from Bluewater Photo. Premium prizes are provided
by Villa Markisa (Bali), the Discovery Fleet (Tubbataha), Emperor Divers (Maldives),
VoliVoli (Fiji), Atmosphere (Philippines), Kosrae Nautilus Resort (Micronesia),
Atlantis Philippines, Wananavu (Fiji), Palau Dive Adventures, Mike Ball Dive
Expeditions (Australia), Alor Divers (Indonesia), Manta Ray Bay (Yap), El
Galleon (Philippines), Maluku Divers (Indonesia), Juliana’s Hotel & Sea Saba
Dive Center (Caribbean), Eco Divers Resort Lembeh, Blackbeard’s Cruises
(Bahamas), Scuba Seraya (Bali) and Bluewater Travel.
Ocean Art 2014 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu,
Martin Edge, Marty Snyderman and Scott Gietler.
There are at least 4 winners in each of the 12 categories, including Wide-Angle,
Macro, Portrait, Behavior, Novice, Nudibranchs, Super Macro, Divers & Fashion,
Cold Water and 3 compact camera categories.
The Best of Show was a stunning wide-angle photo shot from behind a breaking
wave by Ray Collins at Kirra Beach, Australia. Other outstanding images include
some out-of-this-world fish and marine life shots, rarely seen underwater
behavior, iridescent shrimp, models in pools, smiling turtles, vibrantly colored
squid and some dramatic black and white moments. Thousands of entries were
viewed by the judges before the final set of amazing images were selected and
deemed some of the best underwater photos in the world.
The quality of image submissions was incredible, making judging very difficult
but ensuring the prestige of the Ocean Art Competition. Bluewater Photo and
Travel owner and Underwater Photography Guide publisher, Scott Gietler said,
“The caliber of photos in Ocean Art this year was amazing, and the judges had to
make some very difficult decisions when evaluating photos in the contest. The
winning photos were submitted from oceans and freshwater around the world by
many talented underwater photographers. Congratulations to all the winners.”
Wide Angle Open Winner: Ray Collins, Underwater Kirra Point
Macro open winner: Ron Watkins, tiny refuge in the dark
Divers and Fashion Winner: Lucie Drlikova, Underwater circus
Cold Water Winner: Lill Haugen, Bigmouth
Super Macro Winner: Filippo Borghi, fat pigmy
Winning photos can be seen on the Underwater Photography
Guide at:
http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/2014-ocean-art-contest-winners
Complete list of winners:
Best of Show
Ray Collins
Wide-Angle
1st Place: Ray Collins
2nd Place: Gang Song
3rd Place: Shane Gross
4th Place: Montse Grillo
5th Place: Davide Lopresti
HM: Alejandro Prieto
HM: Eiko Jones
HM: David Salvatori
Macro
1st Place: Ron Watkins
2nd Place: Uwe Schmolke
3rd Place: Marchione Giacomo
4th Place: Anthony Berberian
5th Place: Digant Desai
HM: Annika Persson
HM: Filip Staes
Coldwater
1st Place: Lill Haugen
2nd Place: David Salvatori
3rd Place: Nirupam Nigam
4th Place: Kaido Haagen
HM: Michael Weberberger
HM: Gang Song
Portrait
1st Place: Nonna Pokras
2nd Place: Mario Odorisio
3rd Place: Steven Kovacs
4th Place: Christine Shepard
5th Place: Lill Haugen
HM: Uwe Schmolke
HM: David Salvatori
HM: Luc Rooman
Marine Life Behavior
1st Place: Borut Furlan
2nd Place: Ilian Ben Tov
3rd Place: Steven Kovacs
4th Place: Jerry Tang
HM: Roland Bach
HM: Steven Kovacs
Novice dSLR
1st Place: Yatwai So
2nd Place: Carolyn Wang
3rd Place: Collin Wu
4th Place: Renee Capozzola
HM: Yatwai So
HM: Renee Capozzola
Compact Macro
1st Place: Giacomo Giovannini
2nd Place: Kiyoung Jang
3rd Place: Fabio Galbiati
4th Place: Elisabeth Lauwerys
HM: Dusan Zencak
HM: Chandy de Wit
Compact Marine Life Behavior
1st Place: Jack Berthomier
2nd Place: Jack Berthomier
3rd Place: Alexander Bublitz
4th Place: Igor Pereverzev
HM: Michal Ross
Compact Wide-Angle
1st Place: Arek Mszyca
2nd Place: Marc Casanovas
3rd Place: Stephen Holinski
4th Place: Stephen Holinski
HM: Marc Casanovas
Nudibranchs
1st Place: Eduardo Acevedo Fernandez
2nd Place: Jackie Hildering
3rd Place: Diana Paboojian
4th Place: Luc Rooman
HM: Yatwai So
HM: Yury Ivanov
Super Macro
1st Place: Filippo Borghi
2nd Place: Raffaele Livornese
3rd Place: Qing Lin
4th Place: Robert Roy
HM: Jeffrey de Guzman
Divers/ Fashion
1st Place: Lucie Drlikova
2nd Place: Steffen Binke
3rd Place: Nina Baxa
4th Place: Jim Catlin
HM: Massimo Giorgetta
HM: Rui Guerra
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