Culver City, CA (PRWEB) December 17, 2013 -- The prestigious Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced the 2013 winners. This year’s Ocean Art Competition attracted a very high caliber of photos, representing entrants from over 50 countries.
Over $80,000 of prizes will be awarded to 64 underwater photographers, highlighted by an 18-night dive trip package combining 4 nights at Walindi Plantation Resort, a 10-night trip on the MV FeBrina and 4 nights at Loloata Resort. Platinum prizes included a trip of the winner’s choice with Waow Charters in Indonesia, an 11 day Indonesia trip on the SMY Ondina, a 10-night Komodo trip on the S/Y Indo Siren, Oceanic OCi computers for 4 separate winners and gift certificates from Bluewater Photo and Bluewater Travel. Premium prizes are provided by Lissenung Island Resort, Bilikiki, Nautilus Swell, Villa Markisa, Sea Safari Cruises, Kosrae Nautilus Resort, Atlantis Dive Resorts, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, Alor Divers, Eco Divers, Ikelite, Lions Dive & Beach Resort, AquaMarine Diving, Juliana’s Hotel, Sea Saba, Maluku Divers, Blackbeard’s Cruises, Acquapazza, I-Torch, Recsea and many more.
This year's judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, Marty Snyderman and Todd Winner.
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 under the ice by Victor Lyagushkin in Russia. Other outstanding images include a freediver swimming into a massive bait ball, the crisp details of a hairy shrimp, a dugong grazing, a pelagic octopus, remarkable nudibranchs and a hunting sailfish. 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.
Judging was very difficult due to the high quality of so many images. World famous underwater photographer and contest judge Tony Wu said, “Judging the competition this year was extremely challenging. We saw high-caliber images from many talented photographers and the judging team spent a lot of time selecting the final images. Congratulations to all the winners.”
Winning photos can be seen on the Underwater Photography Guide at http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/2013-ocean-art-contest-winners.
Complete list of winners:
Best of Show
Viktor Lyagushkin
Wide-Angle
1st Place: Francis Perez
2nd Place: Domenico Roscigno
3rd Place: Adriano Morettin
4th Place: Luis Javier Sandoval
5th Place: Christian Schlamann
6th Place: Matej Simonic
HM: David Salvatori
HM: Giordano Cipriani
HM: Uwe Schmolke
Macro
1st Place: Jeffrey Milsen
2nd Place: Ping Ying Wu
3rd Place: Rene Zuch
4th Place: Todd Bretl
5th Place: Steven Kovacs
HM: Guido Villani
HM: Ping Ying Wu
HM: Steven Kovacs
Coldwater
1st Place: Viktor Lyagushkin
2nd Place: Tobias Friedrich
3rd Place: Jo-Ann Wilkins
4th Place: Viktor Lyagushkin
5th Place: Jo-Ann Wilkins
6th Place: Allison Vitsky Sallmon
HM: Allen D Walker
HM: George Karbus
Portrait
1st Place: Montse Grillo
2nd Place: Mark Fuller
3rd Place: Pedro Carrillo
4th Place: Vanessa Mignon
5th Place: Allen D Walker
HM: Filip Staes
HM: Jorgen Rasmussen
HM: Pietro Formis
Marine Life Behavior
1st Place: Jorgen Rasmussen
2nd Place: David Schrichte
3rd Place: Montse Grillo
4th Place: Tom Radio
5th Place: Steven Kovacs
6th Place: Tom Radio
HM: Jan Wenger
HM: Lill Haugen
HM: Steven Kovacs
Novice dSLR
1st Place: Mohamad Abdulla
2nd Place: Thomas Burd
3rd Place: Pietro Biondo
4th Place: Andrew Lau
5th Place: Alberto Rubio Romero
HM: Lauric Thiault
HM: Ng Ching Kwan
Compact Macro
1st Place: Abimael Marquez
2nd Place: Giacomo Giovannini
3rd Place: Rafael Cosme Daza
4th Place: Patty Woo
HM: Robert Roy
HM: Will Clark
Compact Marine Life Behavior
1st Place: Laura Dinraths
2nd Place: Jack Berthomier
3rd Place: Erez Beatus
4th Place: Giacomo Giovannini
5th Place: George Jolokai
HM: Rafael Cosme Daza
HM: Will Clark
Compact Wide-Angle
1st Place: Marcus Commodore
2nd Place: Mike Couffer
3rd Place: Rafael Cosme Daza
4th Place: Stephen K. Holinski
HM: Joao Bruges
HM: Francesco Bazzotti
Nudibranchs
1st Place: Guido Villani
2nd Place: Marcello Di Francesco
3rd Place: Lill Haugen
4th Place: Phil Sokol
5th Place: Michael Perdue
HM: Chang Chia-Chi
HM: Tobias Dahlin
Super Macro
1st Place: Qing Lin
2nd Place: Lill Haugen
3rd Place: David Salvatori
4th Place: Alex Varani
HM: Iyad Suleyman
Divers/ Fashion
1st Place: Plamena Mileva
2nd Place: Francis Perez
3rd Place: Steffen Binke
4th Place: Phil Davison
The Underwater Photography Guide is the #1 visited resource worldwide for underwater photographers and scuba divers to learn and improve their underwater photography, with over 50,000 unique visitors monthly. For more information, please visit http://www.uwphotographyguide.com.
Brent Durand, The Underwater Photography Guide, http://www.uwphotographyguide.com, +1 (310) 915-6677, [email protected]
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