The prestigious Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced the 2015 winners. This year’s Ocean Art Competition attracted a very high caliber of photos, representing entrants from over 50 countries.
Above: Winner, Best of Show – Photo by Jeff Milisen. Shot in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA with Canon T1i
The Best of Show was a spectacular photo of a larval stage eel photographed at night in 4,000 feet of water off the coast of Hawaii. This larval eel truly looks like an alien invader from outer space, and has only been photographed a handful of times before. Other outstanding images include some out-of-this-world fish and marine life shots, rarely seen underwater behavior, cute portraits, dreamy scenes in the conceptual category, sharks, whales and some dramatic moments between humans and marine life. 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.
Ocean Art 2015 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, and Marty Snyderman, accompanied by Underwater Photography Guide publisher Scott Gietler.
Ocean Art is one of the most prestigious underwater photography competitions worldwide and may have the largest prize purse of any single underwater photo competition.
Over $70,000 of prizes will be awarded to 75 underwater photographers, highlighted by an Indonesia liveaboard trip on the S.M.Y. Ondina, a 7 night dive package at Misool Eco Resort in Indonesia, a 7 night Solomon Islands liveaboard trip with Bilikiki Cruises, an 8 night combo dive package on the MV FeBrina and Walindi Plantation Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 7 night liveaboard trip on the S/Y Fiji Siren, a 10 night dive package at Lissenung Island Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 7 night dive package at Tawali Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 7 night dive package at Atmosphere Resort & Spa in the Philippines, a 4 night dive package at Villa Markisa in Bali, Indonesia, and a variety of gift certificates from Bluewater Photo.
Premium travel prizes are provided by Anthony’s Key Resort (Roatan), VoliVoli Beach Resort (Fiji), Atlantis Dive Resort (Philippines), Aiyanar Beach and Dive Resort (Philippines), Paradise Taveuni (Fiji), Wananavu Beach Resort (Fiji), Crystal Blue Resort (Philippines), Alor Divers (Indonesia), El Galleon Beach Resort (Philippines), Aquamarine Diving and the Watergarden Hotel (Indonesia), Maluku Divers (Indonesia), Eco Divers Lembeh (Indonesia), Nautilus Explorer/Belle Amie (Mexico), Blackbeard’s Cruises (Bahamas), Siladen Resort & Spa (Indonesia), Scuba Club Cozumel (Mexico), Scuba Seraya (Indonesia), and premier scuba travel agency Bluewater Travel. Premium gear prizes are provided by Bluewater Photo, SEA&SEA, Ikelite, ReefNet SubSee, Ultralight Control Systems, and Light & Motion.
Several winners are recognized in each of 15 categories, including wide-angle, macro, portrait, behavior, novice DSLR, nudibranchs, supermacro, cold water, pool and conceptual, plus 3 compact camera and 3 mirrorless camera categories.
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.
Here’s a look at the complete list of winners and first-place photos:
Best of Show Category
“Feeling Exposed” by Jeff Milisen (see the photo above)
Wide-Angle Category
1st Place, wide angle – Francesco Visintin. Shot in Forte de Marmi, Tuscany, Italy with Nikon D7000
1st Place: Francesco Visintin
2nd Place: Matteo Visconti
3rd Place: Gregory Sherman
4th Place: Alessandro Buzzichelli
5th Place: Tanya Houppermans
6th Place: Aldo Costa
Honorable Mention: Scott Portelli
Honorable Mention: Greg Lecoeur
Macro Category
1st Place: Jeff Milisen (see photo above)
2nd Place: Marco Gargiulo
3rd Place: Lazaro Ruda
4th Place: Dennis Corpuz
5th Place: Dennis Corpuz
6th Place: Alexander Franz
Honorable Mention: Richard Barnden
Honorable Mention: So Yat Wai
Cold water Category
1st Place, cold water category. – Lill Hagen. Shot in The Oslo Fjord, Norway with Nikon D300
1st Place: Lill Haugen
2nd Place: Uwe Schmolke
3rd Place: Annika Persson
4th Place: Jorgen Rasmussen
5th Place: Morten Beier
6th Place: Luc Rooman
Honorable Mention: Thomas Heckmann
Honorable Mention: Matthew Tworkowski
Portrait Category
1st Place, portrait – Greg LeCoeur. Shot in Nice, France with Nikon D7000
1st Place: Greg Lecoeur
2nd Place: Peter Leopold
3rd Place: Filippo Borghi
4th Place: Claudio Contreras Koob
5th Place: David Salvatori
6th Place: Domenico Roscigno
Honorable Mention: Qing Lin
Marine Life Behavior Category
1st Place, marine life behavior – Steven Kovacs. Shot at Blue Heron Bridge, Florida, U.S.A. with Nikon D7000
1st Place: Steven Kovacs
2nd Place: Lureen Ferretti
3rd Place: Greg Lecoeur
4th Place: Filippo Borghi
5th Place: Elio Nicosia
6th Place: Ralph Pace
Honorable Mention: Uwe Schmolke
Honorable Mention: Cameron Azad
Honorable Mention: Richard Barnden
Novice dSLR Category
1st Place, novice DSLR – Irene Middleton. Shot in Maroro Bay, New Zealand with Nikon D300
1st Place: Irene Middleton
2nd Place: Adam Martin
3rd Place: Roberto Strafella
4th Place: Sergio Luiz Norueira Junior
5th Place: Lauric Thiault
Honorable Mention: Linda See
Honorable Mention: Ian Chow
Compact Macro Category
1st Place, compact macro – Alessandro Raho. Shot in Noli, Italy with Canon G16
1st Place: Alessandro Raho
2nd Place: ChenVui Soon
3rd Place: Alessandro Raho
4th Place: Dennis Corpuz
Honorable Mention: Giacomo Giovannini
Compact Marine Life Behavior Category
1st Place, marine life behavior – Jack Berthomier. Shot in Ouemo Bay, Noumea, New Caledonia with Sony RX100
1st Place: Jack Berthomier
2nd Place: Abimael Marquez
3rd Place: Jens Schultz
4th Place: Massimo Giorgetta
Honorable Mention: Stephen Holinski
Honorable Mention: Kiyoung Jang
Compact Wide-Angle Category
1st Place, compact wide angle – Brian Christiansen. Shot in Deshaies, Guadeloupe with Olympus TG-3
1st Place: Brian Christiansen
2nd Place: Stephen Holinski
3rd Place: Kate Rister
4th Place: Steven Shoelson
Honorable Mention: Sarah Stein
Nudibranchs Category
1st Place, nudibranchs – Roland Bach. Shot at Punta den Siulet, Minorca, Spain with Nikon D300
1st Place: Roland Bach
2nd Place: Roland Bach
3rd Place: Miguel Pereira
4th Place: Massimo Zannini
5th Place: Stefano Scortegagna
Supermacro Category
1st Place, super macro – So Yat Wai. Shot in Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia with Canon 5D MkIII
1st Place: So Yat Wai
2nd Place: Marco Fierli
3rd Place: Dennis Corpuz
4th Place: Ludovic Galko-Rundgren
5th Place: So Yat Wai
Honorable Mention: So Yat Wai
Pool/Conceptual Category
1st Place, conceptual – Francesco Pacienza. Shot in Apulia, Italy with Nikon D7100
1st Place: Francesco Pacienza
2nd Place: Sarah Teveldal
3rd Place: Dennis Vandermeersch
4th Place: Steffen Binke
5th Place: Ken Kiefer
Honorable Mention: Uri Magnus Dotan
All of the winning photos can be seen on the Underwater Photography Guide by clicking here.
The Underwater Photography Guide is the #1 destination for all things underwater photography. Featuring highly-regarded tutorials, technique tips, in-depth gear reviews, amazing international workshops and breaking u/w photo news, UWPG is here to help divers around the work achieve their photographic and video goals. For more information, please visit http://www.uwphotographyguide.com.
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