The Underwater Photography Guide announced that the prestigious 2016 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition in August, and the final deadline is on November 22, 2016.
Ocean Art is one of the most prestigious underwater photo competitions in the world. A long list of prizes valued at over $75,000 also makes it one of the richest, attracting pro to amateur photographers across the globe. Sixteen categories ensure all photo disciplines and cameras compete fairly, while the 75+ winning images create a portfolio of the best underwater photos of the year.
Ocean Art prizes are provided by over 35 scuba diving resort, liveaboard dive yacht, and underwater photo gear manufacturers. Grand prizes are a choice of Indonesia liveaboard itinerary on the S.M.Y. Ondina, a 10 night Cocos Island liveaboard trip with the Undersea Hunter Group, a 7 night liveaboard trip on the Palau Siren, a 7 night Solomon Islands liveaboard trip with Bilikiki Cruises, a 10 night dive package at Lissenung Island Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 5 night dive package for two at Siladen Resort & Spa in Indonesia, a 7 night dive package or two at Atmosphere Resort & Spa in the Philippines, and a variety of gift certificates from Bluewater Photo.
Premium travel prizes are provided by VoliVoli Beach Resort (Fiji), Critters@Lembeh / Murex Dive Resorts (Indonesia), Tawali Dive Resort (Papua New Guinea), Villa Markisa Resort (Indonesia), Atlantis Dive Resort (Philippines), Paradise Taveuni (Fiji), Aiyanar Beach and Dive Resort (Philippines), Wananavu Beach Resort (Fiji), Crystal Blue Resort (Philippines), Mike Ball Dive Expeditions (Australia), Alor Divers (Indonesia), El Galleon Beach Resort (Philippines), Aquamarine Diving and the Watergarden Hotel (Indonesia), Maluku Divers (Indonesia), Nautilus Explorer/Belle Amie (Mexico), Eco Divers Resort Lembeh (Indonesia), Scuba Club Cozumel (Mexico), Manta Bay Ray / Yap Divers (Micronesia), Scuba Seraya (Indonesia), and scuba travel agency Bluewater Travel. Premium gear prizes are provided by I-Torch, SEA&SEA, the non-profit Reef Check Foundation, Ikelite, ReefNet SubSee, BARE Sports, and Ultralight Control Systems.
Ocean Art 2016 consists of 16 categories, including a Novice DSLR category, 3 compact camera categories and 3 mirrorless camera categories, giving underwater photographers of all levels a chance to win a great prize. Unique categories include Supermacro, Cold/Temperate Water and Nudibranchs, while the more traditional categories include Wide-Angle, Macro, Marine Life Portraits and Marine Life Behavior. The Pool/Conceptual category encourages creativity in post-processing. New for 2016 is the Reefscapes category, offering the grand prize of a $1000 u/w photo gear shopping spree.
Winners from each category will be able to rank the liveaboard, resort and gear prizes they would like to receive, making it more likely that winners will win the prize they really covet.
Judges include world-renowned underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, Marty Snyderman and Scott Gietler. Martin Edge is the author of The Underwater Photographer, a top-selling book on underwater photography. Marty Snyderman is an Emmy winner with work appearing in top publications like National Geographic. Tony Wu is a renowned underwater photographer and author of Silent Symphony. Scott Gietler is the owner of Bluewater Photo, Bluewater Travel and the Underwater Photography Guide.
Photos must be submitted before the deadline of 23:59PM PST on November 22, 2016. Winners will be announced the week of January 9, 2017.
Additional information can be found on our Ocean Art Photo Competition page at http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/ocean-art.
The Underwater Photography Guide is the #1 visited resource worldwide for underwater photographers and scuba divers to learn and improve their underwater photography, publishing highly-regarded tutorials, technique tips, in-depth gear reviews, underwater photo news and international photo workshops. For more information, please visit www.uwphotographyguide.com or follow on Facebook (facebook.com/underwaterphotographyguide.com), Instagram (instagram.com/uwphotographyguide) and Twitter (twitter.com/uwphotography).