Jose Alejandro Alvarez's "Juvenile Lionfish". Very tiny lionfish over black sponge - best of show
Magnus Lundgren's "Friends". An oceanic whitetip shark cruising with a whole bunch of pilotfishes - best of show
Popular underwater photography websites Wetpixel.com and DivePhotoGuide.com have made underwater photo history by running two major international competitions simultaneously on opposite sides of the globe. The 2nd annual Wetpixel & DivePhotoGuide International Underwater Photo & Video Competition is held in association with the 37th annual Our World Underwater dive show in Chicago. The 1st Annual DEEP Indonesia Competition is held in association with Indonesia's first diving and water sports show in Jakarta. Photographers from around the world competed in still and video categories. In the true spirit of an international competition, winners across both competitions hailed from 18 different countries.
The competition included technical and themed categories, including categories for images that focus on conservation and the marine environment, compact cameras, and an Indonesia category. Esteemed judges Eric Cheng (Wetpixel), Stephen Frink, Dr. Alex Mustard and Tony Wu (Fins), Berkley White (Backscatter) and David Espinosa (Scuba Diver AustralAsia), had the difficult task of selecting winners from 2,000 entries that flooded in from all over the world.
Competitions such as this are not possible without the support of generous sponsors. Winners were awarded premium dive travel packages to some of the top photo destinations in the world, photo equipment, dive gear, signed books, DVD's and more! Dive packages included trips to Wakatobi, South Africa, Socoros Islands, Vietnam, Raja Empat, Komodo, Malaysia, the Galapagos, Bora Bora, the Solomon Islands, Bali, Palau, Manado, Lembeh Strait, Yap, Cocos (Keeling) Island, Philippines, Grand Cayman, the Red Sea and the Bahamas. Special offers from competition sponsors can be found on the competition website.
As a competition that celebrates the beauty and delicacy of our oceans and reefs, 15% of entry proceeds are donated to vital marine conservation efforts.
For more information visit the competition's official website: www.UnderwaterCompetition.com