The 4th Underwater Festival- 2010 The Christmas Island Experience
By Matt J. Weiss, May 11, 2010 @ 02:46 PM (EST)
We recieved this from Tim Hochgrebe of Underwater.com.au who organizes the Underwater Festival. It's a recap of the event.
After the first three Underwater Festivals had been held in our hometown of Byron Bay on the east coast of the Australian mainland, we decided that varying the festival location in future events would give regular participants a chance of new experiences and challenges and give other divers the opportunity to join in.
In this spirit, the 2010 Underwater Festival was co-organised with the Christmas Island Tourism Association. Linda Cash, staff members and local volunteers put in a fantastic effort and succeeded gloriously in providing a welcoming atmosphere, great food and social events and a seamless festival for all 34 participants.
As in previous years, all participants had the opportunity to attend Underwater Photography Workshops with esteemed Singapore photographer Mathieu Meur, attend Marine Wildlife presentations and try out Sealife cameras, aunoc torches and Frog dive gear
Over the 5 days we encountered Whalesharks and Manta Rays and almost all participating divers were treated to a number of encounters with Scalloped Hammerheadsharks. We swam with Spinner Dolphins, barracudas, schools of Giant Trevally, Dog-tooth Tuna and an array of surgeon and butterflyfish all of which extended the feeling that the festival spirit extended to well down below.
On Sunday and Monday night Mathieu Meur presented underwater photography clinics for beginners and advanced underwater photographers covering topics such as basic composition and shooting techniques and how to select and process your images for competitions.
Tuesday night anybody who was interested could attend festival presentations for free. Mathieu Meur presented a talk on the Art of Composition in Underwater Photography and there were talks by Jacqui Foster from WA Fisheries on community education as well as by Jean-Paul Hobbs from James Cook University on the fish life of Christmas Island.
On Wednesday night a special mid-week screening at the island’s Open Air cinema presented the awesome movie ‘Deep Blue’ under starry night skies.
After all the diving was done and photos submitted on Thursday early evening it was time for the legendary Underwater Festival Party. An outstanding selection of finger food and plenty of MadFish Wines were being served to excellent live music
The next day, Friday, was the last day of the Underwater Festival and time for the finale. The winning video was again won by Gold Cost local Kieren Curry who walked away with a $4,500 video light from Light & Motion sponsored by Scubapix in Cairns.
In this spirit, the 2010 Underwater Festival was co-organised with the Christmas Island Tourism Association. Linda Cash, staff members and local volunteers put in a fantastic effort and succeeded gloriously in providing a welcoming atmosphere, great food and social events and a seamless festival for all 34 participants.
As in previous years, all participants had the opportunity to attend Underwater Photography Workshops with esteemed Singapore photographer Mathieu Meur, attend Marine Wildlife presentations and try out Sealife cameras, aunoc torches and Frog dive gearOver the 5 days we encountered Whalesharks and Manta Rays and almost all participating divers were treated to a number of encounters with Scalloped Hammerheadsharks. We swam with Spinner Dolphins, barracudas, schools of Giant Trevally, Dog-tooth Tuna and an array of surgeon and butterflyfish all of which extended the feeling that the festival spirit extended to well down below.
On Sunday and Monday night Mathieu Meur presented underwater photography clinics for beginners and advanced underwater photographers covering topics such as basic composition and shooting techniques and how to select and process your images for competitions.
Tuesday night anybody who was interested could attend festival presentations for free. Mathieu Meur presented a talk on the Art of Composition in Underwater Photography and there were talks by Jacqui Foster from WA Fisheries on community education as well as by Jean-Paul Hobbs from James Cook University on the fish life of Christmas Island.
On Wednesday night a special mid-week screening at the island’s Open Air cinema presented the awesome movie ‘Deep Blue’ under starry night skies.
After all the diving was done and photos submitted on Thursday early evening it was time for the legendary Underwater Festival Party. An outstanding selection of finger food and plenty of MadFish Wines were being served to excellent live music
The next day, Friday, was the last day of the Underwater Festival and time for the finale. The winning video was again won by Gold Cost local Kieren Curry who walked away with a $4,500 video light from Light & Motion sponsored by Scubapix in Cairns.
A Byron Bay local, Lynton Burger, won the SLR category and with that a trip to Bali by Aquamarine Diving.
SLR Category - 1st place by Lynton Burger
The best festival portfolio went to Christmas Island local Rob Reynolds who walked away with a full set of Beuchat Scuba gear from Australian distributor ZSports in Brisbane.
In the compact category, fly-in Matt Timbrell took out the Ikelite prize with a great manta ray shot.
Compact Cameras - 1st place by Matt Timbrell
Another local, Kirsty Faulkner took out the best Novice shot and continues her photography career with a brand new Sealife DC1200 camera.
Novice Category - 1st place by Kirsty Faulkner
Marine Visions IV Underwater Photo Art Category - 2nd place by Jeffery De Guzman
All prize winners and their winning images and videos are presented in full on the Underwater Festival website www.underwaterfestival.com.au
The Underwater Festival Organisers and participants are thankful for the generosity of all sponsors and supporters of this annual event.
Underwater Festival™ 2011
The 2010 Festival is now over … we hope to see everybody that loves diving in Australasia for our 5th annual Underwater Festival in 2011. With the tagline ‘The Australasia Challenge’ it will incorporate an Australasia-wide simultaneous photo and video shootout competition like no other with over $100,000 in prizes including $10,000 in cash. More info at www.underwaterfestival.org
Comments
Be the first to add a comment to this article.
You must be logged in to comment.
Related Content
November 7, 2011, 9:47PM
Results of the region-wide Underwater Festival released more
August 3, 2011, 12:21PM
Annual “Australasia-wide” shootout begins in five weeks more
January 23, 2011, 9:22PM
Early-bird registration for this year's Underwater Festival now open more
August 11, 2010, 4:51PM
The 2011 Underwater Festival will be a multiple country 10 day shoot out more
May 21, 2009, 6:57PM
Results from the 3rd annual Byron Underwater Festival more
Sponsors
Dive Industry News
What's New
