DPG has recently announced the winners of the 2012 Our World Underwater competition, and I had the honor and privilege to announce the winners at the OWU film festival. As I watched the slide show on the large projector from backstage, I thought about all the amazing images that have been entered into the competition, and decided to take a trip down memory lane and revisit the past competitions. Join me in a look back through the years of amazing imagery of the Our World Underwater Photo Contest.
Martin Oernroth - Environement and Conservation 2006 Gold
The first thing that struck me was the difference in the Best of Show winners. Up until Commercial, Conceptual and Fashion category was introduced in 2010, there was no real commonality between the BOS winners.
Chris Gug - Best of Show 2006
Jose Alejandro Alvarez -Best of Show 2007
Borut Furlan - Best of Show 2008
Justin Gilligan - Best of Show 2009
David Barrio - Best of Show 2010
Anatoly Beloshchin- Best of Show 2011
Jeffery Hartog - Best of Show 2012
The last two years, however, a conceptual image with a model has won, but even here we see two very different winning shots. So I guess there is no real key to taking the Best of Show image, other than just taking a great shot.
One theme you can see throughout all 7 years is that judges like shark photos…or maybe photographers just like taking photos of sharks so there are a disproportionate amount of good shark images. Either way – here’s a look at some of the amazing shark winners.
Alex Dawson - Honorable Mention Wide Angle Restricted 2006
Todd Essick - Wide Angle Tradtional Silver 2007
John Scarlett- Wide Angle Tradtional Bronze 2007
Olaf Veltman - Wide Angle Unrestricted Bronze -2008
Chris Gug - Wide Angle Tradtional Bronze 2009
Jeremy Kozman - Novice Gold 2010
Dennis Vandermeersch - Wide Angle Unrestricted Bronze 2011
Rui Guerra - Honorable Mention Wide Angle Unrestricted 2012
Carlos Villoch - Wide Angle Traditional Silver 2012
Another trend? Get an interesting reptile/amphibian shot, and you may have a winner. Sure we all have seen ton of turtle shots, but crocs, newts and lizards even made their way into the winning images.
Keri Wilk - Wide Angle Traditional Gold 2011
Keri Wilk - Wide Angle Unrestricted Honorable Mention 2011
Alessio Viora - Wide Angle Unrestricted Bronze 2006
Pedro Carillo - Wide Angle Unrestricted Honorable Mention 2011
Pedro Carillo - Wide Angle Traditional Bronze 2012
A personal favorite shot of mine are simple freshwater flora shots. They usually incorporate colorful plants, with clear water and great lighting. Here are few of the best from the last 7 year.
Alex Dawson - Wide Angle Unrestricted Honorable Mention 2006
Fredrick Ehrenstrom - Wide Angle Unrestricted Honorable Mention
Fredrick Ehrenstrom - Wide Angle Tradtional Silver 2010
Keri Wilk - Wide Angle Unrestricted Gold 2010
And just a few others of my personal favorites...
Alex Dawson - Wide Angle Tradtional Honorable Mention 2006
Aaron Wong - Wide Angle Unrestricted Gold 2007
Alessio Viora - Macro Tradtional Silver 2007
Aaron Wong - Wide Angle Traditional Silver 2008
Dale Sanders - Wide Angle Unrestricted Gold 2008
Keri Wilk - Macro Unrestricted Honorable Mention 2009
Bartosz Strozynski - Wide Angle Unrestricted Honorable Mention 2009
Gianni Pecchiar - Wide Angle Unrestricted Silver 2010
Michele Davino - Macro Unrestricted Honorable Mention 2010
Mark Van Coller - Wide Angle Unrestricted Gold 2011
Anatoly Beloshchin - Commercial, Conceptual & Fashion Silver 2011
Ross Gudgeon - Macro Unrestricted Gold 2012
Anders Salesjo - Super Macro Traditional Gold 2012
