News

Best-of-Show Award and Winner: Video (Montage) – Maxwel Hohn
 

From August 22nd–25th, shooters returned to the cool waters off the California coast for some more friendly competition during the Monterey Shootout—and the awesome winning images and videos have now been posted. Hosted by Backscatter and the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society (NCUPS), the shootout saw some 172 shooters compete for their share of sweet gear and trip prizes.

With so many participants, the photo judges—Chuck Davis, Berkley White, Sterling Zumbrunn, and Becca Boring—had more than 600 images to pore over. Meanwhile, the video judges—Carl Miller, Jim Decker, and Rusty Sanoian—had a similarly tough task, with nearly 80 videos in contention. Interestingly, the winner of the top prize—the Best-of-Show Award—went not to a photo but a video: Maxwel Hohn’s first place film in the Video (Montage) category.

As always, the Shootout was also an opportunity for participants to learn some tips and techniques from the pros during the event’s various seminars, and of course, after two solid days of diving, there was a great party—with over 200 guests in attendance—to round it all off.

See below for a selection of the winners, and click here to see the full gallery of impressive winning images and videos.
 

Winner: Advanced Wide Angle Traditional – Joe Platko
 

Winner: Advanced Wide Angle Unrestricted – Maxwel Hohn
 

Winner: Advanced Macro Traditional – Jon Anderson
 

Winner: Advanced Macro Unrestricted – Desmond Ho
 

Winner: Intermediate Wide Angle Traditional – Ian Markham
 

Winner: Intermediate Wide Angle Unrestricted – Andrew McCurdy
 

Winner: Intermediate Macro Traditional – Heather Reiff
 

Winner: Intermediate Macro Unrestricted – Nathan Coy
 

Winner: Beginner Wide Angle Traditional – Megan Pitcavage
 

Winner: Beginner Wide Angle Unrestricted – Valerie Saidman
 

Winner: Beginner Macro Traditional – Joyce Wong
 

Winner: Beginner Macro Unrestricted – Tomas Grim

Winner: Video (Montage) – Maxwel Hohn
 

Winner: Video (Snapshot Wide Angle) – Tyler Schiffman
 

Winner: Video (Snapshot Macro) – Alex Seys