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Eilat Epson Red Sea Competition: Day 5
By Jason Heller, November 20, 2008 @ 03:00 AM (EST)
by Keri Wilk
Day 5
Today was the big day. All the tension that had been relieved yesterday, peaked once again. There were photographers huddled in corners, biting their nails, anxiously awaiting the award ceremony….well not really, but I know I was nervous.
Not much happened during the day other than the yearly group photo, taken on the often-dived “Satil” wreck. After seeing the wreck, I was kicking myself for not diving it earlier in the trip. There were several interesting photo opportunities that I took note of…including a pair of giant free-swimming frogfish!
Around 2o photographers showed up at the Satil wreck for the group shot
The Satil wreck
A giant frogfish
Night came quickly, and preparations began for the results ceremony. Seats for a few hundred were set up in front of a 20 foot wide screen, powered by one of Epson’s own HD projectors. Sharon Rainis and Razi Livnat were the hosts for the evening, and were responsible for the oh-so-dramatic crescendos that preceded each award announcement. One by one, categories, nominations and winners were proclaimed in both the “Images of the World” and “Shoot-out” sections of the competition. So without further adieu, here are the results!
************************************ Eilat's Shoot-Out categories and Prizes
The Best Five Images (Portfolio)
1. Arturo Telle Theimann from Spain
2. Eduardo Acevedo from Spain
3. Keri Wilk from Canada
4. Stefano Proakis from Italy
Winner: Noam Kortler from Israel
*******************
Note: There was some controversial information provided to us regarding Noam Kortler as well as another participant coming in contact with the reef during the competition, technically a violation of the competition conservation rules. After hearing all sides of the story, we felt that the best and most objective action on our part was to share the official statement from the competition organizers., in addition to the ultimate solution for this year. There are a lot of gray areas, and basically we all just need to be a little more aware of the reefs while shooting. Both photographers in question were fined by the Israeli Nature Conservation Authority, who is in charge of enforcing regulations underwater. Noam is also donating half of his $10,000 cash prize to the Eilat based marine environmental organization "The Sentries of The Bay". Additionally, the organizers "would like to emphasize that environmental conservation considerations are an inevitable part of the Epson Red Sea event’s vision. For this reason, year after year, we include environmental concerns in the regulations of the competition, donate prizes to environmental conservation organizations and feature an environmental conservation category, which was specially created in order to increase awareness to the importance of such concerns."
Note from Author: While I’d like to say that I’m perfect in the water, I know that accidents invariably happen, and to a certain degree this is acceptable. However, deliberate contact with the reef to facilitate better photo opportunities should be looked at as a completely unacceptable behavior. One has to keep in mind that we are unnatural guests in the underwater world, and should do everything in our power to leave it as we found it. Moreover, as the field of underwater photography becomes progressively more competitive, one might feel pressured to bend the conservation rules here or there to get images that might otherwise not be possible. If this mindset isn’t abolished, we’d better hope that we’ve got plenty of images of the sea already, because it surely won’t be the same for much longer.
While the actions of the photographers may have been out of line, generous steps were certainly taken to remedy the situation ($15000 total were donated to conservation efforts). Although very admirable in, it should be made clear that no amount of money should be looked at as a solution to the existing problems. A temporary band-aid, perhaps. But unless all of our attitudes are changed in the direction of respecting the reefs, we’ll continue to see them deteriorate in the future.
Hopefully we can learn something from this year’s controversial issues, and the reefs will be shown the respect that they deserve in the years to come.
*******************
The Best Singular entry
Nominees:
1. Arnon Ayal from Israel
2. Hedwig Dieraert from Belgium
3. Mark Fuller from South Africa
4. Nigel Wade from Britain
Mayor of Eilat's prize
Nominees:
1. Arturo Telle Theimann from Spain
2. Keri Wilk from Canada
3. Mark Fuller from South Africa
4. Stefano Proakis from Italy
Nominees:
1. Arnon Ayal from Israel
2. Hedwig Dieraert from Belgium
3. Mark Fuller from South Africa
4. Nigel Wade from Britain
Winner:Dany Weinberg from Israel
Mayor of Eilat's prize
Nominees:
1. Arturo Telle Theimann from Spain
2. Keri Wilk from Canada
3. Mark Fuller from South Africa
4. Stefano Proakis from Italy
Winner: Patrick Neumann from Germany
The Judge’s prize
Nominees:
1. Arturo Telle Theimann from Spain
2. Daniel Doron from Israel
3. Noam Kortler from Israel
Co-Winner:Amir Stern from Israel
Co-Winner:Steven Kovacs from USA
The Winning & Donating Category
Nominees:
1. Arturo Telle Theimann from Spain
2. Klas Malmberg from Sweden
3. Nigel Wade from Sweden
4. Stefano Proakis from Italy
Winner: Noam Kortler from Israel
The “Eilat Behind the Scenes” Category
Winner: Amotz Tal from Israel
The Amateurs category
Nominees:
1. Baruch Yoffe from Israel
2. Daniel Doron from Israel
Winners:
1st place- Patrick Neumann from Germany
2nd place- Hadas Zion from Israel
3rd place- Kobi Mercury from Israel
Images of the World Categories and Prizes
This is the international "mail-in" component of the competition.
The Best 5 Images (Portfolio) - Digital
Nominees:
1. Eduardo Acevedo from Spain
2. Andre Seale from Brazil
3. Mirko Zanni from Switzerland
Winner:Magnus Lundgren from Sweden
The Best Color Print
Nominees:
1. Andrey Nekrasov from Ukraine
2. Marina Kochetova from Russia
3. Mirko Zanni from Switzerland
4. Steven Kovacs from USA
Winner: Mirko Zanni from Switzerland
The Best Wrecks of the World - Black & White (print)
Nominees:
1. Claude Ruff from France
2. Ernst Seeling from Austria
3. Yahav Esh from Israel
4. Yonatan Nir from Israel
Winner:Yahav Esh from Israel
The Best Humoristic Image (print)
Nominees:
1. Alain Pardon from Belgium
2. Alexey Stoyda from Russia
3. Magnus Lundgren from Sweden
Winner:Steven Kovacs from USA
The Best Environmental and Conservation Digital Image
A $5,000 check, courtesy of PADI, the professional association of diving instructors.
Nominees:
1. Marco Carb from Italy
2. Ron Gerretsen from Holland
3. Sumer Verma from India
4. Marco Carb from Italy
A complete linking to all winning images can be found on the official competition website.
All in all it was a great week in Israel - good diving, good company and events all around us in the arid beauty of Eilat and the the Red Sea. Thanks to Pilo for putting together such a great event and see ya' next year! We leave you with some images and videos from the final evening of the event. Enjoy!
The Best Environmental and Conservation Digital Image
A $5,000 check, courtesy of PADI, the professional association of diving instructors.
Nominees:
1. Marco Carb from Italy
2. Ron Gerretsen from Holland
3. Sumer Verma from India
4. Marco Carb from Italy
Winner: Ron Gerretsen from Holland
A complete linking to all winning images can be found on the official competition website.
All in all it was a great week in Israel - good diving, good company and events all around us in the arid beauty of Eilat and the the Red Sea. Thanks to Pilo for putting together such a great event and see ya' next year! We leave you with some images and videos from the final evening of the event. Enjoy!
The crowd gathers as the ceremony is about to begin
Some of the bonus prizes donated by Epson, given at random to a few lucky entrants
The esteemed panel of judges - Ariel Fuchs, Osku Puukila, Roni Soffer, Razi Cohen, Kurt Amsler, Shlomo Cohen, and Albert Muro Pelliconi
Steven Kovacs with judge Shlomo Cohen as he accepts the “Best Humoristic Image” award
The lucky winner of a full HD Epson projector with Alberto Muro Pelliconi
Steven Kovacs and Amir stern share the “Judge’s Prize”. Although, I don’t know how they’re going to divide the Seacam housing prize into two…
Danny Weinberg proudly beside the 1000 bottles of Macabee he won for taking the “Best Singular Entry”
A group photo of most of the evenings winners
A bitter Keri Wilk trying to steal the novelty cheque off of Noam Kortler after finding out he was runer-up to the grand prize
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