We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for June 2022 has been chosen. Congratulations to Ahmed Helal with his photo "Flamboyant".
Ahmed wins a free stay at the RSDS village of his choice. You can view the winning photo, and all the June participants here.
If you would like a chance to win, simply register on our website and upload your photos from our competition page. Each day we choose a 'photo of the day' from the selection of entries. Anyone can register on our website and vote on photos entered into the competition. At the end of the month our Photo Pro and photography workshop leader, Paul ‘Duxy’ Duxfield, looks at the votes and chooses a winner from the highest scoring photos. Full terms and conditions and prize details are available here.
Congratulations again to Ahmed, and good luck to all those participating in the coming months!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge:
I’ve got a big apology folks but I’m not sure you'll like my excuse when you hear it.
I know it’s been a while since I last judged the photo competition but you see I’ve been away for most of the last two months in Indonesia travelling around diving and taking pictures.
Yes I can hear the sound of tiny violins serenading me in sympathy as I’m typing this.
So without further ado and after a long hard look at the entries for June here’s what I think.
I was immediately drawn to two stand out pictures in a very strong field of entries this month.
But first though a few words about a very close runner up. I really liked Robert McConville’s head on Moray, really sharp eye focus and dramatic lighting, lovely fish portrait.
In the end though it was always down to a macro shot and a classic wide angle shot that first caught my eye. Now I know you probably realise by now that I’m a sucker for a great dramatic wideangle, but of late I’ve been shooting a lot more macro and it's made me re-evaluate things a little, so instead of Mathieu Cornillon’s very moody picture of a Longimanus with sunbeams in the background, which I think is a great shot, I’ve decided to favour an equally dramatic shot also with lots of negative space and a vivid splash of colour from Ahmed Helal and his macro portrait of a male Anthias in isolation, which is no mean feat and its very well technically executed. Awesome shot Ahmed and commiserations to the close runners up.
Duxy has been running escorted photo workshops in Marsa Shagra for the last three years. These workshops are designed for camera users of all experience levels, with any type of underwater camera. Duxy is on hand to share tips and information, troubleshoot individual photography issues, escort early morning and late afternoon dives, and give talks on specific subjects. The Red Sea Photo Camp with Duxy and Alphamarine Photography will be held in Shagra from June 13-20 2023 - full information.
