We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for March 2022 has been chosen. Congratulations to Paul Pettitt with his photo "Big Mouth".
Paul wins a free stay at the RSDS village of his choice. You can view the winning photo, and all the March 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 Paul, and good luck to all those participating in the coming months!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge:
Fishface!!! This was what word sprung to mind when I opened up the current crop of entrants to this months photo competition.
And this is because there was a good chunk of the entries dedicated to fish portraiture.
Ahmed Dakroury picture of a clownfish head on to the camera is a good shot, but a little dark and he could maybe have cleaned up the backscatter a bit in the editing software. Other than this it's nicely composed and definitely a front runner.
I also loved Ruth Wanger’s Squirrel Fish peeping from behind the coral, nicely composed, injected with personality and sharp and well exposed, and if it wasn't for the eventual winner that I chose it would have had a strong chance. My eventual winner was between two very strong entries, Henrik Rasmussen’s head on picture of a Blenny looking straight at the camera immediately caught my eye, as the fish is looking straight at the camera and is chock full of humour and also connection with the viewer and if it wasn't for my eventual winner, it would have clinched the top spot.
However the stunning picture of an Indian Mackerel, mid gape, displaying this mutual feeding behaviour that they do en masse and is a common sight at Marsa Shagra and Marsa Nakari, was a clear winner. Paul Pettitt the shooter here, has displayed patience and timing, as well as careful control of the exposure to render a pin sharp shot allowing us the viewer to see right inside the fish. He’s singled out this individual fish and if you've ever witnessed this behaviour at one of the camps then you’ll realise that this is no mean feat to acheive, as these fish move very quickly and are a test for most cameras focussing systems. So a lot of skill involved here, along with a dollop of understanding the marine life behaviour and mastery of the camera.
Well done Paul a worthy winner for March.
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 11-22 2022 and June 13-20 2023 - full information.
