We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for November 2022 has been chosen. Congratulations to Paul Eijkemans with his photo "Barf".
Paul wins a free stay at the RSDS village of his choice. You can view the winning photo, and all the November 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:
Patterns, repeating patterns. The natural world is full of patterns, and none more so than when you venture underwater to view the splendour of the coral reefs. And if you're interested in underwater photography, which I’m guessing you are as you're reading this after all, then the patterns in the corals or on a variety of marine life, will always give you something to shoot. So there’s very little reason why you shouldn't be able to return from most photo dives, with a clutch of pictures of patterns, even if the dive proves otherwise fruitless, photographically. And the shots in November’s collection of photo entires struck me that there seemed to be a lot of lovely patterns on display.
So Shannon, with the gorgeous flourescent corals, Pamela with the stark red on black corals, a lovely collection of Feather Stars by Federico, and then one of my favourite abstract pattern subjects the Tridacna clam beautifully recorded by Emilie, we had a bunch of entrants with keen eyes for a pattern, and all great shots in themselves, but unfortunately not enough to take the winning spot this month.
My favourite picture amongst a strong selection of mostly close up and macro pics, was an example of how observing a fish for behaviour, and then timing the picture so that it elevates the image beyond just a simple fish ID picture, was Paul Eijkemans stunningly well timed shot of a Picasso Trigger Fish regurgitating the less digestible elements of its last meal. As is the trendy phrase of the moment ‘great capture’ is very apt in this circumstance. It’s well lit, separated nicely from the background, lovely angle to the lens, it already ticks a lot of boxes without then adding the cherry on the cake of recording the fish in a behavioural context. Well done Paul a worthy winner.
It’s also worth mentioning that Picasso’s are definitely one of the commonest subjects at all of the Red Sea Diving Safari Camps, but it takes a shot like this to really show them above the average.
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.
