We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for September 2022 has been chosen. Congratulations to Romeo Bodolai with his photo "Peaceful cow".
Romeo wins a free stay at the RSDS village of his choice. You can view the winning photo, and all the September 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 Romeo, and good luck to all those participating in the coming months!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge and special guest judge Graham:
Very interesting selection of pictures this month, and weirdly coincidental that the two favourite pictures of mine and my special guest judge Graham from Snorkel Venture were both at the location these pictures were taken at only yesterday.
We’re both out here at Marsa Shagra with a big group of snorkelers and we took advantage of a trip out in the Zodiacs to hopefully see the Dugongs or maybe a big green turtle or two. We were in luck and everyone who we took along there got up close and personal with the Dugong, and then we saw some lovely big turtles at Abu Dabab.
So without further ado here’s the final words from Graham Reynolds my colleague from Snorkel Venture a great company that I’ve done lots of trips with recently.
“Our trip out to Abu Dabab was an incredible experience - I feel especially lucky as this is my first time in Egypt and I am being absolutely spoiled by amazing snorkelling spots and marine life. As a Tour Consultant for Snorkel Venture, I am extremely lucky to be able to visit some incredible places around the world. Egypt has been on my list for many years and our visit to Marsa Shagra has been truly wonderful.
When we set out from Marsa Shagra I knew that we stood a good chance of seeing at least 1 of our intended subjects, but it wasn’t log until we encountered the Dugong - a bucket list animal for many of guests, there was sheer joy when the eager eyed crew spotted it under the surface.
The image from Romeo is an excellent representation of this majestic animal. I really like the lighting illuminating the subjects body and drawing the viewers eye over the various markings. The pilot fish is a lovely contrast in colour to the grey body and the icing on the cake is the snorkeler in the top right corner, which gives excellent perspective to the size of the Dugong as well as the depth it has been taken at. For me, this image was a clear winner.
When we moved off to the reef, we were lucky enough to encounter many Green Sea Turtles feasting on the grassy areas before the reef. Unperturbed by our presence we observed from the surface and enjoyed some very shallow free diving as the gorgeous giants rested and grazed. I’ve seen many Green Sea Turtles, especially around the reefs of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia - but these were huge!
Fabien's image is a beautiful capture of a turtle munching on an upside down jelly fish. A great action shot, the only thing that swayed me away from this to the Dugong was the slight coolness in the tones of the shell and perhaps a little too much dead space in the top pf the image - it would benefit from another element in the scene to breakup the space, such as a diver or even better, a Snorkel Venture guest enjoying another amazing adventure!"
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.
