We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for December 2023 has been chosen. Congratulations to Giulia Mereu with her photo "Symbiosis".
Giulia wins a free stay at the RSDS village of her choice. You can view the winning photo, and all the December 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 Giulia, and good luck to all those participating in the coming months!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge:
Somewhat tired and worn out, I open my computer early in 2024 and peruse the entries for the closing month of last year. I’m tired and worn out as I’ve started out on my journey to get fitter and shed some of the excess kilos I’ve managed to add in the previous fortnights excessive eating and drinking, and so I’ve just got back inside from todays long walk with our friends dog Buster.
I’m sure a lot of you are also in the early stages of getting fitter for the diving year ahead, and it is important to be at least fit enough to make the short walk from the dive shade at Marsa Shagra or Nakari laden with dive kit, and possibly a camera or two, into the inviting water. Being less out of breath and more flexible and stronger makes the whole procedure much more enjoyable. However dragging myself out for a daily long walk under the grey Yorkshire skies, potentially laden with rain or snow, is a bit of a chore to be entirely honest, although Buster appreciates it, and I reward myself with a cup of tea and a ginger biscuit.
But I owe it to my legions of adoring fans to be indistinguishable from Jason Momoa as Aquaman come the summer time. And if you’d like to check if I'm telling the truth about this you could do much worse than join me for some fun in the summer sun at Marsa Nakari in June when I’ll be conducting a photo workshop alongside Sarah O’Gorman or the Slug Queen as she’s come to be known. She’s much appreciated for having amazing skills at finding the more weird and wonderful macro life that inhabits the reefs of the Red Sea, and I’m very glad she’s onboard to give me a welcome helping hand at Nakari from the 15th to the 20th June this year. There’ll be a link to Fotofest 24 after my words for this months entries.
Which brings me to this end of the year choices nicely, and coincidentally macro photography was a big theme for Decembers pics.
Marine life behaviour is always a popular subject for underwater photographers, and there’s some interesting submissions from this months shortlist.
And so I was drawn to Dirk Van Winkels pair of Octopus and also his Peppered Moray. Catching Octopus courtship is always a treat as at certain times of the year the males literally chance their arms for the potential of securing that their genetics are the ones chosen for the next generation, and the pair that Dirk has captured are displaying contrasting colours and shapes during the process, his Moray is also nicely composed and he's taken the shot at the more opportune moment with it’s mouth agape.
I’d also like to mention the beautiful fish portrait of the Picasso Trigger Fish that Peggy Mosch has captured, nice dynamic angle, and plain non distracting background has made this an uncommon shot of a very common resident to the Red Sea, difficult to get facing towards the camera too, even though they're a very regular sight.
A good background can make or break a macro shot and the two that first caught my gaze were Johann Magnusson’s tiny crab against a simple uncluttered backdrop of its corally home, simple and well executed.
The other shot I really really liked though is Giulia Mereu’s tight composition of a Periclemines Shrimp, and ultimately it was my final choice as winner for December last year. Not only is it a great composition, but for those that are aware it’s living it’s life in a symbiotic relationship riding the skirts of a Spanish Dancer Nudibranch, which is making the colourful background to this shot. Lot’s of Spanish Dancers, which if you didn't know are one of the largest nudibranchs, carry these characters camouflaged in the folds of their bodies, they're a regular sight on night dives, but you have to look closely if you're to glimpse a shrimp, which are often exactly the same colour or very similar to the colour of their host. So technically, and artistically it’s a wonderful image, but it also shows a keen observance of behaviour so very well done to Giulia for our end of year winner.
And as promised here’s the link to more details about the Fotofest 2024 Underwater Photography Workshop this summer at Marsa Nakari.
