We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for September2024 has been chosen. Congratulations to Ian Winter with his photo "Curious Wrasse".
Ian 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 Ian, and good luck to all those participating in the coming months!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge:
“I really loved Justin Marquez classic wide angle shot of a Lionfish over the reef, cleverly framed to block out the sun and juxtaposed with a twisted Whip Coral.
And in any other month it would have been a close contender, however we’ve got some other top line captures that took my eye immediately.
Nice shot of Monty one of the new Divemasters here at RSDS and he’s been positioned nicely by Krista Dronkert. He's alongside one of the water inlet pipes at Ras Tondoba, one of our favourite locations out of Marsa Nakari which earned a few visits on the last Fotofest in June this year, such was it’s draw of both macro and wide angle opportunities, it even has seagrass beds and we saw a couple of turtles, but there were signs of Dugongs here too, so it’ll be a must visit on next years Fotofest in June 2025.
Great topside sunset shot of a bird silhouette at Wadi Lahami by Ahmed Maharik, gorgeous.
However my two favourites this month are a whisker apart from each other, one an unusual but beautifully photographed behaviour shot, the other a very clean and simple but dramatic fish portrait.
I keep going back and forth between them as I’m struggling to decide.
We’ve got Ian Winter’s Curious Wrasse with it’s head face on and perfectly exposed and its body curved away and fading into the inky black background.
and then we’ve got a beautiful, and colourful Jellyfish picture by Esther Ravesloot which has been raised above the norm by the inclusion of a fish sheltering inside it’s bell and tentacles, this is a behaviour that you often see tiny juvenile Snapper do, but rarely one this size, add to this the fact that it’s reflected in the calm surface waters and it’s a big competitor to Ian’s Wrasse.
If I could I’d declare a tie, but despite the drama and sheer unusual nature of Esther’s pic I think I’m going to have to come down on the side of Ian’s Wrasse this time, exactly because of it’s stark simplicity.
Well done Ian and commiserations to Esther it was a very difficult choice”
Duxy has been running photo workshops in Marsa Shagra & Marsa Nakari for the few years. These workshops are designed for camera users of all experience levels, with any type of underwater camera. Join our Fotofest in June 2025
