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Belgian
Underwater Festival 1987
by
Jenny George
Reproduced
from in focus 26 (Feb/Mar.
1988)
A
spectator's view of the judging.
During
the weekend of 21/22 November 1987, judging of the prints,
colour slides, audiovisuals and films. which had been entered
in the Belgium underwater photographic festival, took place
in Gent, Belgium.
David
had been asked to be one of the international group of Judges
for the audiovisuals. prints and slides on the Saturday. We
' skimmed' across the Channel on the late afternoon Jetfoil
on Friday and were met at Ostend by BSoUP member Vic Verlinden
and his girlfriend Agnes, who took us to Antwerp
On
Saturday we drove to the Dolphins clubhouse in Gent, where
the judging took place. What British Sub-Aqua Club has a place
like this, solely to themselves - bar, comfortable seating
etc., etc.
Judging
began at 13.00 with the audiovisuals, which were presented
to the judges by the competitors. Lots of people were 'milling
around', including a nervous Mike Wong (BSoUP) who had flown
over to show his first ever A/V in the Advanced Section. The
Saturday jury consisted of David George (U. K. ), one Dutch
underwater photographer and five Belgians. They were given
a long table at the centre of the room and were continually
supplied with good Belgian coffee. They were to need it!
Seven
A/Vs were submitted in the Beginner's section and although
the changeovers' were fairly fast, this section seemed to
go on for ever. Most of the A/Vs were far too long (20 minutes
+), and it was a real pleasure to suddenly be confronted with
a short snappy A/V called 'Blue Monday' by Frank de Bode (Belgium),
This A/V had an excellent beginning and some good shots of
Mediterranean underwater life, At about 16.00 the judges retired,
refurbished by yet more coffee, to decide the medal winners.
During
the break more people appeared and so did a large four-projector
setup with gargantuan speakers. Mike Wong looked awestruck
and even more nervous! There were 8 A/Vs in the Advanced section,
including two by Mike Wong, The competition began with the
four-projector A/V submitted by a Belgian - the beginning
was good and although there were some excellent shots of a
model underwater with Maldives' marine life, the A/V was spoiled
for me by not having the two images merging well on the screen.
I am used to Martin Edge and Jim Eldridge's superb multiprojector
productions I suppose! The next A/V was an Italian entry which
used a computer pulsing system. Unfortunately this proved
impossible to run, although we saw the pictures, the sound
was missing. An A/V on the Maldives followed (popular place)
and then it was Mike Wong's turn. He was using Viv Verlinden's
equipment and all went well. The first A/V, on underwater
life around the Amirantes Islands, was good, but the second
called 'Underwater World' caught everyone's attention with
its really good images and choice of music, The only criticism
I had (if I dare) is that the ending needed to be stronger,
but I felt it must be in the running for a medal - a really
good A/V.
Two
A/Vs concerned with freshwater life followed - one exploring
a lake near Antwerp Docks and the other by a Dutch underwater
photographer, Angelika Honsbeek, on life in Austrian lakes,
This A/V had some very artistic pictures of water weeds (reminiscent
of the Warren Williams collection), but there were too many
land-shots for it to be considered as a medal winner. The
last A/V was 'Absolute Beginner' by Vic Verlinden, which won
a Silver medal at Brighton '87. A strong contender for a medal,
I thought, with its good beginning, interesting fades and
excellent Red Sea pictures.
The
judges retired again and the competitors left - it was now
about 19.00 (phew) and still the prints and slides to look
at. Supper was served for the judges and 'hangers-on' (like
me and Mike Wong, who was staying with Jos Audenaard, one
of the judges). A large selection of French cheeses appeared,
superb bread, lots of red wine, coffee and the melt-in-the-mouth
Belgian chocolates.
The
Prints were then laid out under special large spotlights.
There were three categories - Black & White, Colour and
Creative. As usual the Black & White class had very few
prints. During the Judging when prints were gradually removed
by the judges to leave only a final few, Mike Wong swears
that he saw David placing his prints on the unwanted pile!
Strict anonymity was observed - the judges having no idea
whose name was on the back of the prints. I remember two striking
prints (which actually won the gold and silver medals in the
colour class) of simple but artistic shots of water weeds
by the Dutch underwater photographer Willem Kolvoort.
Time
22.00. Only the slides to go! Each photographer had submitted
a sequence of three slides and there was macro and everything
else. Wouldn't take long I thought until I realized that there
were about 170 entries! I settled comfortably at the bar.
So did Mike Wong! All of the slides were projected once and
then a second time, when the judges decided on the slide sequences
to be retained. The projectionist did a fantastic job and
all went like clockwork, The procedure was repeated and by
01.30 about six sequences were left in each category. These
sequences were then placed on a light box and the Judges voted
for their top three. By 02.30 the medal winners were decided
and the judges (looking bleary-eyed) had finished. (The 1986
record of a 02.00 finish was exceeded - and to think that
Peter Scoones, a judge in 1986, had complained).
It
was a long and enjoyable day, night and early morning and
the Belgians are to congratulated on their organisation and
hospitality, The festival was held in Antwerp on December
19th and there were some good prizes for the winners - holidays
on the Lady Jenny V in the Red Sea, in Yugoslavia and in Ireland
as well as a wealth of diving equipment. David has judged
the festival twice now (in 1985 & 1987) and we are always
made to feel so welcome. Unfortunately we were unable to get
to the festival this time, but we hear that it was a great
success.
Some
Results.- MIKE WONG won the Gold Medal in the Advanced A/V
Section, with Belgian, BSoUP member, Vic VERLINDEN taking
the Silver Medal. FRANK de BODE won the Gold Medal in the
Beginner's A/V section, VIC VERLINDEN won the Silver Medal
in the Slide Sequence (Macro) Category and MIKE WONG won the
Silver Medal in the Slide Sequence (Open) Category.
Well
done! Let's have a large British entry next time which will
be in November 1989. From now on the Festival is going to
be every two years, as its getting more difficult to organize
every time.
Reproduced
from in focus 26 (Feb/Mar.
1988) |
