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The
DIVER Trophy and a cash prize of E50, donated by Bernard Eaton
editor of Diver magazine, plus a week's holiday for two in
Gozo, donated by Transair, were the prizes offered for the
best portfolio of six slides taken underwater anywhere in
the world by any photographer who had not previously won a
place in a national or international event.
The
competition, organised by the British Society of Underwater
Photographers, attracted a record number of 69 portfolios.
These were projected at the November meeting of the Society
using six projectors and the audience present invited to vote
for their favourites. The resulting fantastic slide show was
a testament to the undiminished enthusiasm and ability of
British underwater photographers, and most beginners can be
justly proud of their achievements. The high standard of many
of the entries left many of the non-beginners wondering how
they might have fared.
BOB
SOAMES from Essex took joint second place with Nigel Hancock.
Bob's portfolio included a red crab portrait, an angel fish
portrait, a flamingo tongue on a fan coral, a soft coral and
diver silhouette, and two double compositions - one combining
a xmas-tree worm and manta ray and the other combining a jack
and yellow coral.
NIGEL
HANCOCK, a student of Plymouth College of Art, included a
shoal of tuna, a diver amongst coral, a seaslug, a seascape,
soft coral and sweepers in his portfolio. Nigel took all his
shots on a trip to the Gulf of Eilat earlier this year using
Nikonos III, IV and V cameras with 35 mm and 20mm lenses,
1:2 extension tubes and Ikelite MS and 150 flashguns with
Fujichrome film.
The
winner, with an overwhelming lead, was DAVE MEATES from London.
Dave's portfolio included a potato cod with a diver on the
Great Barrier Reef, a seaslug in Byron Bay, New South Wales,
an anemone with clown fish on the Great Barrier Reef, a fish
swimming over a backlit seafan in Jervis Bay, New South Wales,
and two double compositions - one with xmas-tree worms and
a diver silhouette taken on the Great Barrier Reef and the
other a cuttlefish in Malaysia.
Dave
has been taking underwater photographs for just over 2 years.
He started using a Hanimax amphibious camera on a trip to
the Red Sea in July 1988, but progressed to a Nikonos V, which
he still uses for macro photography. He currently uses a Canon
in a Subal housing with either an Oceanic 2003 or Ikelite
MS flashguns and a slave. His winning pictures were taken
on a trip starting in Thailand on through Malaysia to Australia.
Dave
was presented with the DIVER trophy and hopes to take his
holiday in Gozo next November in order to compete in the Royal
Blue Dolphin Underwater Photographic Competition.
BSoUP
BEGINNERS PORTFOLIO COMPETITION |
