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INTRODUCTION
The
fifth World Championships of Underwater Photography took place
in South Korea from 24 September 1994 to I October. Photographers
from Australia, Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary,
Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Slovenia,
South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and the U.S.A. assembled
in Chejudo Island for the event.
Although
Les Kemp and Mark Webster had been selected to represent Britain,
Les had to withdraw at the last minute due to financial reasons.
The
Committee agreed to approach Mike Wong, Martin Edge and Brian
Pitkin (in that order) to ask if they would be willing to
participate. Due to other commitments both Mike Wong and Martin
Edge had to decline, so Brian Pitkin, with his wife Linda
as model, joined Mark and Suzanne Webster in Korea to complete
Britain's team.
The
Korean Underwater Federation sponsored all photographers whilst
in South Korea and offering reduced rates of $200 for each
model. BSoUP paid the competition entrance fees and two models
expenses whilst in South Korea. The BSAC also kindly donated
£300 to offset a part of the cost of getting the team
to flying the British team to Chejudo Island, South Korea.
CHEJUDO
Accommodation
on Chejudo Island was provided by the Cheju Prince Hotel at
Sogwipo on the south side of the island, about one hour's
drive from Cheju airport. The climate was subtropical and
extremely pleasant. The main crops on the south of the island
appeared to be citrus and pineapple. The hotel stands on top
of the cliffs overlooking the harbour and three small islands,
which were to be the competition sites.
The
first day of the event (Monday) was non-competitive. Photographers
were allowed to dive with their cameras on two of the seven
sites selected for the competition. The British team shared
their boat with the Australian team comprising Lance Adrian
with his model Vicki and team captain Graham and opted to
dive two of the reputedly better sites. These exploratory
dives were quite surprising. The marine life comprised an
amazing contrast of kelp and tropical fish! There was plenty
of macro life and lots of colourful soft corals and whip corals.
The visibility was reasonably good at up to ten metres, although
there was some plankton in evidence. There was an opportunity
to have the exposed films processed that evening, and most
competitors made the most of it.
That
evening the international group of photographers, their models,
team captains and the judges, organisers and sponsors were
treated to a gala dinner party where circular dining tables
had been set out on the lawn of the hotel. Following an excellent
meal washed down with wine, numerous dignitaries made welcoming
speeches and the judges were introduced. These comprised WALTER
TICHY, KURT AMSLER (Switzerland), BARRY ANDREWARTHA (Australia),
DAVID DOUBILET (U.S.A.), IN YOUNG KIM (Korea) and GORO TAKANO
(Japan)
THE
COMEPETITION
Day
two and day one of the competition began in earnest. Sites
had been selected by a draw, such that each photographer would
dive on each site (or pair of sites) for 2 - 21/2 hours (depending
on the site) twice, morning and afternoon. Each photographer
had six rolls of film to expose over the three days of the
event and had to submit two macro, two wide-angle and two
creative shots at the end of the third day of the competition
for judging. Each photographer and optional model was also
provided with six cylinders of air (two each day) plus an
emergency cylinder. A referee was appointed to each boat to
ensure that the competition rules were not breached by any
of the competitors. We (the British and the Australians) were
extremely lucky to have Jong-Geel Je, a senior research scientist
in the Biological Oceanography Division of the Korea Ocean
Research & Development Institute as their referee. A knowledgeable
and very friendly marine biologist studying molluscs, Je made
us all feel very welcome.
All
of the boats used for the competition were fishing boats,
normally part of the 100-strong squid fleet leaving port nightly.
Ours was the largest and, so it was claimed by the proud skipper,
the fastest in the fleet, having just a had a new engine fitted.
There was ample room on deck for the two teams and their cameras
and diving equipment.
At
the end of the day exposed films were handed in for processing,
one returned late that night, the other(s) early next morning,
so their was plenty of time to see the results of our first
day before committing ourselves on the second day.
The
second day of the competition was, in contrast to the first
two days, very poor. A typhoon had struck southern Japan and
threatened to move across the East Sea to South Korea. The
sky was a dull grey and the sea choppy. The scheduled dive
sites were out the question. After several meetings of all
the participants and some organisers, permission was finally
given for the boats to leave harbour for a limited number
of sheltered sites inshore. This reminded me of a breezy day
at Plymouth! There were plenty of small fish to photograph
but there was also plenty of plankton and silt in the water!
Although films were handed in for processing, none of the
competitors were optimistic about their results.
Day
three of the competition was much better weather-wise. The
scheduled sites were dived and the last of our frames exposed
before returning to relax and await the return of the last
rolls of processed film.
THE
AWARDS
The
closing dinner and awards ceremony was a grand affair, held
once again on the hotel lawn. After a splendid buffet style
meal, the two photographs in each of the three categories
of the top ten photographers were shown in reverse order.
Following the announcements, the winners were presented with
their awards, and each of the remaining top ten photographers
in each category presented with a certificate.
The
World Champion was Frederic di Meglio from France, who won
the Gold Medal in the Macro category, the Special Prize of
the Jury in the Wide-angle category and Creative category.
Second place went to Claudio Bertasini (Italy). The Italians
won the Team category, with the French in second place. MARK
WEBSTER achieved fifth place in the Creative Category and
BRIAN PITKIN achieved fifth place in the Macro category.
The
event was well organised and very enjoyable, with plenty of
opportunity to meet and discuss underwater photography with
the other competitors and judges.
Mark
Webster and Brian Pitkin will be giving an illustrated talk
on the World Championships at the December meeting of BSoUP.
Duplicate slides of all the winning entries will be shown.
RESULTS
TEAM
CATEGORY
WORLD
CHAMPIONS: Andrea Giulianini & Claudio Bertasini (Italy)
VICE CHAMPIONS: Marc Debatty & Fr6ddric di Meglio (France)
SPECIAL PRIZE: Vladimir Menchikov & Vladimir Goudzev (Russia)
INDIVIDUAL
CATEGORIES
WORLD
CHAMPION: Frederic di Meglio (France)
VICE CHAMPION: Claudio Bertasini (Italy)
MACRO
CATEGORY
Gold
Medal Frederic di Meglio (France); Silver Medal Sunghwan Lee
(S. Korea); Bronze Medal Dieter Disch (Germany); Special Prize
Xavier Safont (Spain) Brian Pitkin (Britain) Claudio Bertasini
(Italy) Jose Luis Gonzales (Spain) Steve Rosenberg (U.S.A.)
Leif G. Hjelm (Sweden) SunMyung Lee (S. Korea)
WIDE-ANGLE
CATEGORY
Gold
Medal Claudio Bertasini (Italy); Silver Medal Jose Luis Gonzales
(Spain); Bronze Medal Andrea Giulianini (Italy); Special Prize
Frederic di Meglio Dieter Disch (Germany) SunMyung Lee (S.
Korea) Vladimir Menchikov (Russia) Per Eide (Norway) Marc
Debatty Xavier Safont (Spain)
CREATIVE
CATEGORY
Gold
Medal Marc Debatty (France); Silver Medal Jose Luis Gonzales
(Spain); Bronze Medal Alcides Falanghe (Brazil); Special Prize
Frederic di Meglio (France) Mark Webster (Britain) Andrea
Giulianini (Italy) Claudio Bertasini (Italy) Claus Kimmig
(Germany) Philippe Luk (Hong Kong) SunMyung Lee (S. Korea)
Reproduced
from in focus 53
(November 1994) |
