130 photographers from 27 countries
7 Judges
3 photography days
over 80,000$ estimated prize value
Thousands of great images
2 fines for harmful behavior towards the natural reef

On the surface, this event could have been perfect, but I have left the competition with mixed feeling. On one hand the whole event was composed of five days filled with great dives and experiences, social evenings and lots of learning.
On the other hand, the competition which has officially stated that preserving the natural environment is not only a core issue, but also part of the rules and regulations- did not disqualify two photographers which were clearly to blame with blunt disrespect to the natural environment they feed their images from.

On the issue of underwater photography and preserving the natural environment I will detail further in an specific article. Until then, here are some of my own photos from the Epson red sea 2008.

The full list of the Epson red sea 2008 winners and their photos can be found at the Digideep website.

With a total of exactly 180 minutes underwater today (3 separate dives), I did not manage to produce and serious contenders to this competition. The level is really at its highest ever, and the presence of the photographers is well noticed in and out of the water.

As through the day people still arrived to Eilat, the serious work really begins tomorrow as well as the official opening event.

Another interesting category opened is the “atmosphere” series. This is an optional series consisting of 10 images showing the city of Eilat, the sponsoring hotel and “behind the scenes” of the competition. Attending to this category requires both times and a bit of a “mental switch” as there is a need to move back to a 2 dimensional world and have people as objects.

With not much more to add, I’ll sign off with one of the ultimate models of the red sea- a clown fish.

On 2005 I’ve participated in the first competition, back then rather small with about 70 photographers, and did much better then expected.
2006 was not very successful on my side, and while planning to attend the 2007 event, I eventually had to call it off due to work.

For the 2008 Epson red sea underwater photography competition I have arrived as ready as can be- armed with my old and dependable Olympus C-8080 and a matching PT-023 underwater case, as well as a good friend as my dive buddy.
This is still a challenge which is in principle over my skills, as I registered for the professional category facing around 150 underwater photographer from Israel and all over the world, some definitely top level and highly experienced . From past lessons though, not only that the results can sometimes be surprising- this is simply the best underwater photography school you can ever find, and I still have much to learn.

Starting November 11th (tomorrow), I will keep daily updates with some impressions from the events- results will be published on Saturday evening, November 15th.

Check out The wide lens for daily updated and get more details at the official competition website.

Day 1 summary is here.