.jpg?BannerID=85)
|
| Our Sponsors |
     |
| |||||
Epson Red Sea 2010 Daily Coverage |
|||||
Written by: Sharon Rainis
Since decisions were especially difficult for the judges this year, on Saturday afternoon, the day in which the winning ceremony takes place, the jury panel was still struggling behind closed doors. I personally like it when the judges are having a hard time to make a call. It somehow gives me the feeling that the level of images submitted is especially high and that second place in any category could end up as the first one on another year with different competitors. Inspiring and frustrating at the same time, isn’t it…
At the winning ceremony, there were more visitors than I can ever recall. As a big fan of the Fashion & Nudity category, I couldn’t stop but thinking that this probably has to do with the newly introduced and sexy category, drawing lots of attention, media partners and crowd.
We opened the ceremony introducing Epson Red Sea Live Underwater Broadcasts carried out last September at the Photokina Fair, which also sponsored one of the prizes in the competition. We then moved on to the awards, starting with Images of the World and proceeding with Eilat Shoot-Out. The Images of the World section featured a new Sharks category, which Nicolas Barraque from France won with a series of 3 stunning images, each featuring a different shark species. Other winners in the section of Images of the World were from Italy, Sweden, Spain, Germany and USA.
The Eilat Shoot-Out section introduced a new Fashion & Nudity category, which had a significant presence during the week (after all, no one ignores a woman wearing nothing but scuba gear, lipstick and high heels). Although the category was a new one, photographers participating in it were no novices and the images submitted were absolutely breathtaking. Eventually, Marc Hillesheim from Germany won the category with a series of 5 images you simply cannot take your eyes off (says the straight writer). However, prior to announcing the winner of the category, Alberto Muro Pelliconi, one of the judges, surprised everyone as he came up on stage and announced a prize for the winning model. Earlier that day, when reviewing the images submitted to this category, Alberto felt deeply impressed with the work of the models and decided that the best one is entitled for a prize as well, regardless of whether the photographer she worked with had won the first prize. He chose Ellie Biel from Israel as the winner, who modeled for Marc Hillesheim, and granted her with a beautiful piece of jewelry he has created himself. Hopefully spending 20 hours naked underwater, freezing and shivering, breathless and with no ability of seeing what’s going on around, finally turned out worthwhile…
Another surprise awaited Tobias Friedrich from Germany, who found himself called up on stage 3 times during that evening, thereby breaking the record of Epson Red Sea competitions! Tobi managed to win 3 categories this year: Best Wrecks of the World, Fish of the Year and the Mayor’s Prize. All together, he collected $7,000 that evening, which is not bad for someone who competed in the Amateur’s category only a year ago (go Tobi!!). Earlier that day, Tobi promised that if he ends up winning any of the prizes, he will be jumping to the pool with his clothes on as soon as the winning ceremony concludes. Now that I can’t seem to recall anything like that happening, I have a clear vision of how the opening ceremony of the Epson Red Sea 2011 will look like…
The largest prize for the Eilat Shoot-Out 5 Best Images was awarded to Mark Fuller from Israel, who introduced a very unique, creative and diverse portfolio. Mark has won a $10,000 check in addition to a three-week diving trip in Papua New Guinea for two, including airfare.
And now to the biggest and most shocking surprise of them all! Starting from next year, Epson Red Sea is opening the borders, allowing underwater photographers to participate in the Shoot-Out category anywhere in Jordan, Israel or Egypt’s Red Sea. This means that you can choose whether you would like to stay in Eilat during the shoot-out, or to dive from Jordan’s or Egypt’s red sea coasts. Furthermore, you can also choose to hop between the countries during the shoot-out. Underwater photographers staying in Jordan or Egypt during the shoot-out will be able to submit their images at the border. Either way, all participants will be taking their shoot-out competition images during the same days and submitting them at the same final date and time. So on November 2011, the whole Red Sea is going to be one large underwater photography studio for Epson Red Sea participants. Although you can’t hear them, know that drums and violins are playing in the background as you read this! For Epson Red Sea 2010 nominees and winners, please Click Here (link soon available). And last, I would like to personally thank all of Epson Red Sea participants for such an incredibly fun, interesting and inspiring week. As I’ve embedded in the “Make Of” video (see Day 5), YOU all are Epson Red Sea. Corny, yet so true.
Day 5 The day in which participants make their (fatal) choices and submit the selected images to the jury panel is perhaps the most stressful of all. However, since this is the 4th Eilat Red Sea competition I’ve been covering, I guess I should take into consideration that this might be the 4th Eilat Red Sea coverage you’re reading, and should therefore probably avoid going into details with respect to the importance of selecting images, the challenge introduced, the stress, the excitement, the teamwork and the regrets one will always suffer from, no matter how much time and energies were invested in this process… So instead, and also taking into consideration the fact that most of my readers are probably much more keen of visual rather than text, I prepared a surprise for you, with the massive assistance of editor Yigal Alexander.
Day 4 The last day of the shoot-out is a stressful one for all photographers, as it is the final opportunity to carry out essential corrections in the selection of images or videos submitted. A few photographers even ended up creating their portfolio all from the beginning today! It's so difficult being a perfectionist...
Some are required to cope with the regular challenges expected in a shoot-out, such as a tight timeframe, unexpected bad visibility, equipment failure and plugged ears. Others, such as Shiran Valk, participating at the Fashion & Nudity and Video Clip categories, found themselves dealing with challenges that are somewhat more original. Shiran planned to shoot a video that introduces the point of view of a fish as it is being hunted by a fisherman, making use of a spear gun. For the purpose of the video, Shiran issued ahead authorizations from the Nature & Park Authority to enter the water with a spear gun (for his model) and to make use of red food coloring (for the purpose of visualizing a bleeding fish). However, Marine Park Authority inspectors weren’t all informed of this special authorization and kept making him exit the water even before he got to put his mask in. Eventually, after spending so much precious time on gearing up and going back to the diving center empty handed, Shiran got his own private inspector to accompany him during the dive, ensuring that nobody makes him exit the water again before he gets all of his shots complete. I bet that next year he will arrive with a plan that involves nothing that might upset anyone in the whole country…
Today I joined Patrick Neumann from Germany, participating in the Fashion & Nudity category, and his model - Shelly Ben-Shabat, on one of their dives. When I asked Patrick, who participates in many underwater photo competitions, what he thinks to be doing differently this year, he said that this year, he finally came with an organized plan. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear somebody saying “organized plan”, I immediately think he’s referring to the fact that for a change, he came up with a few nice ideas ahead and perhaps even arrived with the dresses created back home. But then, when I asked Patrick regarding the time that will be best for him to host me on his dive, he hesitated and then opened a notebook that consisted of an extremely organized, detailed schedule. “You can come at 14:15”, he said.
Tomorrow, by 10 am, all photographers will be submitting their images. Sure, they are obligated to stop diving at midnight, but they will then be required to review all of their images and select the best within the different categories. Based on the fact that many of them have spent more time underwater rather than on land during the past 3 days, I’m positive that many of them will be skipping the night. Sleepless in Eilat.
Day 3 The second day of the Eilat Shoot-Out competition began with lots of excitement. It turns out that at the south shores of Eilat, pretty much at the middle of the marine park and at a depth of only 6 meters, a group of Lion Fish has been spotted during what seemed to be a late breakfast. Now, on any regular day, a Lion Fish with its mouth wide open is a wonderful subject for an award winning image. The fact that the Lion Fish has been crowned as the “Fish of the Year” of the Epson Red Sea 2010 and serves as the only subject for photographers participating in this category, makes this event an even more attractive, desirable and exciting one. And so, those feeding Lion Fish have become the talk of the morning. Well, you’ve gotta admit, it’s better than politics!
Today, the tension was a little bit higher than yesterday. The thing is that if at the first day of your shoot-out something goes wrong, and you don’t end up with any images which you believe are worthwhile to be submitted to the competition, you still have most of the time left for improving yourself. However, the expectations grow higher on the second day, as you know you’ve got to start delivering. For this reason, almost all photographers I spoke with today were busy with calculating the number of potentially-award-winning images they seem to have captured up until now. Of course the number quoted is always followed by a clear, honest and modest statement regarding the fact that they’re only here for the sake of the experience. It became almost fashionable to refer to a $25,000 prize as an “added value”…
But there’s another reason for this high tension. You see, during the past 4 years, there were only 2 photographers collecting the largest prize of the competition for the Eilat Shoot-Out 5 Best Images category, a $10,000 check plus a trip for two to Papua New Guinea including airfare. By now, each of them has already won this category twice, and therefore, according to competition rules, they cannot participate in this category any longer. This, of course, clears off the spot for someone else to win this prize, and the only (minor) question remaining is- who will that new photographer be?
In most cases, I would have had a guess, but this time, I must admit – I have no clue. It’s just that the standards have become so high. So far, I’ve seen so many extraordinarily creative, unique and outstanding images created by the participants, that I can only state one thing for sure. I don’t envy the judges!
And back to pretty naked ladies. One of the photographers I’ve accompanied today was Marc Hillesheim, who arrived from Germany to participate in the Underwater Fashion & Nudity category. Marc has much experience in this field, but producing 5 amazing images within 3 days and without using any editing programs is a challenge even for the most professional and equipped photographer. Marc’s beautiful model is Ellie Biel from Israel, who enters the water a few times a day, wearing the original dresses Marc’s friend, a fashion designer, has especially made for this event. A short video clip featuring their work today-
In the afternoon, the Happy Hour made everyone, well, very happy, and it was followed by the official opening of the competition at the Underwater Observatory Marine Park, where the Mayor of Eilat, Mr. Meir Yitzhak-Halevi, greeted all the photographers and wished them good luck. Judging by the amount of food and alcohol consumed during this event, I can only assume the number of photographers who actually made it for a night dive tonight was especially low. But then again, tomorrow is the last day of the shoot-out, so I wouldn’t bet my life on it…
Day 2 The tricky thing about competition shoot-outs is that you can never really predict and control all the factors. You can plan ahead all of the images you would like to carry out and submit to the competition, but in most cases, a photographer participating in a shoot-out is required to be flexible and creative enough in order to adjust his plan according to the circumstances. This is obvious when it comes to those who have decided to take wonderful shark images at the shoot-out, as you are probably more likely to encounter a flying barracuda at the shores of the Red Sea in Eilat. However, surprises and challenges are also awaiting photographers with the most realistic plan. Today, for instance, although it was quite warm in Eilat, there was almost no sun visible. Therefore, underwater photographers who have planned to make use of a nice and shiny sun ball within their compositions had to reschedule their shots. Or simply go for plan B (full moon?).
Speaking of “Fish of the Year”, all photographers participating in this category were assigned to shoot a portfolio of 5 images featuring the Lion Fish. Although in such a case, you would expect quite a repetitive selection of images, I must admit I was overwhelmed by the diversity of Lion Fish images I’ve been shown today. It seems that most photographers have realized that it’s not enough to produce fine, well exposed and perfectly composed images of this fish, but that they are also required to be creative in order to introduce the Lion Fish within a different, unique and outstanding manner. Then again, although the Red Sea is usually loaded with Lion Fish, I’ve heard quite a few photographers today complaining about the relatively low number of Lion Fish found in the water these days. But of course, if you were a Lion Fish hearing about a whole category named after you, wouldn’t have you immediately made use of your magician-disappearance capabilities??
The presence of the new “Fashion & Nudity” category was very significant today as well. Most of the photographers participating in this category have planned their images way ahead and designed remarkable, colorful and sexy outfits especially for this event, which makes the diving center look so much more appealing.
One of the competitors I met today was Oren Lederman from Israel, who’s working with an experienced model named Tal Idan, featured at the short video clip below:
And boy did I miss those Happy Hours at the end of each day! Well, basically, 5 o’clock pm shouldn’t be considered the end of the day, but it kind of ends up like that after 6 glasses of wine, vodka and beer. Calm music at the background, a variety of drinks and photographers finally tempted to take a short break in order to consume something else rather than compressed air.
There’s such a great atmosphere during those happy hours, that for a short while, it seems like the most difficult decision you have to make in life is whether to drink wine or vodka. Then, someone usually says something about a prize worth $25,000, and before you know it- you and your lens are underwater again… The first day of the competition, which is the registration day, is always the most optimistic one for all. Your strobe didn’t fail yet, your schedule seems perfectly reasonable and you still believe that you’re the only one aware of the Frog Fish at the wreck. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and you’re going home with a prize worth $25,000. You’ve gotta love this day! Today, underwater photographers from all over the world have started arriving at the diving center, registering to the competition, mingling around with their colleagues, preparing their gear and carrying out some initial dives in order to get familiarized with the area. Professional and amateur photographers arrived from Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Argentina, Israel, Netherlands and more, all hoping to go back home with (at least) one prize. The newly announced category, “Underwater Fashion & Nudity”, has definitely introduced some color and interest to the scene. In addition to divers, huge camera housings and reporters, the diving center is now full with beautiful ladies, walking around with their robes, fashionable outfits or swimsuits and state-of-the-art make up. It sure seems like it’s going to be a stimulating competition!
I decided to dedicate this day for the purpose of producing the Epson Red Sea 2010 theme image, integrating interesting elements from the new categories introduced, that is – naked women. The vision was three naked women standing behind an Epson Red Sea banner on the Satil Wreck, wearing nothing but high heels. It was important to pick a very qualified team for this mission, which required complicated synchronization. Hagar Cohen, Tal Idan and Shelly Ben-Shabat were chosen as the models, thanks to their remarkable water skills and due to the fact that they live and breathe the sea for a living. Assistant divers were Michel Braunstein, Amit Summer-Galai and Paula Faiferman, which are very experienced in such scenes. Underwater, we were 7 divers coordinating composition, timing and poses, as well as solving unexpected problems, which was a huge challenge for all, especially due to the fact that 3 of them had no mask on. Imagine the methods required in order to have 3 basically blind models stop their breath at the same time, while coordinating with their air providers and photographer!
However, it was a great experience and thanks to the tolerance, amazing skills and remarkable teamwork of the models and assistant divers, the vision was fulfilled.
In the evening, all participants met at the Yam-Suf Hotel convention hall for an official opening of the competition, in which they were briefed regarding the different regulations of the competition, as well as provided with helpful tips and recommendations. “Take only pictures, leave only bubbles”, as Boaz Samorai, representative of the Manta Diving center, stated in his presentation.
Tomorrow the shoot-out begins, although officially, photographers can begin taking images starting from tonight at midnight. One of the photographers will be going home with a prize worth $25,000, while other winners will be awarded with large checks, exciting diving trips, expensive diving gear, underwater photo equipment and more. Some definitely good reasons to gear up and dive at midnight… |
|||||
|
|||||
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
