Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest Announces 5th Annual Winners

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Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest Announces 5th Annual Winners

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The prestigious Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, has announced the 2015 winners. This year’s Ocean Art Competition attracted a very high caliber of photos, representing entrants from over 50 countries.

The Best of Show was a spectacular photo of a larval stage eel photographed at night in 4,000 feet of water off the coast of Hawaii. This larval eel truly looks like an alien invader from outer space, and has only been photographed a handful of times before. Other outstanding images include some out-of-this-world fish and marine life shots, rarely seen underwater behavior, cute portraits, dreamy scenes in the conceptual category, sharks, whales and some dramatic moments between humans and marine life. Thousands of entries were viewed by the judges before the final set of amazing images were selected and deemed some of the best underwater photos in the world.

Ocean Art 2015 judges included prestigious underwater photographers Tony Wu, Martin Edge, and Marty Snyderman, accompanied by Underwater Photography Guide publisher Scott Gietler.

Ocean Art is one of the most prestigious underwater photography competitions worldwide and may have the largest prize purse of any single underwater photo competition.

Over $70,000 of prizes will be awarded to 75 underwater photographers, highlighted by an Indonesia liveaboard trip on the S.M.Y. Ondina, a 7 night dive package at Misool Eco Resort in Indonesia, a 7 night Solomon Islands liveaboard trip with Bilikiki Cruises, an 8 night combo dive package on the MV FeBrina and Walindi Plantation Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 7 night liveaboard trip on the S/Y Fiji Siren, a 10 night dive package at Lissenung Island Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 7 night dive package at Tawali Resort in Papua New Guinea, a 7 night dive package at Atmosphere Resort & Spa in the Philippines, a 4 night dive package at Villa Markisa in Bali, Indonesia, and a variety of gift certificates from Bluewater Photo.

Premium travel prizes are provided by Anthony’s Key Resort (Roatan), VoliVoli Beach Resort (Fiji), Atlantis Dive Resort (Philippines), Aiyanar Beach and Dive Resort (Philippines), Paradise Taveuni (Fiji), Wananavu Beach Resort (Fiji), Crystal Blue Resort (Philippines), Alor Divers (Indonesia), El Galleon Beach Resort (Philippines), Aquamarine Diving and the Watergarden Hotel (Indonesia), Maluku Divers (Indonesia), Eco Divers Lembeh (Indonesia), Nautilus Explorer/Belle Amie (Mexico), Blackbeard’s Cruises (Bahamas), Siladen Resort & Spa (Indonesia), Scuba Club Cozumel (Mexico), Scuba Seraya (Indonesia), and premier scuba travel agency Bluewater Travel. Premium gear prizes are provided by Bluewater Photo, SEA&SEA, Ikelite, ReefNet SubSee, Ultralight Control Systems, and Light & Motion.

Several winners are recognized in each of 15 categories, including wide-angle, macro, portrait, behavior, novice DSLR, nudibranchs, supermacro, cold water, pool and conceptual, plus 3 compact camera and 3 mirrorless camera categories.

The quality of image submissions was incredible, making judging very difficult but ensuring the prestige of the Ocean Art Competition. Bluewater Photo and Travel owner and Underwater Photography Guide publisher, Scott Gietler said, “The caliber of photos in Ocean Art this year was amazing, and the judges had to make some very difficult decisions when evaluating photos in the contest. The winning photos were submitted from oceans and freshwater around the world by many talented underwater photographers. Congratulations to all the winners.”

Winning photos can be seen on the Underwater Photography Guide at http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/2015-ocean-art-contest-winners