The recent Pure Grenada Dive Fest event, which showcased the reef and wreck diving – not to mention the marine life – that Grenada and Carriacou are famed for, also included an underwater photography competition.
Scuba Diver Editor in Chief Mark Evans sat on the judging panel together with Lexan Medford-Fletcher from Budget Marine and Ria Murray from the Grenada Tourism Authority, and there were four categories.
- Best Reef Photo
- Best Wreck Photo
- Best Macro Photo
- Best Photograph Taken by a Pro Photographer/Pro Diver
The competition was sponsored by Grenada Tourism Authority, Budget Marine, Scuba Diver magazine, Reef to Ridge, Tropical Seas/Scuba Radio, and Sea Safe Sun Care.
Running alongside this underwater photography competition was a social media drive which gave members of the public the opportunity to vote for their favourite photograph taken during Dive Fest. Camille Kaufman’s winning image of the arrow crab – which also took first place in the Macro Category – was the chosen shot, and she got a two-night stay at a luxurious Sandals Resort of her choice.
Best Reef Photo
All three judges were blown away by the rich colours in the sleepy parrotfish dozing on the reef, taken by Dawn Seddon, and this earned her first place.
Kelly Udelsman’s image of a trumpetfish and sergeant majors around a point of coral nabbed her second place.
Best Wreck photo
Kelly Udelsman went one better in this category, and her shot of a green moray nestled in the Veronica L wreck got her the first place spot.
Debbie Blake took second place for her black-and-white ‘through the porthole’ image of divers on a wreck.
Best Macro Photo
Camille Kaufman took first place with her colourful shot of an arrow crab tucked inside a purple vase sponge.
Dawn Seddon was in second place in this category, with a great shot of a frogfish, complete with a little crab in the foreground. This was the closest category and there was not much separating the two.
Best Photograph Taken By A Pro Photographer or Pro Diver
Keen photographer Diane Martino from Lumbadive Dive Centre on Carriacou won first place with her atmospheric shot of a barracuda, while Keone Drew from Eco Dive on Grenada got second place with his black-and-white shot of the Veronica L shipwreck.
