NEWS - Emirates Diving Association

UW PHOTOGRAPHY
EDA DIGITAL ONLINE 2010 RESULTS
Feature MARCELO MARIOZI – photo@emiratesdiving.com
DIGITAL ONLINE
It is that time of year again and we are very proud to give you this year’s Digital Online Underwater Photography
Competition results. But before you skip to the results we need to make good use of your attention and fill you in on
all the details that were behind this year’s event.
The official results were given on the 24 th of June at the EDA Gala Dinner in the Emirates Towers – Godolphin
Ballroom where the prizes were presented by EDA’s Project Manager, Reema Al Abbas. Without EDA’s support,
this dream of mine would not have been possible and I would also like to thank Ibrahim Al Zu’bi, EDA’s Executive
Director and EDA’s Board of Directors for their continued support.
This year’s jury members made up a smaller group than that of last year’s jury panel, but is made up of very
experienced and most importantly, almost all members of the jury are very experienced underwater photographers
with extensive experience in judging images and most importantly, judging them in the CMAS World Championships.
These are some of the best in the world, brought to you by EDA.
Reema Al Abbas
Reema is a UAE national educated in London’s
prestigious Chelsea College of Art & Design,
she immersed herself in the study of fine
art, design and marketing by London’s finest
tutors and has participated in numerous group
exhibitions, showcasing her paintings and has
had several private viewings of her work. Her
creativity is obvious as colours and textures
excite her and her keen eye sees everything
as an artistic composition. The rich marine life
she encounters whilst diving, inspires many of
her paintings.
Marcelo Mariozi
Brazilian underwater photo instructor, has
competed and organized underwater photo
contests for over a decade, he has been to
two World Championships and participated
in workshops with the CMAS Audio Video
Commission. He is the captain of the Brazilian
Underwater Photo Team and is the voluntary
EDA Photography Coordinator and recently
won the Time Out Dubai 2010 Photo Contest.
www.uwphoto.ae
Luiz Fernando Cassino
Biologist, Dive and Underwater Photography
Instructor, underwater photographer since
1997, 5-time Brazilian Underwater Photo
Champion having conquered 4 category topten
in World Championships, and was top-ten
general in Spain Underwater Photo World
Championship in 2005. He is one of the few
photographers with the recognition of being
sponsored by Nikon.
www.nikonbrasil.com.br/noticia2.htm
Vasco Pinhol
This Portuguese photographer has held the
highest accolades in international events, he is
now an Official CMAS Judge on underwater
photo competitions, a good friend of mine and
an inspiration.
www.slowimage.com
couple of years, to include wide-angle, wreck
and deep-ocean-life to his areas of expertise.
Artistic expression and simplistic compositions
are trademarks of his photography. Many of
his images are represented by several image
agencies as well as his own agency Espen
Rekdal Photography. He is the current CMAS
World Champion and holds a style and
technique that only few can.
www.espenrekdal.com
WIDE ANGLE | THIRD PLACE
MARC VILORIA
On the event itself, I am very proud of how
everyone did, from the 3 judges present in
last year’s event it came to a common verdict:
although we had fewer images this year, it was
much better as we had better quality images and
it proved a bit more challenging for us to vote,
which is also very good. We had 8 contestants
against last year’s 13, and again, no one won
more than one category and the overall results
proved a very competitive event.
Espen Rekdal
This young Norwegian is a natural history
photographer, videographer, writer and
marine biologist, specialized in underwater
stills photography. Though his extreme macro
work has been a speciality in the past, he has
branched out quite considerably over the past
WIDE ANGLE | FIRST PLACE
Ahmed El Gouza
44 EMIRATES DIVING ASSOCIATION, SEPTEMBER 2010 SEPTEMBER 2010, EMIRATES DIVING ASSOCIATION 45