The third NUPG open print competition proved a great success at The Great Northern Dive Show 2018. The stand was really busy throughout the two days of the show with many of the visitors stopping to admire the 56 entries in the competition.

Overall Winner: The Car Wash Cenote, Tulum, Mexico by Elaine White

The overall winner and runner-up were chosen by a judging panel consisting of our prize sponsors, Gary from Fleet Dive and Clare from Dutton Divers with expert guidance from Ellen Culyaerts, a freelance professional underwater and wildlife photographer who currently lives and works on Grand Cayman but was visiting the show to give a talk and kindly agreed to assist with the judging.

This beautiful image of Lilies with trees above taken in The Car Wash Cenote, Tulum, Mexico was chosen as the Overall Winner and the photographer was Elaine White.  The more you look at this image the more you see; she has used Snell’s window to great effect, the reflections and colours of the lilies, water and trees are mesmerising. Elaine won a dive package donated by Fleet Dive based in Costa Brava, Spain. Elaine also topped the British & Irish Macro category with her portrait of a shrimp.

British & Irish Wide Angle Winner: Seal in Sunbeams by Kirsty Andrews

This great image of a seal in the sunbeams taken by Kirsty Andrews was chosen as the overall runner-up and the British and Irish winner. Again the light and sunbeams add to the overall composition. Kirsty also won the British and Irish Wide Angle Category with this photo. Kirsty wins a Full Face Mask Try Dive at Vivian Quarry donated by Dutton Divers, so hopefully she can take advantage of this when she next comes diving around the coast of North Wales.

The public also had their chance to vote for their favourites and in all we received 2928 votes from 366 people that visited the show. The overall standard of the competition was high with a large spread of votes for all the images. There was not one image that did not receive a vote from someone although there were some firm favourites.

The results are as follows. Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up. All category winners receive a Shark Trust Adoption Certificate.

Overseas Wide Angle Winner: Red Cenote Car Wash by Tom. St George

Again Cenote Car Wash Tulum Mexico featured with Tom St. George from Mexico winning the Overseas Wide Angle category with this unusual Red Cenote, apparently the waters can sometimes turn this unusual colour after heavy rains. He took this shot with a mirrorless Olympus OMD-EM1 camera using an Olympus Pro Lens 7-14mm.

Overseas Close Up Winner: Seahorse by Caroline Robertson-Brown

Caroline Robertson-Brown won the Overseas Macro with this lovely shot of a seahorse showing how these sensitive creatures blend in with their surrounding environment.

British & Irish Macro – 1^st Elaine White – Shrimp, 2^nd Yo-Han Cha  – Tompot Blenny, 3^rd John Spencer – Sea Loch Anemone.

British and Irish Wide Angle – 1^st Kirsty Andrews – Seal in Sunbeams, 2^nd Will Clark – Feeding Basking Shark, 3^rd Mark Thomas – Grey Seal, Farnes Islands.

Overseas Macro – 1^st Caroline Robertson-Brown – Seahorse, 2^nd Justin Beevor – Mantis Shrimp with eggs, Equal 3^rd Amanda Gartmore – Clam mantle Equal 3^rd  John Spencer – Lionfish.

Overseas Wide Angle – 1^st Tom St. George –  Red Cenote Car Wash, Tulum Mexico, 2^nd Elaine White – Lilies in Cenote Car Wash, 3^rd Nick Robertson-Brown – Tiger Beach.

All the winners and runners-up images can be viewed in the NUPG 2018 Print Competition Gallery on the NUPG website.

NUPG members from the group were on hand to encourage people to vote, and also spend time discussing underwater photography and the work of the group with visitors. Maggie said: “Lots of interest was shown in our group and we hope to have gained some new members.”

British & Irish Close-Up Winner: Shrimp by Elaine White

NUPG Monthly meetings are currently held at 8pm on the 2^nd Monday of every month. Those wanting to join in earlier for a curry are welcome from around 6:15pm at The Ghurka Grill, Burton Road, Manchester.

Below is a taster of events currently planned over the next two months:

• 12^th March – Speaker – Alex Tattersall – “Confessions of an ex (critter) fiddler” – Competition Theme – Schooling
• 9^th April – Speaker – Josef Litt – “Galapagos” – Competition – Fish Faces
• 28^th April – Capernwray Dive Day

For more information about the Northern Underwater Photography Group please email info@nupg.org.uk or use the Contact Form or send a message on the NUPG Facebook group.