Underwater Photography Competitions 2015

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for anyone entering a competition in 2015 and for those who are considering the idea, read on, there are plenty out there. Let us showcase a few ideas and inspire you to enter. Who knows we could have a potential winner!

It was great to have the Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) competition back in the UK with the images and prizes presented by Alex Mustard on stage at the recent London International Dive Show. Winning, highly commended and shortlisted entries were on display in the PhotoZone and we sincerely hope you got a good look at some amazing images.

With over 2500 entries from 40 countries around the world, there was plenty of competition and exceptional quality of images according to the judges Alex Mustard, Martin Edge and Peter Rowlands who spent endless hours selecting the award winners.

The UPY competition features eight categories covering a broad spectrum of photographic opportunities including macro, wide-angle, wrecks and marine life behaviour. Our congratulations to all the winners, we’ve spent our lunch breaks looking at and discussing some fantastic images and look forward to the 2016 event!

Midnight Sun 2015

New to our portfolio of destinations is Iceland, the land of fire and ice and home to the inaugural underwater photography competition, ‘Midnight Sun’. There’s nothing quite like the midnight sun in Iceland. For a few days of the year there is 24 hours of daylight. It’s a great time to be outdoors, go diving and capture unique moments as the sun lowers itself, painting the sky with vivid colours and rises again without ever setting.

The competition is open to experienced divers from around the world who want to celebrate the beauty of Nordic light and be a part of the ultimate planetary event of the summer. The competition will be held in Silfra fissure from midnight until six in the morning, incredible and unique!

Anyone interested in booking a dive trip to Iceland and entering the competition should get in touch with our Dive team.

British & Irish Underwater Photography Championship (BIUPC)

For those of you who prefer to dive in UK waters there’s a 24 hour photography challenge ahead. The British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSOUP) launches a new contest in September which is open to images taken on any type of camera that is or can be waterproofed; we envisage a lot of selfies from smartphones! The competition is open to entries taken at any site in the UK or Ireland for 24 hours from 22.00 on 4 September 2015. Good luck!

World Shootout Competition 

The underwater photography grand prix is a global competition and open to everyone, from 01 January to 01 November 2015. You will need to register online and there are some amazing prizes up for grabs. Take part by diving in familiar waters or when you’re on your holiday in exotic dive destinations such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Micronesia or the Solomon Islands.

Categories include destination, wide-angle, macro, sharks and wrecks.

Develop your photography skills

Exciting times, but perhaps you need to hone your skills or learn a little more about what it takes to be a half decent underwater photographer and seriously consider entering some of these great competitions?

This autumn, our friend and acclaimed photographer Jane Morgan is running a workshop in Bali, Indonesia. An award winning underwater photographer and photo-journalist, Jane's work has been widely published in the UK diving press and national newspapers.

The trip includes expert photographic guidance, unlimited shore diving on the Scuba Seraya house reef to allow you to practice and develop your skills, six boat dives around Tulamben and three dives on a day trip to Nusa Lembongan and Penida, an area renowned for encounters with the elusive oceanic sunfish (mola mola) at this time of year. It's a great time to visit!

Join Jane Morgan in Bali, departing the UK on 04 September. Price from £1,975 per person.

Discounts are available for BSOUP and BSAC members. Spaces are limited and it’s proving a popular holiday choice! Contact our Dive team to book your spot on this tropical adventure to the heart of the Coral Triangle.

Here at Dive Worldwide we enjoy our practising our underwater photography and recommend some amazing destinations around the world where you can capture all kinds of marine life from tiny critters to majestic mantas on your digital cameras.

We hope you have plenty of success developing your underwater photography skills and remember to share with us via email or on Facebook. Thank you!