31Days
10Hours
52Minutes
48Seconds
What?
The Underwater Photo Marathon is an online based competition. The participants of the annual competition need to send their photos in a given time period to the organizer. After the time window expires a jury of experts elects the winners.
Who?
Submissions are accepted from photographers worldwide, as long as they're taken with a digital camera. All are welcome to enter the competition, amateurs and professionals alike.
How?
The photos have to be submitted through the official www.uwphotomarathon.com website. The results will be posted on the same website upon jury's decision. The award ceremony will follow at the Underwater Photo Marathon exhibition opening, and the best photos will also be displayed virtually.
Why?
Because we are a young and enthusiastic team from the diving club "Roniti se mora", focused on the goal to improve the cultural offerings of the city of Zagreb, by providing a different perspective on photography. And why a marathon? Our ultimate goal is to display the best photos year round on an exhibition in various institutions in Zagreb as well as country wide, until the next competition which marks the beginning of a new cycle. That way the concept of underwater photography becomes available to a number of people of different backgrounds, which allows for it to continuously promote itself.
Categories
Macro
Photo that shows a surface less than 100 x 150 mm. Fish or any fish details like eye or fin does not qualify as a macro photo.
Wide Angle
A single image featuring a wide angle composition or taken with a wide angle lens should be submitted to this category. It may also include the diver/model/assistant in his measurement as reference to the environment.
Fish
To take photos of fish asks not only for good biological knowledge, but also for the instinct of a hunter, who exactly knows how his motive behaves and how close he can approach. Show us a variety of colours, amazing shapes or some stunning part of their everyday life. Fashion & Creativity
Non-wildlife focused underwater images of commercial, conceptual or fashion related subjects. Images can be shot in a pool or in the wild, but the primary subject should not be wildlife. Cave & Cavern
This category includes all photos showing caves or caverns Video
Any single VIDEO clip must be minimum 30 seconds and maximum 200 seconds in duration. At least 70% of the video must be shot underwater. The theme of the video clip is open and can be set according to the author’s choice.
Competition Rules
UWPM 2021 Rulebook EN
UWPM 2021 Pravilnik HR
Photo Judges
Wolfgang Poelzer
Wolfgang Poelzer, a well-known Austrian photographer, was born in 1969, in Hallein, Austria. Among many international awards, the ones he is most proud of are the 1998 and 2002 CMAS Underwater Photography World Championship gold medals in macro and wide-angle categories, and the 2000 Antibes Festival gold medal in black & white category. Since then, he has become a professional photographer, and today he works as a freelance journalist and photographer.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/wolfgang.poelzer
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/wolfgang_poelzer/
@wolfgang_poelzer
Francesco Pacienza
Francesco Pacienza, explorer of movement photography, was born in Cosenza on 13.04.1963. Initially he enrolled at the university but then left his studies to cultivate his true passion: Photography. He graduated from the prestigious European Institute of Design with a specialization in fashion photography and jewelry photography; he studied the light with the Director of photography, winner of 4 Oscar awards, Vittorio Storaro; and continues to teach photography through various means. Yet part of the beauty of his images cannot be memorized, studied or reproduced: they are pure magic. Countless are the awards received, as well as the exhibitions and publications that all over the world have paid tribute to his extraordinary production as a photographer. The skilful use of light makes his images unique. He has published some books on photographic techniques since 1992, from the Optical Bench to the basics of underwater photography. His latest publication is from 2019: „Behind the Lens” - advanced techniques of Underwater Photography, also in PDF and in English version.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/fpacienza
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/francescopacienza/
@francescopacienza
Noam Kortler
Noam Kortler, age 45, was born in Israel. He has been living in Eilat (Red Sea) since 1996 and is working as a diving instructor and Underwater photographer. In 2004, he opened his own dive center called „Nemo Divers“. In 2006, he won his first international underwater photography competition and throughout the years many more like the famous Festival Mondial De l'Image Sous-Marine in Antibes and the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year. In 2007, he presented for the first time in the world a special Photo exhibition which was placed in whole underwater. This special event named „Treasure of the Sea“ was running every year till 2013. In 2018, he became a Mares Ambassador. He is a Nikon Shooter and SEACAM distributor in Israel.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/noam.kortler
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nemodivers/
@nemodivers
Franco Banfi
Franco Banfi started a career as an underwater photographer 35 years ago and in 2000 quit his job to become a professional photographer, specialized in underwater and wildlife images. Recently he founded a company focused on running trips for micro-groups of enthusiasts, traveling to enjoy wildlife above and under the surface. Franco is an award-winning photographer (World Champion in underwater photography in Cuba) and he regularly gets top honors of the more prestigious international photo-competitions as Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY), Nature’s Best, International Photography Awards (IPA) and many others.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/franco.banfi.37
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/francobanfi/
@francobanfi
Goran Butajla
Goran Butajla is the editor and chief of the Croatian ScubaLife magazine, and an underwater photographer from Zagreb. Underwater photography has been his passion throughout his entire diving career. He has been diving for almost 30 years and is in the diving business for over 15 years, both as an instructor trainer and as a diving center owner in Croatia. He has travelled the world and visited most of the top diving destinations. His personal favorite diving spot is Jardines de la Reina in Cuba.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/goran.butajla
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/scubalife_magazin/
@scubalife_magazin
Damir Zurub
Damir Zurub was born in 1976, in Zagreb. In May 2015, he earned the title of the 15th CMAS World Champion in Underwater Photography. Damir emerged as the best all-round photographer, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in categories close-up, close-up with theme and wide-angle with model. He is an SSI diving instructor, the president of the “Roniti se mora” diving club, and he also established the Underwater Photo Marathon in 2013 and has been its chief organizer and director ever since.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/damir.zurub
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/damirzurub
@damirzurub
Video Judges
Damir Zurub
Damir Zurub was born in 1976, in Zagreb. In May 2015, he earned the title of the 15th CMAS World Champion in Underwater Photography. Damir emerged as the best all-round photographer, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in categories close-up, close-up with theme and wide-angle with model. He is an SSI diving instructor, the president of the “Roniti se mora” diving club, and he also established the Underwater Photo Marathon in 2013 and has been its chief organizer and director ever since.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/damir.zurub
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/damirzurub
@damirzurub
Pedro Vasconcelos
Pedro Augusto Vasconcelos was born on the island of Madeira on the 10th of March 1977, and has been in contact with the sea ever since. He started competing in underwater photography in 2007. He was vice-champion several times and had participated in 2 World Championships of Underwater Photography. He is responsible for the Underwater commission of photography in the Portuguese Federation. His passion is to capture all of life with his camera, both through photo and video, and to share it with others.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PedroFocusnatura
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/pedroavasco/
@pedroavasco
Matthias Lebo
Matthias Lebo is an award-winning underwater cinematographer based in Zurich, Switzerland. The Croatian born filmmaker spent most of his twenties travelling the world – primarily Australia, South East Asia and Europe – working as a Scuba Diving Instructor, intensifying his love and appreciation for the ocean. Matthias believes that fish are friends, not food and his dream is a world where fish can stay where they belong, in the water, and don’t end up on our plates. In 2014, Matthias founded a small film production company named „Liquid Images“ in Zurich, which he has been running ever since.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/matthias.lebo
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/matthiaslebo_uwfilm/
@matthiaslebo_uwfilm
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