posted by Sharon Rainis on 2009/11/10
Epson Red Sea 2009
Day 2 (November 10th)
Although the event officially started yesterday, which was a registration day, today was the first day in which photographers were allowed to take images that can be submitted to the competition. Over 100 participants geared up, put their wetsuits on, (carefully) wished each other good luck and entered the water for as long as their tanks or decompression limits allowed.
Naturally, since each day begins at midnight, and since photographers have only 3 days to capture their award-winning images, many of them started to gear up at 11:30 pm the night before, and carried out their first Epson Red Sea dive at midnight. Even though I am already familiar with this phenomenon of divers rushing into the water at midnight with their huge cameras, I was still amazed this year. At 4:30 am, when walking into the dive center in order to upload my daily report, I still found (extremely motivated) divers gearing up for another dive. And there I was, thinking that sleep is essential for one’s existence, while others have already figured it all out- sleep is luxury!
Although the atmosphere is extraordinary and everybody is having a good time, competitiveness is obviously an inseparable part of this event, at least till the moment images are finally submitted by all photographers. It turns out that even sharing your failure or success to capture winning images so far is sometimes only a matter of politics. Those who promote their successful images, hope to scare off their competitors, while those who downgrade their results, hope to grant their competitors with a feeling that they do not have to work too hard in order to win the prize. This way or another, the beauty about the Epson Red Sea event is that every day at 5 pm, when the Happy Hour beings and beer starts to flow, the truth is always revealed…
If you take a look underwater, you see over 100 photographers swimming around, examining every living creature and deciding how much of a “model potential” it embodies. However, there are 10 photographers out there that are probably ignoring anything that doesn’t look, sound and smell like a Red Grouper. These are the photographers taking part in the “Fish of the Year” category. They were chosen through an earlier national competition to represent their country at the “Fish of the Year” category, in which all participants are requested to submit a portfolio of the Red Grouper. The photographer that manages to submit the most creative and impressive portfolio of the Red Grouper, will be announced on Saturday as the winner of this category. Makes you feel like going down and handing out a lipstick to any Red Grouper you encounter, or maybe better- a pair of sunglasses to help them out with the flashes.
Today I also got the chance to accompany one of the photographers participating at the Video Clip category, Eytan Nadel. Eytan chose to combine between the beauty of the Red Sea and an exciting love story in his video clip, making use of the underwater scenery as an enhancer of feelings. Although all scenes were carefully planned ahead, there is nothing certain about the underwater world, and during the process, Eytan, who is an experienced diver and a former diving instructor, learned a few more things about fish. For example, the fact that they are so amazingly attracted to rings, that they almost always end up swallowing them. The first ring taken underwater simply disappeared after a few shots, which was considered to be a mystery, till the second time. The next ring he had bought and brought underwater was practically filmed being taken in by a fish. At this point, Eytan decided that he will have to settle with whatever scenes he managed to take with the ring up until then, since as weird as it might sound, fish might not be able to digest this scene!
Tomorrow is the second day of the Eilat Shoot-Out. Although the mission is clear and the tension is rising, I like it when somebody suddenly stops everything, wears a big smile and proudly states: “I’m here for the sake of the experience of it!”. Yes, even if it’s not 100% true…
Naturally, since each day begins at midnight, and since photographers have only 3 days to capture their award-winning images, many of them started to gear up at 11:30 pm the night before, and carried out their first Epson Red Sea dive at midnight. Even though I am already familiar with this phenomenon of divers rushing into the water at midnight with their huge cameras, I was still amazed this year. At 4:30 am, when walking into the dive center in order to upload my daily report, I still found (extremely motivated) divers gearing up for another dive. And there I was, thinking that sleep is essential for one’s existence, while others have already figured it all out- sleep is luxury!Although the atmosphere is extraordinary and everybody is having a good time, competitiveness is obviously an inseparable part of this event, at least till the moment images are finally submitted by all photographers. It turns out that even sharing your failure or success to capture winning images so far is sometimes only a matter of politics. Those who promote their successful images, hope to scare off their competitors, while those who downgrade their results, hope to grant their competitors with a feeling that they do not have to work too hard in order to win the prize. This way or another, the beauty about the Epson Red Sea event is that every day at 5 pm, when the Happy Hour beings and beer starts to flow, the truth is always revealed…
If you take a look underwater, you see over 100 photographers swimming around, examining every living creature and deciding how much of a “model potential” it embodies. However, there are 10 photographers out there that are probably ignoring anything that doesn’t look, sound and smell like a Red Grouper. These are the photographers taking part in the “Fish of the Year” category. They were chosen through an earlier national competition to represent their country at the “Fish of the Year” category, in which all participants are requested to submit a portfolio of the Red Grouper. The photographer that manages to submit the most creative and impressive portfolio of the Red Grouper, will be announced on Saturday as the winner of this category. Makes you feel like going down and handing out a lipstick to any Red Grouper you encounter, or maybe better- a pair of sunglasses to help them out with the flashes.
Today I also got the chance to accompany one of the photographers participating at the Video Clip category, Eytan Nadel. Eytan chose to combine between the beauty of the Red Sea and an exciting love story in his video clip, making use of the underwater scenery as an enhancer of feelings. Although all scenes were carefully planned ahead, there is nothing certain about the underwater world, and during the process, Eytan, who is an experienced diver and a former diving instructor, learned a few more things about fish. For example, the fact that they are so amazingly attracted to rings, that they almost always end up swallowing them. The first ring taken underwater simply disappeared after a few shots, which was considered to be a mystery, till the second time. The next ring he had bought and brought underwater was practically filmed being taken in by a fish. At this point, Eytan decided that he will have to settle with whatever scenes he managed to take with the ring up until then, since as weird as it might sound, fish might not be able to digest this scene!
Tomorrow is the second day of the Eilat Shoot-Out. Although the mission is clear and the tension is rising, I like it when somebody suddenly stops everything, wears a big smile and proudly states: “I’m here for the sake of the experience of it!”. Yes, even if it’s not 100% true…
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posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 2011/03/16
I suddenly feel like I’m developing a severe cold and experiencing some weakness… And then again, with such prizes are hanging in the balance, suddenly everything seems reasonable and all efforts become worthwhile.
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posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 2011/03/16
As someone who has previously made her models cope with temperatures much lower than these, I should probably feel obligated to meet this challenge, but somehow I suddenly feel like I’m developing a severe cold and experiencing some weakness… And then again, with such prizes are hanging in the balance, suddenly everything seems reasonable and all efforts become worthwhile.
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posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 2011/11/01
very useful post. I like it.It gives me lots of pleasure and power.
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posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 2011/12/10
