Epson Red Sea 2010 Live Daily Reports

The first day of the competition, which is the registration day, is always the most optimistic one for all. Your strobe didn’t fail yet, your schedule seems perfectly reasonable and you still believe that you’re the only one aware of the Frog Fish at the wreck. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and you’re going home with a prize worth $25,000. You’ve gotta love this day!

Today, underwater photographers from all over the world have started arriving at the diving center, registering to the competition, mingling around with their colleagues, preparing their gear and carrying out some initial dives in order to get familiarized with the area. Professional and amateur photographers arrived from Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Argentina, Israel, Netherlands and more, all hoping to go back home with (at least) one prize.

The newly announced category, “Underwater Fashion & Nudity”, has definitely introduced some color and interest to the scene. In addition to divers, huge camera housings and reporters, the diving center is now full with beautiful ladies, walking around with their robes, fashionable outfits or swimsuits and state-of-the-art make up. It sure seems like it’s going to be a stimulating competition!

I decided to dedicate this day for the purpose of producing the Epson Red Sea 2010 theme image, integrating interesting elements from the new categories introduced, that is – naked women. The vision was three naked women standing behind an Epson Red Sea banner on the Satil Wreck, wearing nothing but high heels. It was important to pick a very qualified team for this mission, which required complicated synchronization. Hagar Cohen, Tal Idan and Shelly Ben-Shabat were chosen as the models, thanks to their remarkable water skills and due to the fact that they live and breathe the sea for a living. Assistant divers were Michel Braunstein, Amit Summer-Galai and Paula Faiferman, which are very experienced in such scenes. Underwater, we were 7 divers coordinating composition, timing and poses, as well as solving unexpected problems, which was a huge challenge for all, especially due to the fact that 3 of them had no mask on. Imagine the methods required in order to have 3 basically blind models stop their breath at the same time, while coordinating with their air providers and photographer!

However, it was a great experience and thanks to the tolerance, amazing skills and remarkable teamwork of the models and assistant divers, the vision was fulfilled.

In the evening, all participants met at the Yam-Suf Hotel convention hall for an official opening of the competition, in which they were briefed regarding the different regulations of the competition, as well as provided with helpful tips and recommendations. “Take only pictures, leave only bubbles”, as Boaz Samorai, representative of the Manta Diving center, stated in his presentation.

Tomorrow the shoot-out begins, although officially, photographers can begin taking images starting from tonight at midnight. One of the photographers will be going home with a prize worth $25,000, while other winners will be awarded with large checks, exciting diving trips, expensive diving gear, underwater photo equipment and more. Some definitely good reasons to gear up and dive at midnight…

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