UNDER THE SEA
Underwater cameras capture natures’ best
FROM massive whales to minute sea anemones and all the under-the-ocean technicolour in between.
That’s the world captured by underwater photographers from around South Africa who competed in the Durban Undersea Club 2016 Shoot Out, and the winners have just been announced.
DUC’s Bryan Hart said that for the first time international judges chose the winners and there were two international entries for the competition, which was dominated by Cape Town photographers.
Photographs submitted could be taken anywhere along the South African coastline, from Mozambique to the cold Cape waters.
“The competition provides a platform for underwater photographers to showcase their favourite dive sites and can include shots from deep wrecks to shallow rock pools, Coelacanths, shark diving, pristine coral reefs and their inhabitants and even the inland waters of Southern Africa.
“As the biggest and oldest water sports club in Southern Africa, we had some fantastic sponsors and there was such a variety of entries from 4m cow sharks to forest kelp,” said Hart.
He added that Sodwana remained renowned for good dive sites, plus there were a number of unusual sites along the coast such as the Blue Water Dive which is a 30km dive for blue sharks.
“From catching sight of Coelacanths in Sodwana to jumping into the water with sharks during the Sardine Run, there are some radical dives out there,” said Hart.
He added that the number of underwater photographers and divers from Gauteng had declined, which could be attributed to the high cost of getting down to the coast for the weekend,
Overall winner for the competition Kate Jonker from Gordon’s Bay in the Cape, said her winning picture of a Klip Fish had been taken off Simonstown.
Diversity
“The challenge is to capture the beauty in the sea and I have to say I’m useless at taking photographs on land. Gordon’s Bay also has a great diversity in marine life,” said Jonker.
The winner of the advanced category, marine conservation photographer, Jean Tresfon from Cape Town, described his subject the Ragged Tooth Shark as “looking pretty fearsome, but is actually quite shy.”
“Life under the ocean is out of sight, out of mind for most people. I want to bring the wonder of the oceans into the public consciousness,” said Tresfon.
First place winner for the intermediate category, David Welch, who took a macro shot of a crab in Justin’s Caves, just off Oudekraal, below the 12 Apostles, said his winning picture had been taken on an evening dive.
“The Cape Town waters are cold, but if you persevere you can get some great shots,” he said.
Winning novice, Craig Hurn took his photograph at a depth of 18m off False Bay.
“The water visibility was great. The fans were just beautiful and the trump card was the little fish who swam in front of them,” said Hurn.
The stunning picture of the tiny seahorse taken in Sodwana took second place for Alexander Kock from Parow, who said Sodwana was one of his favourite dive sites.