Underwater News

Culver City, California - We are excited to announce the winners of the 5th Annual SoCal Shootout. With excellent conditions, our highest number of participants and overall great photographers this year we had an intense competition with some really fantastic entries. In the end, the best in show prize went to Brook Peterson with a stunning sea lion behavior shot. Ben Hofilena and Christopher Borel took first place in the Open Wide and Mirrorless Wide Angle categories respectively with colorful, fish filled photos from our local Oil Rigs.

Our new categories for this year, Mirrorless Wide Angle and Mirrorless Macro were extremely successful with many entries showcasing the beauty of the California waters. In addition we continued to have a strong video competition with Todd Kortte taking first place in our edited video category with his stunning edit of bait-fish schooling among the oil rigs.

Compact shooters continued to amaze with incredible kelp forest scenes from Compact Wide winner Ty Oliver, and Compact Macro winner Michal Ross.

See below for the full list of winners, all winning photos can be found at : http://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/2015-socal-shootout-results

The 5th Annual SoCal Shootout weekend took place September 18th-20th, 2015 with participants shooting all over the Southern California waters.

Entries were judged by professional underwater photographers Mark Strickland, Andy Sallmon and Bluewater Photo owner Scott Gietler.

Over $20,000 in prizes are being awarded to the winners with top sponsors offering a housing from Aquatica Digital, strobes from Sea & Sea and a lighting package from iTorch. We had several local trip prizes from sponsor Channel Islands Dive Adventures. Bluewater Travel will be organizing the winner's trips from our international sponsors. These included the Rocio del Mar liveaboard, Aiyanar Beach & Diving Resort in the Philippines, the Cortez Club & La Concha in La Paz, and Maluku Divers in Indonesia. A full list of sponsors can be located at http://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/socal-shootout#sponsors

About the SoCal Shootout

The SoCal Shootout is an annual photography competition where some of Southern California?s most active underwater photographers strive to capture the best possible photos over a three day period. Major editing is not allowed, so the competition truly tests a photographer's ability to capture stunning imagery in-camera. Bluewater Photo, Southern California?s only dedicated underwater photography center, sponsors the event along with many top underwater photography and scuba brands, international resorts and local dive boats ? all of which are excited to support the Californian scuba diving community.

Winners:

Best in Show : Brook Peterson

Photos' Category

Open Wide Angle :
First Place: Ben Hofilena
Second Place: Adam Martin
Third Place: Jim Argonick
Honorable Mention: Nayan Savla
Honorable Mention: Jim Argonick

Open Macro :
First Place: Helen Brierley
Second Place: Christopher Borel
Third Place: Brook Peterson
Honorable Mention: Craig Hoover
Honorable Mention: Craig Hoover

Open Behavior :
First Place: Brook Peterson
Second Place: Nayan Savla
Third Place: Sandra Dildine
Fourth Place: Brook Peterson
Honorable Mention: Erik Lucas
Honorable Mention: Steve Fitzpatrick

Open Portrait :
First Place: Cindy Shaw
Second Place: Craig Hoover
Third Place (tie): Tiffany Poon
Third Place (tie): Desmond Ho
Honorable Mention: Adam King
Honorable Mention: Joseph Jenkins

Mirrorless Wide Angle :
First Place: Christopher Borel
Second Place: Christopher Borel
Third Place: Kelly Teich
Honorable Mention: Renee Capozzola
Honorable Mention: Mark Judd

Mirrorless Macro :
First Place: Desmond Ho
Second Place: Bruce Sudweeks
Third Place: Melvin Moncrieff
Honorable Mention: Patrick Smith
Honorable Mention: Melvin Moncrieff

Compact Wide Angle :
First Place: Ty Oliver
Second Place: Ashley Lewis
Third Place: David Guth
Honorable Mention: Renee Capozzola
Honorable Mention: Camilla Hall

Compact Macro :
First Place: Michal Ross
Second Place: Brian Herold
Third Place: Sandra Dildine
Honorable Mention: David Guth
Honorable Mention: Sandra Dildine

Videos' Category

Edited Video :
First Place: Todd Kortte
Second Place: Daniel McGanty
Third Place: Robert Arnold

Unedited Video :
First Place: Andre Labuda
Second Place: Daniel McGanty
Third Place: Hank Kratzer
Honorable Mention: Richard Hofmann
Honorable Mention: Vanessa Homyak