WAUPS Novice Portfolio Competition 2016 Judging
We were honoured to be asked by the Western Australian Underwater Photographic Society to be the judges for their annual Novice Portfolio competition this year. We have judged many competitions over the years and we have to say that this was one of the hardest ones to pick a winner. Each contestant submitted a strong portfolio with a lot of great shots that really stood out. What we liked about the entries was the large variety of images from dive sites in Australia, Indonesia, Fiji, and beyond. There were plenty of warm water images as well as a few cold water ones to add a bit of spice to the collections. What is the mark of a good competition is that the judges have to spend a long time discussing the particular images and what the pros and cons of each entry is. Luca and Mike spent a long time discussing each and every entry in order to declare a winner. We really had a hard time differentiating a clear winner as all of the portfolios were very strong. Basically, it came down to just one or two images in each entry that separated the winner from 7th place (there were 7 entries). Congratulations to the winner Emma Burdett for your strong portfolio featuring a series of wonderful “blue” inspired imagery.
Please check out the full field of winners and all of the entrants at the WAUPS Novice Portfolio post that can be found here.
Congratulations to all of you for a great set of images and for making our job of judging the competition so difficult. With a strong collection from the Novice competition, we can’t wait to see the results of their Open Portfolio competition in February. If you are based in the Perth area be sure to contact WAUPS and get involved with a great group of underwater photographers.
