Category — Underwater Photography

It is with great pleasure that the Riviera Maya Dive Alliance announces the date of our second no entry fee* Xcuba Ha Photo Contest during the week of 4th – 11th of December 2010 in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Take Advantage of low airfares and the excelent exchange rate value for the Peso. Enjoy free learning experiences and workshops. Every participant is going to win a prize, guaranteed. We welcome novice photographers as much as we welcome professionals. Check out our free underwater photography workshops in the schedule section.

Enriched Air Nitrox is available on all dives for trained nitrox divers.

PADI & SSI Underwater Photography specialty training programs are available throughout the Xcuba Ha. PADI & SSI Instructors can get their Underwater Photography Specialty Instructor rating at the end of the event.

For more info visit the www.divingphotocontest.com web page.

Categories

Professional & Amateur all Digital

1- Wideangle

2- Macro

3- Cenote (Cavern and Cave)

4- Open with unrestricted post dive image manipulation

5- Novice

Special prize for best Lion fish shot !.

Schedule of the Educational Xcuba Ha Photo Event

-December 4th: Arrival day with evening Inauguration of the event week with a wine and cheese event, inscription for the week to come, presentation of organizers, etc.

-December 5th: General Underwater Photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 with workshop pool session starting at 11:00 until afternoon covering basics in underwater photography.

-December 6th: Macro u/w photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 with workshop dive at 11:00. Diving activities until afternoon.

-December 7th: Wideangle u/w photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 with workshop dive at 11:00. Diving activities until afternoon.

-December 8th: Cavern – Low Viz – Limited Light u/w photography workshop by Len Bucko 8:30 – 9:30 workshop dive at 11:00. Diving activities until afternoon.

-December 9th: Cozumel reef diving day starting at 8:30 with great photo oportunities at the Island of Cozumel.

-December 10th: Pto. Morelos wreck diving day starting at 8:30 with great photo oportunities at the Pto. Morelos artificial wreck.

-December 11th: Deadline for image submitting December 11th 9:00 am. Optional diving activities in the morning, optinal land photography in Playa del Carmen (the images from this day cannot be submitted for awards). Closing ceremonie, BBQ dinner and awards presentation will be in the evening.

Rules

1. Registration deadline for participants is December 4^th 9pm. All images must be entered to the judges no later than December 10th 9:00 am.

2. The Riviera Maya Underwater Photo Contest is open to all photographers. Eligible photos have to be taken on a guided tour of the RMDA during the event by the person who submitted the entry to the event.

3. No pool or aquarium shots will be accepted. No still images from video cameras are allowed.

4. Ownership and copyright of all entries remain with the photographer and a model release must be obtained (if appropriate) Riviera Maya Divers Alliance reserves the right to publish the winning photos without compensation for educational purposes, in brochures or for future contest promotion. The winning photographs may also be printed and used as promotional material for future events. Credit will be given to all photographers.

5. Contestants are limited to 7 entrees for 5 days, 6 entrees for 4 days, 4 entrees for 3 days, 2 entrees for 2 days and 1 entree for 1 day of contest participation. The photos must be submitted digitally on December 10th 9:00 am.

6. Digital post image manipulation is not allowed (e.g. photoshop.) in any category but the open catagory.

7. Winners will be announced and prizes given at the Awards dinner on the 10th of December 2009.

8. Entrance can only win one prize so in the event of multiple winnings the awards can be traded in if succesful in another category.

Conservation Rules

Marine animals should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Entries will first be screened by our judges. Entries exhibiting the following behavior will be placed out of contest.

1. Divers visibly damaging the environment (e.g. gear dragging or kicking up sand).

2. Animals with signs of stress (e.g. puffed puffers, inking octopus, animals in nets, cages or hooked on a line).

3. Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location.

4. Animals being fed artificial food from divers No feeding fish .

5. Delicate marine life being touched (e.g. coral polyps, seahorse tails). Marine life interaction has been (and always will be) good u/w photo subject matter but only when the marine life is not endangered e.g. holding a turtle.

6. Divers need to exhibit good buoyancy control to protect the marine environment and to minimize silt. Suggestions on weighting and trim techniques will be offered by the staff.

New Scuba Diving Photo Contest in the Riviera Maya

1^st Scuba Diving Photo Competition to include Ocean, Cavern and Cave Photography

August 15, 2009 Playa Del Carmen, Mexico The Riviera Maya Divers Alliance announced the first free entry recreational and technical Scuba Diving Photo Contest in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico during the week of December 5^th to 12, 2009, which includes photos opportunities in the Yucatan Caves, Caverns and on the second largest barrier reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Reef.

“This new scuba photo contest is designed to celebrate the diversity of diving in the Riviera Maya, a diving location that has access to land and ocean diving.  There is not another photo contest in the world that offers such a variety of diving and photo opportunities.” Stated the organizers David Tomlinson, Lothar Batt and Andreas W. Matthes ‘Matt’ from the Riviera Maya Divers Alliance.

The Riviera Maya Underwater Photo Contest is an international annual scuba diving event designed to encourage and expand scuba divers underwater photography skills. Divers from around the world are invited to Playa del Carmen to participate in a memorable week-long experience that includes diving, social events and workshops that culminate in the presentation of winning photos and an awards ceremony.  Local businesses and Scuba Diver suppliers are supporting this unique event with giveaways, information sessions and presentations as a means to promote this extraordinary opportunity that has never been done anywhere else in the world.  International Judges will be selecting the winners of the contest on December 11^th at the final ceremony and contest dinner.

The Riviera Maya, located south of Cancun and includes the Caribbean cities of  Puerto Morelos, Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, is fortunate to have land dive sites in the underwater caves and caverns and ocean sites along the second largest barrier reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Reef,  that stretches over 700 kms from Cancun to Honduras.

The Riviera Maya Divers Alliance is a network of dive centers that promote quality diving in the Riviera Maya through events and diving promotions in order to foster the Diving community.  Abyss Dive Center, Tank Ha Dive Center and Protect Dive Center joined forces in May 2009 to execute this vision to divers internationally who are interested in recreational and technical diving.

Media Contact
Andreas W. Matthes ‘Matt’
(984) 876-2506

www.divingphotocontest.com
contestrivieramaya@gmail.com