DiveFilm.com producer Mary Lynn Price attended the 2007 World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Antibes, France for five days of underwater films, photo exhibits, and slide shows. She saw firsthand the many prizes awarded to well-known Wetpixel members, in categories including films, stills, books, and websites.

She was also pleased to report seeing members who traveled to Antibes from ”at least five different countries,” but was also concerned about the message sent by the festival being held at a cetacean park named Marineland. (Wetpixel member Mark Thorpe pictured to the right)

Read her full review of the festival, which includes photos of attending Wetpixel members and the ceremony, and discuss the winning entries in the forums…

Eric Cheng, Matt Segal, Eli Woolery and Heidi Connal are off to DEMA to represent Wetpixel Quarterly and cover the show’s underwater photography and video products.  As usual, expect semi-live coverage here on the front page of Wetpixel.  Come visit us at booth #2449! (shared with DivePhotoGuide)

If you will be at DEMA and want to meet up, please contact Eric or come to the Wetpixel Happy Hour, which is scheduled for 8pm on Friday, November 2.

Congratulations to Wetpixel associate editor Alex Mustard for his Antibes win last weekend!  Alex’s new book, Reefs Revealed won the Prix Mondial Du Livre D’Image Sous-Marine (World Prize for Underwater Photo Book) at the Antibes Festival.  More about the book, from Alex:

All the images have extended natural history captions. Most of this info comes direct from the scientific literature. That said it is not all dry science - there is quite a bit of what I think in there too! The captions also include location and camera details and settings.

I’d also like to mention a couple of other issues I took initiative on with the book. First, I offset all the carbon dioxide emissions required for the air travel for the book. Global warming is probably the most serious threat to coral reefs - and as a lot of travel was required for this book this seemed like an appropriate decision...

Continue reading for more notes from Alex.

Everyone is back from the festival at Antibes, and coverage is starting to hit our forums.  Big wins for Alex Mustard, Mark Thorpe, Leandro Blanco, Danny Van Belle, and others were very exiting for the Wetpixel crowd.  Until we get a more formal write-up to post, the forum topic is a great place to see photos of people hanging out in the DivePhotoGuide / Wetpixel booth, which was converted into a hang-out space complete with free alcohol!

Our print publication, Wetpixel Quarterly, is now offering print sales of the beautiful images contained within its pages. 

Buy a print of Magnus Lundgren’s amazing cover image of an oceanic white-tip shark surrounded by pilotfish, or purchase images from Norbert Wu (whose portfolio we feature in WPQ#1) and Wetpixel staff.

Come photograph sharks in the Bahamas with Wetpixel aboard the M/V Shearwater!  Expedition dates are March 10-18, 2008.

March is a fantastic time for shark encounters in the Bahamas because the water temperature is a little colder than it is in the summer months. We’ll definitely see tiger sharks, lemon sharks, reef sharks, and will have a good chance of encounters with great hammerheads and bull sharks…

*UPDATE* Trip has tentatively booked full. Contact me to get on the waiting list.

Wetpixel members and viewers: please let us know if you will be at DEMA this year!  We’re planning on taking over the Rosen Centre Hotel’s Lobby Lounge Bar again this year on the evening of Friday, November 2, 2007.  Matt Segal, Eli Woolery, Heidi Connal, and I will be roaming around at DEMA covering the show. We’ll also be at the DivePhotoGuide booth (#2449) showing off our new magazine, Wetpixel Quarterly.

What: 2007 Wetpixel DEMA Happy Hour
When: Friday, November 2, 2007 at 8PM 8:15PM
Where: Just past the Lobby Lounge Bar at the Rosen Centre Hotel (on 9840 International Drive)—private nook 50-10 ft down the lobby

As usual, we will coerce various underwater photography organizations to pony up for a few rounds of free drinks.
[UPDATE] See photos from the happy hour.

Underwater photographers, including many names familiar here on Wetpixel, were once again well represented amongst the award winners in the prestigious Shell Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2007. Particular congratulations to category winners Felipe Barrio (Spain) for the Underwater World and Thomas Peschak (South Africa) for Nature in Black and White.

Other award winning underwater images were taken by Paul Nicklen, Graham Eaton, Jurgen Freund, Angel Fitor, Douglas David Seifert, Len Deeley, Patrick Weir, Bela Nasfay, Jeff Yonover, Wade Hughes and Alex Mustard. All the award winning underwater photos were taken with digital cameras.

Conservation International, Coral Reef Alliance and Wetpixel.com are pleased to announce the winning photo for the 2008 Raja Ampat entrance tag design contest. 

Dr. Alexander Mustard, a marine biologist, dive enthusiast, underwater photographer and frequent contributor to various underwater pictorials, won first place with Big Personality, a stunning portrait of a pygmy seahorse, as well as second place with Mangrove Trees and Corals, a split image of a healthy coral garden underneath a forest of mangrove trees.  In recognition of his contributions, Big Personality will be printed on all 2008 Raja Ampat Tourism Entry System tags…

Alex Mustard had posted some preliminary test shots taken with Nikon’s new D3 and D300 digital SLRs.  In addition to posting illuminating sample images from his time with the cameras, Alex writes about high ISO performance, live view, corner sharpness, vignetting, and more. 

Oh, and Alex also tried Nikon’s new 14-24mm wide-angle zoom lens.  Sample images from the new lens are also in the informal report.