perfect moment

Paradise wrapped in plastic

My Point of View

I spent 2 wonderful weeks diving the reefs in Raja Ampat last November. West Papua has since long been high up on my wish list. I love travelling to remote places, leave every day comfort behind and get in touch with Nature and the people living in these places.

It’s pure magic to witness the first glimpse of light in the wee hours of the morning and the golden sunbeams in the afternoon…

Cruising through the labyrinth of small islands, entering the famous Passage is pure food for all our senses !

Fam islands

The Passage

Mirrors

Having a coffee or/and lunch break on a white sandy beach comes sooner or later into your mind. The boat gets closer to the beach and you disembark the food..

You look forward to a perfect moment in this perfect picture…but then reality gets you, right away, without a warning! You stand on the beach and you rub your eyes as if you still can’t believe what you see…

The whole beach is covered in rubbish, plastic sandals, bottles, brushes, scatters and boxes of any kind. You are miles away from the next village, hours away from the next city…

My appetite for the delicious food faded away instantly

Perfect moment-Ice Age

perfect moments

Today I decided to have a walk out there in the sunny yet frosty Upper Sure NP. Temperatures were still at -8°C  in plain sunlight at 2 pm! On top of that a Siberian breeze inflicted a -20°C “real feel”! Although covered in  thick and warm clothes my nose was quickly frozen as were my fingers while I was taking photos with my eye-phone. Nevertheless I enjoyed the bright sunbeams and the icy oxygen provided by the winds. In short I felt ALIVE!

Some lonesome boats in the woods

Watch all frosty bite pictures here :

Perfect moment : winning a gold medal in UWP contest

perfect moments, PhotoCompetitons, underwater

well today I will tell you about a perfect moment which is happening now as I try to write 🙂

I take part in the UWP contest for a couple of years but only did so more seriously since last year. Last December, 3 of my images went into the finals, one in the freshwater, one in the wide angle with diver and one in the Macro nudibranch category.

These were great news. And finally today we got the results! And guess what?

I am winning the Gold medal in the Macro Nudibranch category with my image “Golden”

Gold Medal in Macro Nudibranch category

To my great surprise my freshwater shot placed as Runner Up as well 🙂

Runner Up in Freshwater category

When I’m in the water and taking photos I don’t think about competitions and medals. I enjoy that moment which enables me to get a close look into a world which is unknown for a lot of humans. I can’t believe that your photos are getting better if you have the ambition of competition in your mind. So I will go on taking pictures just because I love being in that wet world, below the surface, face to face to a wonderfully different world!

I’m happy to see so many familiar names in the winners’ list. Congratulations to all of you! I hope that you have your own personal “perfect moment” as well today!

You can find all the winners here : Underwater Photo medal winners