CHRISTIAN PETRON AT THE EILAT RED SEA FESTIVAL

The Eilat Red Sea Festival, organized by David Pilosof, was held like every year on the shores of the Red Sea. We had a spy in the place, and not just anyone: Christian Pétron, president of the jury. He came back nourished with beautiful images, but he regrets that there was no French photographer competing on the spot! He already gives you an appointment for the 2013 edition.

“This is the fourth time that I take part in this festival and it is always a week of happiness. I find everyone from the international professional underwater image. And like last year, I have the great honor of being president of the jury. Christian Pétron does not shy away from his pleasure as president. He happily finds photographers from all over the world who take part in the “Eilat shoot-out”, sponsored by the Hewlett Packard company. At stake, tempting prizes, including a check for 10 dollars! “And this year,” continues the president, “I noticed a particular fervor of Israeli photographers who, in front of the large number of photographers from abroad, sought to impose themselves. "

LIVE COMPETITION OF FASHION PICTURES

“Many competitors, often professional fashion photographers, come to Eilat especially for the underwater fashion photography competition, the only one of its kind. And Eilat is no coincidence, in the 70s the site was the birthplace of the first underwater images with freediving mannequins. It is David Pilosof, the current president of the festival, who was the pioneer in this category by publishing the magnificent book “SAMANTHA“. The photographers in competition have at their disposal real assistance teams, in addition to their sumptuous models, safety divers surround the photoshoots, some provide the lighting, others supply with extension regulators the models that remain over. an hour without going to the surface. "

JURY DIVES ALSO

Particularity of the event, the competitors are also noted for their ease, since the jury assigns notes of water and organization, underwater! And thus attend live to the shots around the models, and to the vagaries of the photo competitions: “during the 3 days of the competition, tells the President of the jury, the tension mounts between the competitors, we attend some tragedies: a photographer Russian drowns his camera…. without doubt years of savings and hope for him, another downloads his images on a corrupted memory card: he loses all his photos…. "

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF WORLD SHOOT-OUT

Beyond the competition which takes place on site during the week, the jury must also decide between the competitors who took part in the World Shoot-out, organized on the internet during the month of August. And this year, nearly 3.000 images from all over the world were put into competition. From the icy waters of the Alaskan lakes, to the spectacular images of great white sharks in Guadalupe to the whales of Hawaii! Another category of the Shoot-out competition, video clips, "easier to decide because they are less numerous".

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF HP RED SEA COMPETITION

This year, after particularly difficult deliberations according to the President, it was an Israeli, Amir Stern, who won the grand prize, a check for $ 10.000, donated by the festival's sponsor, HP. He also received the jury prize, a SeaCam underwater housing valued at $ 5000. The prize for the best unusual photo went to Yuzuru Masuda from Japan, who won 1.000 bottles of Macabbe beer, (another sponsor of the Festival) which he generously shared with all participants and guests. It is hard to imagine him bringing his 1000 bottles of beer back to Japan! The second big winners of this festival were the Spanish photographers, who took to the stage singing, their flag in hand…

While the EILAT RED SEA was closing its doors, David Pilosof's team was already preparing for the 2013 competition, in August for the shoot-out, and in October for the festival. “I hope to go back there, concludes Christian Pétron, and I would like to see some French photographers there next year! "

More: http://www.eilatredsea.com/