Layang Layang Underwater Photo Shootout 2007
I have just returned from Layang Layang atoll in Sabah, Malaysia where I participated as a judge in their second annual Photo Shootout. As this was my first trip to the Borneo area I took advantage of a few spare days to head to the jungle and photograph the Orangutans and Proboscis monkeys native to the area. Unfortunately, due to a late flight I missed an encounter with wild pygmy elephants! Grrrr
Layang Layang itself is located 300kms north of Kota Kinabalu and is not as well known as its more famous neighbours to the south of Sipadan and Mabul. Therefore, I was not exactly sure what to expect when I got there. Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised with what I experienced. The tiny atoll is ringed with 2000m dropoffs with some of the most dramatic walls I have ever seen. Many of these are absolutely covered with soft corals and gorgonians while the shallows are covered in healthy hard corals. We even had a few visits from the schooling hammerheads (I only saw 4 of them!), mobula rays, and giant schools of jacks.
It will take me a while to get to my photos but I thought I would share the winning images from the photo shootout. There were 12 prizes up for grabs, 6 in each category of macro and wide angle. The quality of photos was very high and we (the judges) had a pretty tough time choosing the winners as we all had different favourites. I think the only photo that we all agreed upon is the stunning batfish shot that won the WA category.
What I thought was pretty cool was that many of the winning images came from compact cameras, not just SLRs. In fact, both winning images came from an Olympus 7070!
Congratulations to all of the winners (I know of at least 1 SB member in there) and thank you to everyone who participated in this fun and exciting event!
Here are the top 3 winning pictures in each category as well as a list of all the winners and prizes, as you can see the quality of images was fantastic. The rest of the images can be found here: Layang Layang Winners
Macro 3rd
WA 3rd
Macro 2nd
WA 2nd
Macro 1st
WA 1st
6th place Marco Mr. Mitsuo Higure (Japan) Ralftech Extreme Gear Bag, GP Batteries and Charger
6th place WA Ms. Sylvie Grall (France) Ralftech Extreme Gear Bag, GP Batteries and Charger
5th place Macro Mr. Kim Yu Woong (Korea) Coral Redang Resort 5D 4N stay for 1 person, GP Batteries and Charger
5th place WA Mr. Gerritis Remco (Netherlands) Coral Redang Resort 5D 4N stay for 1 person, GP Batteries and Charger
4th place Macro Mr. Tsuneo Taniguchi (Japan) Oceanic Atom II Wrist Watch Dive Computer, GP Batteries and Charger
4th place WA Mr. Kim Yu Woong (Korea) Oceanic Atom II Wrist Watch Dive Computer, GP Batteries and Charger
3rd place Macro Mr. Matthew Lawrence (Australia) Nikon SLR Camera 5D 4N stay in SMART resort for 1 Person, GP Batteries and Charger
3rd place WA Mr. Tsuneo Taniguchi (Japan) Nikon SLR Camera 5D 4N stay in SMART resort for 1 Person, GP Batteries and Charger
2nd place Macro Ms. Takeko Taniguchi (Japan) 7 Nights Accommodation for one on Baani Explorer Liveaboard, Maldives for 2 people, Nautica Sports Watch, GP Batteries and Charger
2nd place WA Ms. Leander Wiseman (Australia) 7 Nights Accommodation for one on Macana Maldives Liveaboards for 2 people, Nautica Sports Watch, GP Batteries and Charger
1st place Macro Mr. Bradley Graeme (Australia) 2 Nautica Sports Watch, 6D 5N Stay in Layang Layang Island Resort for 2 People, 6D 5N Stay in Borneo Divers Mabul Resort for 2 People, GP Batteries and Charger
1st place WA Mr. Bradley Graeme (Australia) 2 Nautica Sports Watch, 6D 5N Stay in Layang Layang Island Resort for 2 People, 6D 5N Stay in Borneo Divers Mabul Resort for 2 People, GP Batteries and Charger
