From September 14 to 17, the 37th edition of the French underwater photo championship took place in Marseille, supported in particular by the YCPR (Yachting Club de la Pointe Rouge). Despite unfavorable conditions, owing to the Mistral, the candidates managed to leverage the situation to present quality images to the jury.
Heading to the Calanques National Park for the 28 pairs present, who came from almost all over France and some even from further afield (Caribbean). More precisely in the heart of the Park (entirely protected area) as the selected dive sites were the Caramassaigne point on the island of Riou and the East face of Plaine Island (The Arches and the Cave at Pérez). The candidates thus ‘competed’ over two days (Thursday 14 and Friday 15). Each day, two three-hour sessions allowed them to fill their memory card to meet the competition’s criteria.6 images in 5 categoriesIndeed, each team had to present a selection of six images in five categories. Namely: ‘Close-up photo non-fish’, ‘Close-up photo fish’, ‘Abstract theme’, ‘Mobile fauna ambiance’, and ‘Two ambiances’. Unfortunately, the Mistral that had blown the previous weekend somewhat complicated matters, with icy water for the Mediterranean in September (15°C) and average visibility.
On Saturday, the predominantly European jury viewed all the slides. Before delivering its verdict during an open evening held at the YCPR premises. The projection of images, in front of a large audience, showed that even if the competition conditions were not ideal, the photographic work carried out by all these teams was remarkable, with some very high-quality slides.
The 2017 awards:
1st: Jean Raphaël Tordoir accompanied by Martine Ruoppolo
2nd: Sébastien Ameeuw accompanied by Delphine Fraysse – (Macro fish prize)
3rd: Stéphane Regnier accompanied by Sophie Perez – (Ambiance Prize 1)
4th: Julien Carpels accompanied by Valérie Perez
5th: Mathias Vasselin accompanied by Lionel le Baron
6th: Bastien Preuss accompanied by Laurent Meret – (Theme prize)
7th: Véronique Wûrmli-Baudot accompanied by Valérie Ferretti
8th: Frédéric Bourau accompanied by Sylvie Catalan
9th: Eric St Martin accompanied by Mikel Calbete
10th: Nathalie Monturet accompanied by Elsa Pradelles
11th: François-Pierre Langlois accompanied by Danielle Bazin Langlois
12th: Denise Ruhlmann accompanied by Dominique Renard
13th: David Roger accompanied by Christine Leherquier
14th: Catherine Giannilevigne accompanied by Ganaelle Pasquette
15th: Christiane Deltour accompanied by Corinne Gioffre
16th: Bassem Jamour accompanied by Anne Rodelato
16th: Florence Roux accompanied by Béatrice Landreau
17th: Philippe Lecomte accompanied by Sebastien Galvagno
18th: Martine Malegue accompanied by Luc Talassinos – (Macro Prize)
19th: Michel Brazier accompanied by Laurence Remise
20th: Michel Llopez accompanied by Gilles Bideau
21st: Luc Fuster accompanied by Sylvie Fuster
22nd: Patrice Prive accompanied by Carole Virroneau
23rd: Charles Coulanges accompanied by Sandrine Neyrat
24th: Marc Debatty accompanied by Kertin Brunnel
25th: Jean de St Victor de St Blancard accompanied by Sebastien Perona
26th: Dominique Louis accompanied by Laetitia Goninet
27th: Véronique Escales accompanied by Annie MilletView all the awarded photos on the website of the underwater photo video commission of the FFESSM.
Olivier Clot-Faybesse