Franco Banfi Photography

Underwater photography travel wildlife

Archive for the ‘Photography competition’


TPOTY (Travel Photographer of the Year 2011)

Published December 22nd, 2011 in Expeditions, Photography, Photography competition, Travel | 2 Comments »

I’m happy to announce that the international Jury of TPOTY (Travel Photographer of the Year) competition 2011 has chosen :

- my images of Diving under the Ice as Winner in the category Spirit of Adventure Portfolio ;

- my image of Beluga whale and Diver as Winner in the category Spirit of Adventure Best Single Image;

- my split image of Fresh water spring with Fishes as Commended in the category Wild Moments.

This photo contest is run by photographers for photographers and the Jury is composed by international world famous professional photographers and leading photography experts. For this reason I’m proudly honoured to have been selected as winner in two different categories.

The winning images of this year’s awards will be exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society’s Kensington gallery during July and August, in the lead up to and during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Society gallery is situated close to Hyde Park on the newly pedestrian Exhibition Road, adjacent the Science, Royal Victoria & Albert Hall, and Natural History Museums.

http://www.tpoty.com/winners/2011

 Check the column “Photo Expeditions” of my web-site ; you’ll find something unusual and truly special.

http://www.banfi.ch/page.php?area=15&pagina=54

Ocean Views Photo Contest 2011: Winners

Published June 4th, 2011 in Magazine, Photography, Photography competition, Wildlife | 9 Comments »

Nature’s Best Photography Magazine has announced the winners of the 2011 Ocean Views Photography Contest. Among more than 5,000 images received for the competition, the jury has chosen to award the overall winner at one of my images, showing a beluga whale. I took this image last year in White Sea, Karelia region, Russia.  A second picture of two Longnose hawkfish inside a seafan was highly honored.
The winning images are displayed in the Nature’s Best Photography Ocean Views 2011 Awards gallery that has been published in the Spring/Summer print edition. Additionally, the selected images may also appear in the Spring issue of Alert Divers magazine.
“When it comes to taking pictures in cold temperatures under the ice, many factors must be considered: light, clarity of the water, lens choice, strobes, ISO. I decided for a fast ISO, to get some natural light in the frame, and the fisheye lens, considering the size of the subject and the particles in the water. I used two strobes with long arms to capture the playful creature.”

Scuba diver and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas). Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II; 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens; 1/125 sec at f/5.6; ISO 200; 2 x strobes at half power.

Boot Düsseldorf 2011

Published January 18th, 2011 in Photography, Photography competition, Show | No Comments »

At the coming Boot Show in Duesseldorf,  there will be an area of 300 square metres devoted to underwater photography’s exhibitors and an exclusive show entitled “Underwater Pixel World”. This will be staged in Hall 4, directly alongside the traditional diving sports exhibition area in Hall 3.

Last year this venture was only a photo exhibition, but  now it is bearing fruit.  In fact, in 2011 numerous  regular exhibitors -whose goods include cameras, casings and accessories for underwater cameramen and photographers- are grasping this opportunity to present themselves in this segment as well. They will be joined by a number of first-time exhibitors of the photo industry but, most of all, by a gallery with presence and the works of internationally acclaimed underwater photographers and the shots of  amateurs’ photo competition “Topshot”. This gallery will give a definite artistic touch at all the Hall 4 . It has been organized by Boot in cooperation with the divers’ network taucher.net.

Some of my works will also be presented there and I will be at the Boot Show from Saturday 22 to  Wednesday 26 . During these days I will even do some lectures from 12:50 to 13:10 hrs. It will be a pleasure to meet you there .

2010 IPA Winners and Finalists Announced!

Published October 31st, 2010 in Login, Photography, Photography competition | 1 Comment »

Wednesday, October 27 at the Lincoln Center, New York where announced the 2010 Lucie Awards: the International Photographer of the Year, Discovery of the Year and Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year! As you could read in a precedent post I was glad to be one of the 21 finalist, winner in the “Nature category”. Altough I didn’t get any further I have my pictures projected at the Gala Awards ceremony.

IPA is a sister-effort of the Lucie Foundation, where the top three winners are announced at the annual Lucie Awards gala ceremony. The Foundation’s mission is to honor master photographers
to discover new and emerging talent and to promote the appreciation of photography. Since 2003, IPA has had the privilege and opportunity to acknowledge and recognize contemporary photographer’s accomplishments in this specialized and highly visible competition. Visit www.photoawards.com

International Photography Awards’ competition

Published September 2nd, 2010 in Photography, Photography competition | 3 Comments »

I’m pleased to inform that some of my images have won several prices at the International Photography Awards’ competition.
A series of images showing Beluga whales won the over all winner (finalist) in the Nature category and the first price in the Underwater – Nature category. Image showing box jellyfish won the third price while sperm whale and giant squid got honourable mentions in Underwater – Nature category
This year’s entries spanned 103 countries worldwide with approximately 15.000 submissions. Jurors had the challenging task of reducing that number to 330 winners and 21 Finalists who will go on to compete for other three top awards – International Photographer of the Year, The Discovery of the Year awarded to a non professional, and the Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year awarded to the photographer whose story behind the images are just as compelling as the photographs themselves.

The winners’ images can be viewed online.
http://www.photoawards.com/en/Pages/Gallery/Gallery.php

Burke Museum, Washington

Published June 20th, 2010 in Photography, Photography competition | No Comments »

Friday, 18 of June the Burke Museum opened the newest exhibit, International Conservation Photography Awards. (ICP Awards) competition was founded in 1997 by Art Wolfe, a well-known nature photographer and published author. I’m pleased to let you know that my image of the beluga whale swimming under the ice has achieved Honorable Mention in the category underwater. The image has been used for the promotion of the event. For the first time, the Burke Museum presents the winners of the 2010 ICP Awards in an exhibit of more than 75 images representing the best of conservation photography from around the world. The exhibit will be open till September 6.