UW PHOTOGRAPHY
DIGITAL ONLINE 2020
EDA’S UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM COMPETITION
PRESENTING THE RESULTS
Digital Online 2019 was a much cosier affair held at the American University in Dubai (AUD) with the winning prints on exhibition by Print Works.
DIGITAL ONLINE 2009-2020 Digital Online has just celebrated its 11th Anniversary under these very surreal circumstances of our time during COVID-19, but we have discovered that nothing can stop us as a community! We regret that with the social distancing, we have not been able to host our annual Awards Night and Exhibition Opening at the American University in Dubai (AUD), and because of that, we have also not been able to have all the winning images printed by our long-time partner since 2009, Print Works.Things will pick up again next year and we’ll all come back stronger. Despite the pandemic, we have received some very impressive underwater imagery from our dedicated members and we’re also very honoured to introduce the works of some new and enthusiastic members this year. In order to announce this year’s photography and video winners, we crafted a virtual awards screening from multiple Zoom calls we had with our winners and prize sponsors on the 20th of May in order to share the announcements with everyone who would have normally attended the event at AUD.The benefit is that this way, we get to share it with everyone else who is not located in Dubai. We were also able to chat with our judges who are spread out around the world (with very different time zones) and catch up with them. 66
DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT | JUNE 2020
ABOUT DIGITAL ONLINE The competition was realised in 2009 as there were no other underwater photography competitions existing in the UAE at the time. Digital Online was introduced by EDA for resident photographers to develop a relationship and human interaction amongst those unfamiliar with the underwater world environment. The competition holds both local and international marine life categories to offer variety between our local and international diving enthusiasts. The film category was introduced as an extension to the competition in 2012 to share our underwater world through motion pictures and deliver a better understanding of the habitats and surroundings. The event has seen continuous and steady growth of new underwater photographers taking part and joining many of our regular yearly participants. The enthusiasm and passion strives on, and the drive to bring our underwater world’s conservation to the forefront increases over time. The purpose of Digital Online is to keep our underwater world visible by displaying its hidden beauties and to exemplify its importance to all life on Earth through the powers of its ecosystems. The event has attained equal success with the non-divers who come to support the participating photographers and videographers
at the Awards and Exhibition Opening Night. Whether it’s through discussion or articles brought to our readers through our free quarterly magazine, Divers for the Environment, the inspiration the event brings is a success in its own right. COMPETITION CLAUSE EDA does not disclose photographers’ names during the judging process. The competition is run fairly and without prejudice, professionally adhering to all of Digital Online’s rules and guidelines throughout. HOW THE SCORES WORK Scoring is on a basis of 100 points: 30 for technical merit, 30 for composition and 40 for impact from each of the judges. Based on these criteria, each judge is free to give a total score from 0 to 100. As guidelines for judging, an entry with a total score of 300 points means that the image does not have any major faults but at the same time does not have any significant strengths and has little or no impact. Entries with less than 300 points indicates that these images have serious technical and/or compositional flaws and have no impact. (Impact is the viewer’s initial response to a stimulating image and is the WOW! factor of an image.) Photographs with more than 400 points means that these images have impact based on various factors
