Manta Fest – Awards
Texto de: B_rad 
We wrapped up two killer dive weeks and this year’s Manta Fest with a custom Bill Acker and Manta Ray Bay celebration in traditional Yap color. The party was held on the Mnuw with cocktail hour, local buffet dinner, slideshow of the contest entries and the awards ceremony.
Evening Kick Off
Cool people, strong drinks and good food started the festivities and we all got a chance to mingle and party with the pro’s until next year.
Official Results
Here’s all of the final entries for dSLR and non-dSLR in all four categories; big animals, reef scenic, macro and people / culture. The presenters said that this year was the most difficult judging to date. Here’s our shooter’s takes
dSLR
- Judy Bennett – Best of show
- Anke Rorbach – 1st & 3rd place
- Craig Berludsen – 2nd place
- Noriyuki Otani
- Brett Thomson
- Julie Shuttleworth
- Jason Tzimoulis
- Anke Rorbach
- Julie Shuttleworth
não-dSLR
- Julia Wissel – 1st place
- Sheila Ott – 2nd place
- Marcus Pfab – 3rd place
- Mike Martini
- Colin Gowers
- Yokiko Otani
- Loris Berduldsen
- Chad Shumway
Menções Honrosas
- Judy Bennett
- Marcus Pfab
- Julia Wissel
- Mike Martini
- Craig Berludsen
- Anke Rorbach
- Julie Shuttleworth
- Jennifer Hackman
- Brett Thomson
Luxury dive trips and gear
This is where it all got handed out – from a 10 day super luxury Indonesian liveaboard trip with Dive Damai, to a Mares dive gear package, that included a regulator, computer, mask, snorkel and fins… and an assortment of other sponsor’s prizes. Everybody went home with something, there was even a gear grab bag that everyone got to reach into before they left.
Our Pro Presenters
Frank Schneider
www.sharkinthepool.com
Frank offers classes, workshops as well as one-on-one training in German and English in a conference room with a projector or at the pool over a beer.
He leads boat groups and gets elbow deep in the shark school at Vertigo.
Fank shoots a Nikon and Seacam combination and is reliable for some stimulating media presentations.
Andy Shumacher
www.schumacherfilm.de
Andy is Manta Fest’s video pro, films promotional clips throughout the contest and helps drain kegs in the pool after diving.
He’s available to anyone interested in shooting / working with video for tutorials or 0ne-on-one traning and speaks German and English.
You will see some of Andy’s work on the Manta Ray Youtube channel and social media feed.
Ray Bullion
www.raybullion.com
Ray is the southwestern regional manager for Henderson Sport Group and a regional account manager for American Underwater Products representing brands such as: Henderson wetsuits, Neo Sport wetsuits, Hyperflex wetsuits, Strormr, Oceanic, Ocean Pro, Hollis, Aeris and Lavacore.
Ray’s been diving and shooting Micronesia almost as long as Tim.
Tim Rock
timrock.photoshelter.com
Tim started shooting photos of Yap before there were roads here.
This trip he was testing a brand new D7100 Aquatica Housing that he let Judy demo when she shot the best of show black tip photo.
Tim can be found towing his model around the reef by a tank strap and keeping the diving fun.
contribuindo para que os mergulhos sejam mais divertidos.
David Fleetham
Marty Snyderman
www.martysnyderman.com
David and Marty put in a lot of time with education, training and growing your photography game.
They developed a histogram app that is available on iTunes that will help you understand and learn to use luminosity and RGB histograms.
These guys also bring sealife knowledge which make for really interesting photos.
We learned professional post capture processing in Lightroom and Photoshop and how to nail that shot of a fish yawning, or eel getting cleaned.
We’re done with this year’s party and before the guests left, the hotel is already 1/3 booked for next year – if you’re planning on coming to a Manta Fest, give Bill a call and get hooked up for next year.