Photo competition in Lanzarote

From the Philippines I have gone to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands - Spain to participate in a photo competition and to spend few days relaxing in this wonderful island.

The competition went very well. We placed in 2nd position, which was a good result considering we had never dived in this island and we didn't had the chance to check out the dive sites in advance, like the rest of the photographers did some days prior the competition. This was a shout-out or splash-in photo competition, meaning that the photos had to be taken in some particular dive sites under some specific regulations. The competition took place during two days, in which we did two dives per day. We could only take 100 photos per day. At the end of the second dive we had to choose a collection of 6 images, which couldn't be retouched in the computer. The collection must have 2 photos of fauna, 2 creative photos and 2 wide angle photos, one of them with a model and the other one without model. This is one of the creative shots of the collection.

We had a great time catching up with other photographers and after the comp we went diving for fun and took some more photos, this time without the restrictions and pressure of the competition.

From the Philippines

I am on a one month assignment in the Philippines, a country with 1107 islands in the Indo-Pacific area or South East Asia. I have been diving in many different of these islands and each one has something special. Some are good for “muck diving”, where we look for the most strange critters hiding on sandy slopes or under piers. Others offer the most pristine coral reefs with abundant fish life, from colorful tropical fish to large groupers and sharks. The negative side is that dynamite fishing is still common around some islands, like Cebu. This causes massive coral damage and kills every living being, leaving few fish to photograph. The country is so big that it takes a long time to move from island to island, involving flights, boats and road transfers.

On land I have seen awesome landscapes, like the shallow lagoons formed between the limestone islands of Northern Palawan.

We celebrate 10 years online with free shipping

Time goes fast. It has been 10 years since MagicSea.com went online to distribute underwater images around the world.

To celebrate we have a special offer in the new gift shop in MagicSea.com FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE .

Use the coupon code '100000masterpieces' during checkout for free shipping on any order, to anywhere in the world for the next week. In case you are so lost that you still do not know where the shop is, here you have some help: http://underwaterart.redbubble.com
You can always access the shop from MagicSea.com or CarlosVilloch.com

Free Shipping coupons expire 23:59 October 30 (GMT), and are only available for our standard shipping option.

 

2009 Calendar Undersea Wonders

Finally !!! The 2009  “Undersea Wonders” Calendar is available here : http://www.villoch.com/calendar .

A whole year of underwater images on your wall. I have made a selection of my favorite photos from the last years. From humpback whales and dolphins to sharks and tropical coral reefs.

Order now while they last !

Dolphins and sharks in Roatan

I am now working in Roatan, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. There are two things that  I really like about this island: Dolphins and Sharks. Both are amazing to be in the water with. This is the 3^rd time I met Mika in the last 5 years, one of the trained dolphins in Roatan. Last time we met in Belize. I find her as cute as always; very friendly too.

I have been spending quite a lot of time with sharks too. They are Caribbean Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus perezi), about 20-25 of them that visit the same area, 70 feet deep. They get quite close and sometimes bump into my camera or hit the strobes with the nose. Their sleek bodies move very elegantly and I could spend hours watching them, but the dive computer only gives me about 40 minutes before going into deco mode and tell me it’s time to go back to the boat.

Soon I´ll post the Bonaire and Roatan photos in MagicSea.com

Diving in Bonaire

I recently had a photographic assignment in Bonaire, one of the Dutch Antilles. The island seems to have been made thinking of divers. There are about 60 different dive sites that you can access directly from the shore. Even an awesome wreck, the Hilma Hooker, that you can dive as a shore dive. On land there are plenty of interesting things to see, like caves, flamingos, iguanas… and if you want to just relax, Pink Beach (photo) is the place where nobody will find you.

From here I head directly to Roatan.

Carlos wins the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This is good news again. This month I have won the award "European Wildlife Photographer of the Year" in the Waterworld category. Another of my images was awarded with a "highly commended" prize i nthe same category. This contests takes place in Germany and my photos were selected among 7000 images from 24 different countries.
This is a good motivation to keep working hard in getting new images.

2nd Prize to the Best Portfolio in Kuala Lumpur

Last week I was awarded with the 2^nd prize to the Best Portfolio during the MIDE dive show that takes place in Kuala Lumpur. For this photo contest I chose a selection of photos from tiny gobies to whales and ship wrecks. 2008 is being a great year so far, so keep my fingers crossed for some more !

Diving at home

Summer is finally here, in the North of Spain and conditions for diving are being great, with calm seas and relatively good visibility. I have been visiting some places where I hadn’t been diving for many years. Another day I´ll explain some differences I’ve noticed during these years. Under the right conditions and at the right time this place has a stunning light that can keep me underwater for more than two hours.

 

 

1st prize in photo shoot-out in Canary Islands

In June I have won the first prize in one of the most prestigious underwater photo shoot-outs in Europe that takes place in Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands. What makes special this event is that only a group of the top European photographers are selected to attend by invitation. Photographers from UK, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France and Spain dived for 2 days trying to capture a collection of 6 images. Working as a team with Maite, she got the prize to the best underwater model. She also got this prize last year and has became the first model to receive this award twice.
This image is available as a 40 x 58 cm glossy mounted print. Contact me for details at photo@magicsea.com

These photos were selected as the best photos of the day by this newspaper:
http://www.20minutos.es/galeria/4880/0/0/fotosub/foto/submarina/

2nd prize in International Underwater Image Festival

Wow, I like this May !

I have won the 2^nd prize to the Best Collection of photos in the International Underwater Images Festival.

When I get the chance I´ll put the photos. I know, I always say the same thing… but this time I´ll put them, I promise.

 

 

Interview in Chinese magazine

I have made a 13 pages interview for a Chinese diving magazine and I have made the front cover photo (shown here). You can read the interview here http://www.magicsea.com/china/ . In case you are not fluent reading Chinese you should take a quick course and come back when you finish to click this link. OK… I´ll put the English version of the interview when I get the chance.
Update: The English translation is ready in that link, so you can skip the Chinese course now.

 

1st Prize in the 2008 Scuba Diving Photo contest

This is a happy entry ! I have won the first prize in the Wide Angle category of the 2008 Scuba Diving photo contest. This is the winning image. It was taken in El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands. I really liked that photo since the moment I took it, it was one of those moments when the stars align and the grouper came few inches away from the camera while my model was posing between the walls that form a spectacular crack in the reef.

Surfing back home

Hey, that's me on the last photo !

After few weeks travelling in Mexico and California it's nice to be back home and go surfing. Waves were perfect, long and powerful. Water temperature is about 1º warmer than when I left, but it's sunny and feels much warmer than the actual 14ºC.

The guy who runs this site:  http://www.olasdevizcaya.com took these photos.

Back from Revillagigedo

I am back from this wonderful archipelago in the Mexican Pacific. The islands are 220 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas.

The trip was excellent with very good dives where I saw lots of mantas, sharks, whales, etc.

You can read a full trip report here:

http://www.divephotoguide.com/articles/revillagigedo___socorro___enjoying_the_our_world_underwater_prize

 

And you can see all the photos from the trip directly in this link:

http://www.photography.magicsea.com/revillagigedo/

If you get half the fun viewing the photos than I had taking them I´ll be happy.