Cayman resident is World Champion underwater photographer

From The Daily Mail UK

The greatest underwater photographs from around the world: Winning entries selected from thousands of amazing aquatic images

From the wreck of a Japanese warplane to grinning great white sharks, these are just some of the thousands of entries in the largest underwater photography competition.

Nearly 8,000 pictures were entered for the underwaterphotography.com competition with 17 categories from above water, to wrecks, sharks and even underwater fashion featuring models.

And after the judging was finally completed, Belgian photographer Ellen Cuylaerts, who is based in the Cayman Islands, was declared World Champion after only three years of diving.

Site owner Tal Mor said: ‘Ellen was almost unanimously voted for the world champion of 2013.

‘She presented winning images in almost every category of our competition,

‘This award is very well deserved after a year in which Ellen consistently submitted breathtaking images to almost every category of the contest.

Ellen has reached the top league of underwater photographers in only three years of diving and I am proud to have so much of her work displayed on our site.

‘Interestingly enough she is also the first woman to win the World Champion title.’

And a British photographer kept the side up by winning a first prize in one category and placing second in another.

Paul Colley won the Wide Angle Marine Life category for a school of Barracuda and was runner up in the Wide Angle Wrecks category for his shot of a British World War II motorbike on the Thistlegorm wreck in the Red Sea.

Mr Mor said: ‘Two of our medals is the reward for all the hard work Paul Colley put in chasing those great shots in far-flung destinations.

‘It’s the most coveted prize because it says you succeeded in the most competitive environment there is, against the top talent of the moment.

‘Paul Colley was up against 7,849 entries to get placed this year.’

Along with the traditional underwater shots of fish – including a smiling Great White Shark off Guadalupe Island, Mexico – there were some interesting entries that also won medals.

Marjan Radovic from Croatia got bronze for his shot of a female diver in an urban setting for the Over/Under category and Nadya Kulagina won the Wide Angle (Natural Light) category with her shot of the sun’s rays coming through the trees taken underwater.

Tony Cherbas from Guam, entered a stunning shot from above the water of a Japanese Plane wreck in the Pacific in the Topside category.

Some of the more unusual creatures captured on camera that won medals were a dugong in the Red Sea by Christian Schlamann from Germany in the Wide Angle Marine life category, Israeli Gleb Tolstov with his close up shot of a smiling salt water crocodile in Cuba in the Wide Angle Close Focus and Doris Vierkotter’s shot of a fish trapped in the jaws of another in the Macro Close Up category.

Tal added: ‘The UnderwaterPhotography.com photo contest is the longest running and most prestigious online, or off. If you want to make a name for yourself it is the place to do it.’

For more on this story and to view many more outstanding photographs go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2569692/The-greatest-underwater-photographs-world-Winning-entries-selected-thousands-amazing-aquatic-images.html#ixzz2uuwNXlKQ