Antibes Festival 2006

GobyThe 33rd World Festival of Underwater Pictures is taking place from 25 to 29 October this year in the Pré aux Pêcheurs / Antibes Vauban Port in southern France.

The Antibes Festival is arguably the world's premier underwater imaging event, and it holds special significance for me, as it's where my first book Silent Symphony received the grand prize for books several years ago.

This year, there will be a special focus on Papua New Guinea, with a dedicated exhibit, slideshows, etc.

I'm honoured that two of my photos have been selected to be among the images featured for the PNG exhibit, alongside images from some of the world's top underwater photographers — people who's work I admire and respect.

The first is a fisheye wide-angle image showing how dense the marine life is in PNG waters, and the second is an extreme macro profile photograph (shot at about 5x magnification) of an unidentified Tomiyamichthys goby.

Both of these photos are from a recent trip to PNG, where I was filming a couple of documentaries for NHK TV of Japan, one with Dr. Eugenie Clark, Bob & Dinah Halstead, Rob van der Loos and Hiroyuki Watanabe, and another with the help of Craig Dewit.

Unfortunately, I can't attend the Antibes Festival. I'll be diving in Japan (brrrrrr), which will my first extended drysuit diving trip...assuming, of course, I actually get into the water once I'm there!

Fish Everywhere

If you're lucky enough to attend this great event, be sure to say hi to the terrific gang from PNG, who will be there in force. If you haven't dived PNG yet, you're really missing out!

[tags]Papua New Guinea, PNG, Antibes, Underwater Photography, Scuba, Diving[/tags]