Sea anemones, crayfish and underwater woodlice earned a gold medal for Marko Reinen (51 years old). Tilburger won the Dutch Underwater Photography Championship with his photographs of the underwater world.
Marco has been diving since he was 17 and has been taking underwater photos since 2008. “I never planned to take photos until we went on a trip to the Maldives. I took a small camera with me because it’s very easy to take photos with.” ”
I enjoyed photographing underwater life so much that Marco started doing it more and more. “At some point, I stopped ‘regular’ diving and started taking underwater photos.”
Marco has been participating in the Dutch Underwater Photography Championship for many years and won this year’s award. “It’s the first time I’ve finished in the top three in the general classification. I really didn’t expect it.”
“The idea was to have mussels too, but unfortunately there weren’t any.”
The Dutch Championship consists of four categories: wide angle, subject, macro, and wide angle with model. Marco won gold in the wide angle category by photographing orange sea anemones. “This photo was taken at the Bergsee Diepslaus mussel farm in Thulin. The idea was to also get mussels, but unfortunately there were none. Fortunately, the photo is still beautiful.”
In the subject category, Marco captured a lobster in Grevelingenmeer. “This is a double exposure in which two images are superimposed. Actually, the lobster photo has a black background, but I pasted an image of the dock over it.
“You always have to be lucky with what you encounter.”
In addition to the crayfish, the underwater photographer also photographed woodlice underwater. “I had already thought about what I wanted from this photo, but you always have to be lucky with what you come across.” The photo ranked tenth in the macro category. “I was so excited about this photo. I expected nothing less from the sea anemones I struck gold with. It’s still a jury sport after all.”
The last photo sent by Marco shows his diving buddy Carlin. “It was my model for competitions a few years ago, but unfortunately this one finished outside the top ten.” Marco still won first prize in the general classification and he is very happy about that. “I will participate again next year., but then the standard is higher of course!
Below you can see Marco’s award-winning photos:
