A sea anemone, a lobster and an underwater woodlouse have earned Marco Reijnen (51) a gold medal. The Tilburger has won the Dutch Underwater Photography Championship with his photos of the underwater world.
Marco has been diving since he was seventeen and has also been taking underwater photographs since 2008. “I never planned to take photos until we went on a trip to the Maldives. I took a compact camera with me because it is quite easy to take photos with.”
I enjoyed capturing life underwater so much that Marco started doing it more and more. “At one point I stopped ‘normal’ diving and started just taking photos underwater.”
Marco has been participating in the Dutch underwater photography championship for many years and this year he won a prize. “It is the first time that I have finished in the top three of the general classification. I really didn’t expect that.”
“The idea was to also get mussels on it, but unfortunately there were none.”
The Dutch championship has four categories: wide angle, theme, macro and wide angle with model. Marco won gold in the wide-angle category by photographing an orange sea anemone. “This photo was taken at a mussel farm in the Bergse Diepsluis in Tholen. The idea was to also get mussels on it, but unfortunately there were none. Fortunately, it still turned out to be a beautiful photo.”
In the theme category, Marco captured a lobster in the Grevelingenmeer. “This is a double exposure in which two photos are superimposed. The photo of the lobster actually has a black background, but I pasted a photo of the jetty over it.”
“You always have to be lucky with what you encounter.”
In addition to the lobster, the underwater photographer also photographed an underwater woodlouse. “I had already thought about what I wanted for this photo, but you always have to be lucky with what you encounter.” The photo finished in tenth place in the macro category. “I was very enthusiastic about this photo. I expected less from the sea anemone, with which I struck gold. It remains a jury sport after all.”
The last photo Marco submitted shows his diving buddy Carlijn. “She has been my model for competitions for a few years now, but unfortunately this photo ended up outside the top ten.” Marco still won first prize in the general classification and he is very happy with that. “I will participate again next year , but then the bar is of course even higher!”
Below you can see Marco’s award-winning photos:
