We are happy to announce that the winner of the RSDS Photo Competition for July 2025 has been chosen. Congratulations to Krista Dronkert with her photo "In your face...".
Krista wins a free stay at the RSDS village of her choice. You can view the winning photo, and all the July participants here.
If you would like a chance to win, simply register on our website and upload your photos from our competition page. Each day we choose a 'photo of the day' from the selection of entries. Anyone can register on our website and vote on photos entered into the competition. At the end of the month our Photo Pro and photography workshop leader, Paul ‘Duxy’ Duxfield, looks at the votes and chooses a winner from the highest scoring photos. Full terms and conditions and prize details are available here.
Congratulations again to Krista, and good luck to all those participating in the coming months!
From Paul Duxfield, our competition judge:
It’s hard being a judge sometimes, yes I can hear the sound of tiny violins playing across the world out of sympathy I know I know. What I mean is that you want to award lot’s of the entries first place for a variety of reasons. I’ll give you an example, for sheer drama Faycal Chabini’s pic of a diver in sunbeams would definitely be in with a shout, likewise Paul Savage’s pic of a spotlight beam in a cave.
Then there’s technical expertise married with a side order of luck as shown by Carlo Mendes’ well executed sunset split of Jellyfish near the surface at Marsa Nakari.
Or there’s luck combined with patience and a very keen eye for composition displayed by Ruth Wanger’s brilliantly and appropriately titled squid squad.
In the end though I keep being drawn back to Krista Dronkert's deceptively simple picture of a Scorpion Fish, it’s not an uncommon creature, it’s not even that technically difficult a picture, but for some reason, I think maybe the atypical muted tones of reds and warm browns, and the eye contact, definitely the eye contact that make me drawn into this picture.
So well done Krista, but a very very close tie for second place to Carlo’s split shot and Ruth’s Squid Squad as they made it very difficult for me to choose.
Well done to everyone else, keep up the good work and keep sending those entries in, and maybe you’d like to join our second Fotofest this year in December? It’s quickly filling up and we’re limiting the spaces to give everyone the best experience. This workshop is designed for camera users of all experience levels, with any type of underwater camera.
