I love Italy. And I love photography. What could be better than an Italian Photography competition? Molto Bene! The Asferico photography competition, sponsored by Asferico Magazine in Italy, is an annual display of incredible images by many of the finest photographers in Europe. I have long admired the annual Asferico galleries of winners, and in 2011 I decided to take a crack at the competition with an entry of some photographs. I was very pleased to learn that one of my images, the red gorgonian image shown below, received Segnalato status (Honorable mention? Signal? Not too bad?) recognition in the Il mondo subacqueo (“underwater world”) category, alongside fine competitors from Spain, Hungary, Estonia, England, France and Italy. Was it too much to hope that Tracy and I would be flown to Italy first class, met at the airport by an Italian Vogue supermodel in a convertible Lamborghini who would escort us to the awards celebration followed by a week in the old country masquerading as a internationally celebrated and notorious wildlife paparazzi while sampling Roman chianti and pasta? Alas, yes it was too much to hope for! My image did, however, appear in Asferico Magazine (I believe) and on the competition website, so that is molto bene. Grazie, Asferico Magazine, I will probably enter again next year. Ciao!
Bryozoan grows on a red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 25395
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA
Here is a link to some of the underwater category winners and honored images: http://www.asferico.com/awards3.asp?aaaa_es=2012&cat=B&ID=644
Notice how I subtly inserted just enough Italian words for people who do not know me to think I probably speak great Italian and must be quite worldly and well-travelled?
