DAY IN THE LIFE VIDEO

36 HOURS 137 UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHERS AND THOUSANDS OF JELLYFISH

Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo and the Northern California Underwater Photographic Society (NCUPS) partnered again to host the largest gathering of underwater photographers in the USA. The Monterey Shootout is a three-day weekend of diving, educational seminars, celebration, and a chance to win over $30,000 in prizes even with the simplest of underwater cameras. This year, 137 participants brought their friends and families to share the fun and see what amazing images can be made in a tight 36-hour window of diving. The ocean and weather cooperated by giving us great pockets of visibility, plus the tail end of a jellyfish invasion. New photographers joined the Friday morning seminars with Jim Decker and Matt Ferraro to jumpstart their knowledge on basic photo and video shooting skills. Sunday seminars featured inspiration by professional photographers Mike Bartick and the amazing Erin Quigley on Lightroom techniques. 

ANOTHER GREAT PARTY!
While the seminars and beautiful diving are worth the price of admission, the social gathering is the heart of the Monterey Shootout. Hanging out on the beach and boats with like-minded divers gives us cold-water enthusiasts a real sense of community and part of a 30-year history of photo gatherings on Monterey Bay. After two days of diving, over 200 people gathered back to the Backscatter mother ship for a night of celebration and drinks stiff enough to heat up the most waterlogged diver. This is the most welcoming and enthusiastic group of underwater photographers we've ever seen.

	Backscatter $1000 Gift Certificate Joe Platko Backscatter $500 Gift Certificate Aaron Halstead & Desmond Ho Backscatter $250 Gift Certificate Michael Ross & Alex Seys Backscatter FLIP5 Pro Package $179 Adam Wurtz & Andy Charal	Digital Shootout Roatan 2018 $2,399 Dylan Silver

Lembeh Resort and Critters@Lembeh Resort Indonesia 5 night Lembeh Resort package, 3 night package Murex Bangka. $3,112 Clinton Bauder		Salaya Beach Houses Dumaguete, Philippines 5 night package $2,670 Michael Alyono	Crystal Blue Resort Anilao Philippines 7 night package $1,624 Jon Anderson	Volivoli Beach Resort of Fiji 7 night package $2,200 Kate Vylet
Paradise Taveuni of Fiji 4 night package $1,950 Chelsey Morphis	Private 3 Hour Lightroom Session $450 Dionna House	Amun Ini Beach Resort & Spa Philippines Bohol Island 4 night package $1,300 Roeland Papen	Nauticam Gift Certificate $500 Patrick Webster	Blackbeards Cruises Gift Certificate - 1 week scuba adventure $995 Jessica Kendall-Bar
Fantasea a6500 housing $980 Julia Ottenstein	Pelican 1630 with padded dividers $370 Sam Lavorato Pelican 1640 with foam $260 Thomas Martinache Pelican 1600 with foam $159 Nathan Coy Pelican 1450 with foam $100 Stephanie Wilson & Tiffany Poon	Aquarius Dive Shop Open water class $349 Preston Bancroft & JR Sosky Aquarius Dive Shop Air Fill Card $50 Cheryl Mitchell & Jane Call & Tim Nelson & Lauren Tabata	Sea Explorers Philippines 4 night package $800 Jennifer Hopper	Olympus TG-5 Camera & Housing Bundle $750 Mackenzie Massey
Bamboo Reef Suunto Zoop Console $425 Elannah Smith Bamboo Reef Fill Cards $60 Phil Lemley & Andrew Feifarek & Evan Cooley &	Keldan Gift Certificate $500 Brad Brown	Light & Motion Sola Video 2000 F $400 Brittania Junes GoBe 850 Wide $200 Susan Brown	Kraken Hydra 2000 Light $299 Vincent Hwang	Ikelite Gamma Mark II Light $100 Chris Jeans & Rodolfo Gonzalez Luna & Tammy Fouts & Marcia Lane & Brian Correiar & Paula Butler Ikelite PC Lite $60 Daniel Schwartz
Channel Islands Dive Adventures Two Day Trip $365 Curtis Wee Single Day Trip $150 Michelle Manson	xit404 Tripod bracket & ball adapter legs $515 Tom O'Leary	Ultralight Gift Certificate $100 Michael Langhanas	Knekt KDT Dive Trigger $170 Garrett Henderson	Sea&Sea YS-01 Strobe $426 Reggie Brown
Monterey Bay Diving Regulator & BCD Service $200 Karl Lindstrom Hydro $50 Camilla Hall	Isotta GoPro 5 Underwater Housing $400 Maria Sokova	Monterey Bay Aquarium Admission & Tour Package for 6 $390 Scott Harrison	Breakwater Scuba Oceanic OCI Computer with transmitter $1,200 Elannah Smith	LenzO Underwater S.E.A iPhone 6/6s case $295 Melissa Thomas
DUI Trim Weight System $124 Brian Herold	Bradley Photographic Print Services 16x20 Print $128 Mark Krag & Kevin Willoh	Stix Arm & Float Belt Set $250 Joan Teng	Beachopper II Open Charter Gift Certificate $80 Michael Chalup	Delkin Devices BLACK USB 3.0 Memory Card Reader for CF, SD & microSD & 8GB Card $70 Laurence Cohn
Dive Mola 1 t-shirt & 2 pint glasses & stickers $60 Donnie Nelson	Prawno $25 Gift Certificate Luis F Gomez & Julie Lucas	Think Tank Spectral 10 Shoulder Bag $166 Ken Bailey	iTorch Smart Housing $299 Julian Gunther	Sport Diver Magazine Subscription $29 Brook Peterson
Scuba Diving Magazine Subscription $20 Alison Smith	Monterey Derby Dames Tickets & T-Shirt $40 Maggie Mcfarland	Silver Prince 3-tank trip $115 Leon Burda	Sanctuary Charters 1 day 2 tank diving $96 John Cast	Fisheye FIX Neo Mini 1000 SW Focus Light $299 Chris Ramos
OMS Tattoo Mask with UV Protection Lens $99 David Lane Two Window Frameless Mask Black Skirt $60 Monica Clare

$30,000 IN PRIZES FROM OUR AMAZING SPONSORS

The Monterey Shootout is primarily a social and educational event, but the serious level of prizes is what drives us to envision images weeks in advance, make extra long dives to pull off a shot, and feel the motivation from competition nipping at your heels. Thus, it's with great thanks that we honor the generous support of all of our great sponsors. Thank you sponsors for motivating our cold-water image-makers to new personal bests!

COMMENTS FROM THE JUDGES

This year's photo judges included Chuck Davis, Todd Winner, and Berkley White. Judging is no easy task, especially when there's serious creative effort on display from over 500 photographs. While visibility was a bit low, the animals were on full display. The judges were impressed by beautiful images of jellies and our local favorite harbor seals and nudibranchs. Selecting the Best-of-Show image was the most difficult decision. It was narrowed down to Roeland Papen's beautiful anemone image and a perfect jellyfish image from Clinton Bauder. Ultimately Bauder's jellyfish image was determined to have best captured the amazing experience of diving Monterey this weekend and received the honor of Best-of-Show award.

In the video judging room, Carl Miller, Matt Ferraro, and Jim Decker had an even greater challenge. As with past years, the top awards teetered on a balance of story telling and traditional image quality, but the quality of videos were at an all time high. This year, honorable mention awards were given to videos that would have placed first in previous contests. Ultimately, the solid and clean macro scenes from Kate Vylet won well-deserved top honors as the best of 2017. Patrick Webster's comedic story placed second and Joe Platko's time lapse placed third. However, the creativity of the honorable mentions is inspiring and the comedic story telling of the runners up deserve your attention. If you want to be inspired, watch all of the Monterey Shootout entries to learn how you can make a video that captures your audience in just 36 hours.

Congratulations and hats off to all who participated in the 2017 Monterey Shootout!


CHUCK TRIBOLET BEST OF SHOW AWARD

Chuck was a brilliant engineer by day and the de facto mayor of diving Monterey via small boats by weekend. He introduced many of us to early GPS systems, ocean weather sleuthing, and helped pioneer diving in Monterey. He was a major advocate of marine conservation and facilitated the judging of the Monterey Shootout and California Beach Photo Competition for over 20 years. Winner of this prize will receive a large print of their image courtesy of Bradley Photographic and Backscatter. The print will be displayed at Backscatter and then passed on to the winning photographer.

WINNERS - Advanced WIDE ANGLE TRADITIONAL

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

WINNERS - Advanced WIDE ANGLE UNRESTRICTED

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1 Honorable Mention 2

WINNERS - Advanced MACRO Traditional

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

WINNERS - Advanced MACRO Unrestricted

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

WINNERS - INTERMEDIATE WIDE ANGLE TRADITIONAL

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1 Honorable Mention 2

WINNERS - INTERMEDIATE WIDE ANGLE UNRESTRICTED

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

WINNERS - INTERMEDIATE MACRO Traditional

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1 Honorable Mention 2

WINNERS - Intermediate MACRO Unrestricted

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place

WINNERS - BeginneR WIDE ANGLE TRADITIONAL

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place

WINNERS - BEGINNER WIDE ANGLE UNRESTRICTED

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

WINNERS - BEGINNER MACRO TRADITIONAL

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

WINNERS - BEGINNER MACRO UNRESTRICTED

1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention 1

VIDEO WINNERS - MONTAGE
1st Place - Kate Vylet	2nd Place - Patrick Webster	3rd Place - Joe Platko
Honorable Mention - Susan Brown	Honorable Mention - Brad Brown	Honorable Mention - Alex Seys
VIDEO WINNERS - SNAPSHOT WIDE ANGLE
1st Place - Joe Platko	2nd Place - Brad Brown	3rd Place - Britannia Junes
HM - Susan Brown	HM - Ken Bailey	HM - Brian Herold
VIDEO WINNERS - SNAPSHOT MACRO
1st Place - Joe Platko	2nd Place - Jon Anderson	3rd Place - Alex Seys
HM - Brian Herold	HM - Susan Brown	HM - Leon Burda
NON-WINNING, BUT AWESOME VIDEOS
Mike Costa	John Cast	Lisa Tennis
Cheryl Mitchell	Brian Herold	Camilla Hall
Brian Slater	Phil Lemley	Emily Simpson
Britannia Junes	Dylan Silver
All 2017 Photo Entries

SEMINAR PRESENTERS & JUDGES

Berkley White Berkley White is the founder of Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo which has grown to be the largest underwater photographic equipment supplier is the USA. Since 1994, Backscatter helped develop a community of local cold water divers and has now spent years supporting a thriving tribe of international artists, film makers, and first time shooters from its locations in Monterey, California and Derry, New Hampshire in the USA. For more about Backscatter or articles on equipment and techniques, please see: http://www.backscatter.com Berkley's images and technical articles are regularly published in international magazines and he regularly serves a photographic judge or technical editor on publications. He is also a major promoter for educational events designed for both industry and consumer users such as the Digital Shootout and the DEMA Imaging Center. To learn more about his intensive educational events, please see: http://www.thedigitalshootout.com. Berkley runs a limited schedule of exotic photo safaris each year. From the warm diverse waters of Indonesia to the cold adventure of Alaska, Berkley's shared adventures are always scheduled to be at the best time with the best local knowledge for image makers. For a complete schedule of events, please see his travel company: http://www.underexposures.com. Jim Decker As the CEO of Backscatter, Jim is one of the top experts in the world on underwater photo and video equipment and shooting technique. From SLRs to compacts and handycams to broadcast video, Jim has shot video and photo systems from all the major underwater manufacturers and has been a consultant on many of the designs seen in the water today. Jim has also consulted with many professional photographers, production companies, resorts, and magazines including Mythbusters, Discovery Channel, Sport Diver Magazine, Scuba Diving Magazine, Into The Drink, National Geographic, Freshwaters Illustrated, and many more. Erin Quigley Erin Quigley is a Adobe ACE certified imaging expert specializing in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. She is an award-winning underwater photographer, and creator of GoAskErin.com, which provides resources and training specifically developed for underwater shooters. Erin leads trips and teaches workshops worldwide, and currently writes the Imaging Training column for Scuba Diving magazine. Scott Campbell Out of reach and out of sight for many, the underwater world comes alive through the ethereal black and white images of world class freediver Scott Campbell. Campbell's breath hold skills allow him to approach marine subjects differently than photographers that rely on SCUBA. All of Scott's work is captured on a breath of air, commonly called Freediving. Scott spent 5 years competing on the US Freediving Team and set numerous records for depth and duration. He has held his breath for over seven and a half minutes and can dive to 200 feet. These skills, coupled with his photography background, produce work that is unique to the blue water environment. Carl Miller Though born in England, filmmaker Carl Miller has spent most of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Believing that motion picture films can harbor magnificent influence toward creating positive change, Carl obtained a degree in film production at San Diego State University. With degree in hand, he returned to the Bay Area to work for George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic. There, he "cut his teeth" in the industry for 20 years on more than 30 major motion pictures, and quickly grew into a position as a Visual Effects Director of Photography. Carl was awarded for Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture, by the Visual Effects Society, for PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Dead Man's Chest. Concurrently, he independently created a 90 minute video about Scuba diving in Monterey, and sold thousands of copies.Carl was the Creative & Director for the $1/2 million DLP Cinema trailer, "Birth of an Image," which opened theaters all over the world. With an ongoing desire to tell cinematic stories, Carl began his personal dramatic filmmaking career with the motion picture RETALIATION, which has played at prestigious film festivals. He was involved as the Cinematographer to reshoot about 50% of George Lucas' latest film RED TAILS. Carl continues working in cinema as a Producer / Director / Cinematographer / and Writer. Mike Bartick Mike was raised in sunny Southern California just a short distance from the shores of the Pacific Ocean. An avid diver and marine wildlife enthusiast, he turned to photography to capture and share some of his diving experiences with others. His first underwater camera was borrowed from a buddy to take on one of the frequent family trips to Hawaii. Needless to say he has never returned that camera and from that trip forward he was hooked. His obsession for photographing critters has taken him all over the world and while he admits to loving the warm waters of the tropics his first love will always be the frigid California waters. Mike's work is featured in magazines, text books, calendars and more and can be found worldwide. He is a small animal expert that frequently leads groups of photographers into Asia to seek out that special critter. Jason Bradley Jason Bradley has a unique set of skills. He specializes in nature and wildlife photography both underwater and above; he's the owner and operator of Bradley Photographic Print Services—a fine art print lab; he leads photographic expeditions around the world, he is the author of the book Creative Workflow in Lightroom, published by Focal Press, and is a blogger for Outdoor Photographer Magazine. Visit Jason's site to see more of his work, to learn about fine art printing, and find info on his upcoming workshops and expeditions. Russ Sanoian Russ Sanoian is the product manager at Backscatter and a freelance underwater and nature videographer based in Monterey, California. Russ has extensive use with most of the current manufacturers video and still housings being offered in todays market. Russ has been diving closed circuit rebreathers and underwater scooters for the last 10 years and entered the industry as a lead technical sales person with Light & Motion. Russ joined Backscatter as product manager where he constantly evaluates the latest camera technology and blends imaging techniques with the art of technical diving. Russ is well known in the diving industry as a great educator and mentor of new photographers and technical divers and is always available for imaging and technical support. Russ's film credits include PBS expeditions to the Andrea Doria, CBC "The Nature of Things", DPTV "Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes", BBC "Life" series and "Million Dollar Otters", Local Television shows and several projects in the cenotes of Mexico and freshwater caves in Florida. Matt Ferraro Matt Ferraro has been the lead cinematographer for the Cousteaus for the last 15 years. From the tannin brown waters of the Amazon to the crystal blue below Arctic ice, Matt has documented stunning wildlife behavior and the Cousteau team in every corner of the Earth. Matt's camera experience is as diverse as his travels. Matt cut his teeth on 35mm motion picture film, progressed through all professional video formats and is an expert with the latest digital cinema cameras such as the 6K Red Dragon. Matt's long list of credits includes the award winning 11 hour seven-episode PBS series Ocean Adventures and the record breaking Mission 31. As a deep tech and closed circuit rebreather diver, Matt documented the rarely visited wreck of the USS Monitor, was the part of the first team in 19 years to touch down on Cordell Bank and was one of the first to record the twilight reefs of the Northwester Hawaiian Islands. While continuing production work and his passion for ocean conservation, Matt is currently employing his hard won skills in a newly created position for him at Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo as Resident Cinematographer.