8th Anilao Underwater Shootout

Staff · Issue 133, Jul/Aug 2023 · pp. 44–47

Take a look and prepare to be amazed by the view of the images awarded during the 8th Anilao Underwater Shootout (AUS2023), which took place from 22 to 26 May in the warm water of Mabini, in Batangas province of the Philippines. The awarded pictures highlighted the area’s rich biological treasures and captured teeming marine biodiversity, the beauty that lies beneath the surface and the hidden creatures. Geographically located between Maricaban and Mindoro Straits, called the Verde Island Passage, Anilao is a place of extraordinary marine life, acclaimed as the planet’s second top macro diving destination, sometimes called the “Centre of the Centre of Marine Biodiversity” and a Marine Protected Sanctuary. Competitor Eric Javier, who won the DOT Photographer Year title in the Compact class with the picture of Radial Filefish, said that “Anilao is an underwater photographers’ perfect playg…