All entries will be returned and awards presented by as soon as possible.

Michael Purcell
Michael was born and raised in Southern California and has had an affinity for the ocean since childhood. While growing up he was greatly influenced by the adventures of Captain Jacques Cousteau and knew that exploring the oceans would become a passion. Michael began diving in 1982 and soon thereafter began taking pictures of the underwater world. His experiences in the ocean and a desire to explore deeper into its secrets guided his education toward a degree in Marine Biology. While in college he began teaching scuba diving classes and discovered a fondness for sharing with others that which he enjoyed so much. Michael went on to apply his biology background and teaching experience in the education profession. For four years he taught high school science and Marine Biology.

While working as an educator, Michael continued to enjoy scuba diving and traveled to exotic destinations around the world. He has been fortunate enough to have visited much of the Caribbean, the South Pacific, western Pacific as well as much of the eastern Pacific. It is during these travels that his passion for underwater photography developed. Scuba diving is a rare and unique experience. He found that sharing this world with pictures was the most effective way to convey its beauty. Michael's passion for underwater photography led him to Sea & Sea where he found an avenue to help many others share this unique experience with their friends and family. As Sales & Marketing Manager of Sea & Sea Underwater Photography, USA (www.seaandsea.com) his goal was to help others understand the potential of sharing the uniqueness of the diving experience with images. Diving is a visual activity and there is no better way to express it.

Michael will always have a passion for the ocean and a desire to share it with others, as he continues to grow in his professional life. New technologies will make sharing this world even easier and hopefully our abilities to share the beauty and fragility of the underwater world will help others understand its importance.

Dan Blodget
Dan Blodget is the owner and operator of Sub Aquatic Camera Repair Company (www.subaquaticcamera.com). Dan started exploring the insides of cameras, strobes and lenses in 1989 while working as an X-Ray Technician. He was also a serious underwater photographer at the time and started repairing underwater cameras on the side. After five years, the repair business had grown rapidly. Dan quit X-Ray work and has been fixing underwater photo equipment full time ever since.

Currently Dan repairs all Nikonos cameras from the Calypso to the RS, in addition to all other brands of underwater cameras and housings. Dan is proudest of his stock of all the parts for Nikonos bodies, lenses and strobes. Dan holds free monthly maintenance classes in Monterey, California and travels statewide to teach as well. Dan gives an intense abridged version of the class every year at DEMA and other retail SCUBA shows. Dan works in conjunction with Backscatter in Monterey; is a warranty repair shop for Sea & Sea, Nikonos, and Aquatica; and a repair shop for D.E.P.P. Insurance Company.

Contact Dan directly for underwater camera maintenance classes, seminars or presentations through his website www.subaquaticcamera.com .

Lorraine Behmis Sadler
Involved in diving since 1960, Lorraine became interested in underwater photography in the 1970's. As an instrument for sharing her passion about the underwater world, she has documented organisms in local waters. Lorraine became a Junior Frogman Instructor in a special LA County Parks and Recreation program. She has been active in the LA County U/W Instructors Unit and the Underwater Instructors Association, participating and leading various educational programs. From 1980-1986 she served on the UIA Board of Directors with her duties including the organization of safety seminars, Instructor Training and writing the LA CO U/W Instructors Manual. Lorraine was awarded LACO's Outstanding Instructor for 1989.

Lorraine is currently an Instructor Trainer and Evaluator for Scuba Schools International. She writes on marine life and is an equipment technician and Equipment Director for the Womens Scuba Association, giving seminars at various dive clubs, and industry trade shows. As an equipment specialist she also consults on, tests and evaluates scuba equipment for magazines such as Rodale's ScubaLab and private manufacturers.

An avid underwater phographer for nearly two decades, she uses her photos and observations to train divers and teach others about the marine world, giving seminars to groups as diverse as pre-schools to elderhostels. She has worked extensively with behavioral aspects of invertebrates such as sea cucumbers and arthropods as well as moray eels. With a degree in three dimensional design she works on combining the artistic with the biological in photos and is very interested in developing creative still photography, video skills, and products of interactive nature.

She is currently working as the hyperbaric technician at the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber and as a Marine Science Instructor for the Wrigley Institute for Environmental studies on Catalina Island. She was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in its inaugural year 2000, was awarded the Avalon Underwater Cleanup Jon Hardy Award and was honored with the California Scuba Service Award in 2001 by California Diving News Publishers Kim and Dale Sheckler.

Josh Kaye-Carr
Josh Kaye-Carr is a independent Media Producer. He is founder and co-owner of Parrotfish Productions (www.parrotfish productions.com), specializing in underwater video. Producing commercial, promotional, public service, and documentary programs since 1987. Broadcast and non-broadcast clients include: American Oceans Campaign, California Marine Mammal Center, Discovery Channel, KCET, The Learning Channel, Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, Marine Mammal Fund, NBC, PBS, Sony Corporation, U.S. Coast Guard.

Josh previously produced corporate and industrial video presentations and multi-media events for Northrop/Grumman Corporation for 12 years. Specialized in aircraft and missile areas, mostly DOD classified. Functioned as Senior Photographer, Audiovisual Writer/Director, Employee Communications Specialist, and Senior Videographer. Other experience includes 3 years as a biological photographer at St.Joseph Medical Center and 2 years as co-owner of Thought Process Press, a commercial lithographic company.

Josh graduated from Notre Dame; photojournalism major, oceanography minor. Josh was born and raised in California and he started SCUBA diving locally at age 8. He now averages between 150-200 dives per year with his wife Staci and they are active in several marine environmental organizations.