Damir Zurub
Damir Zurub was born in 1976 in Zagreb. His diving career began at the end of 2007, and he dived into underwater photography in 2011, with a small Fuji compact camera. Over time, all this turned into a passionate hobby with which he began to collect a large number of medals and recognitions from various domestic and foreign competitions and underwater photography festivals in just four years.
The peak of his career came in May 2015, when as the captain of the Croatian national team, he won the title of the world champion at the 15th CMAS World Championship in Underwater Photography in the Netherlands as the best all-around photographer, winning one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in 3 different categories (macro, close-up with subject and ambient with model). Likewise, in 2019, he won second place at the CMAS World Championship in Spain, and in 2021, he won his second and new world championship title in Portugal.
Damir currently works as an SSI diving instructor and is also a worldwide brand ambassador for the companies Mares, Marelux and Garmin.
His photos have been published in magazines, newspapers and websites all over the world, and he also has a dozen independent exhibitions where he shows all the beauty of the underwater world on his travels. As the founder and president of the diving club “Diving is a Must“, he initiated a series of diving projects.
The first was the environmental project “Think Green”, then he started the “Underwater Photo Marathon” as an online and finally live competition in underwater photography, and he is particularly proud of the latest project “Blue Diving Heart for SOS Children’s Village Croatia“. The goal of this project is to educate children without adequate parental care up to the Instructor Diving category, giving them the opportunity to continue their young lives as independent and successful people in the diving industry.
He is most interested in ambient (wide-angle) photography with the model, and it is precisely through these photographs that he likes to show all the beauty of the undersea and everything he experiences on his travels. He has spent most of his time outside the Adriatic Sea diving countless times in the Egyptian Red Sea, in almost all of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, the Philippines, the Bahamas, the Maldives, Jordan, the Azores and other tempting tropical destinations, and he also likes to dive in Austrian lakes and various caves and freshwater springs.
damir.zurub@gmail.com
Awards
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship in category (DSLR) – Dubrovnik 2022
▪ 1st on Croatian UW Photography Championship in category Macro – Dubrovnik 2022
▪ 1st on Croatian UW Photography Championship in category Fish – Dubrovnik 2022
▪ 1st on Croatian UW Photography Championship in category Ambient – Dubrovnik 2022
▪ 1st on Croatian UW Photography Championship Best Of Show – Dubrovnik 2022
▪ 1st on Open Championships in Underwater Photography (DSLR) – Dubrovnik 2022
▪ 1st in category Ambient on Abyss Underwater Photography Contest – Italy 2022
▪ 1st in category Ambient on Underwater Photography Contest DPD Soča – Slovenia 2022
▪ 1st in category Macro on Underwater Photography Contest DPD Soča – Slovenia 2022
▪ 1st in Best Of Show on Underwater Photography Contest DPD Soča – Slovenia 2022
▪ 3rd in Overall on Underwater Photography Contest DPD Soča – Slovenia 2022
▪ 3rd in category Behavior on UPY Underwater Photographer of year contest – England 2022
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship in category (DSLR) – Vrsar 2021
▪ 1st on Open Championships in Underwater Photography (DSLR) – Vrsar 2021
▪ 1st in category Portfolio on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Bulgaria 2019
▪ 3rd in category Fresh Water on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Bulgaria 2019
▪ 3rd in category Macro on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Singapore 2018
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship in category (DSLR) – Rab 2018
▪ 1st on Open Championships in Underwater Photography (DSLR) – Rab 2018
▪ 1st on Croatia Cup in Underwater Photography (DSLR) – Vis 2017
▪ 1st on Open Cup Underwater Photography (DSLR) – Vis 2017
▪ 2nd on World Shoot Out in category Wide Angle (DSLR) – Israel 2017
▪ 2nd on Kapolda Cup in category Wide Angle (DSLR) – Indonesia 2017
▪ 1st in the overall ranking on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Sarajevo 2016
▪ 1st in category Macro on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Sarajevo 2016
▪ 2nd in category Creativity on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Sarajevo 2016
▪ 3rd on 37. Zagreb Photo Salon – Zagreb 2016
▪ 3rd on DRM Open in Underwater Photography (DSLR) – Piran 2016
▪ 1st on Kapolda Cup in category Wide Angle (DSLR) – Indonesia 2015
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship category DSLR – Pag 2015
▪ 2nd on Open Underwater Photography Championship category DSLR – Pag 2015
▪ 1st and Grand Prix reward on 11. International Festival of Underwater Film and Photography – Pančevo 2015
▪ 2nd Croatian Underwater Photography Championship category DSLR – Pag 2014
▪ 3rd on Open Underwater Photography Championship category DSLR – Pag 2014
▪ 1st in category Wide angle on Online Underwater Photography Contest – Sarajevo 2014
▪ 1st on Croatia Cup in Underwater Photography – Dubrovnik 2013
▪ 1st on Open Croatia Cup in Underwater Photography – Dubrovnik 2013
▪ 2nd on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography – Bela Crkva 2013
▪ Best of show – best of show photo on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography – Bela Crkva 2013
▪ 2nd in category Creative on IUPC (International Underwater Photography Cup) – Bled 2013
▪ 3rd in category Ambient on IUPC (International Underwater Photography Cup) – Bled 2013
▪ 2nd in Underwater Photography contest on Dragorlux diving games – Pag 2013
▪ 2nd on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship in category DSLR – Hvar 2013
▪ 2nd on IUPC (International Underwater Photography Cup) season 11/12 – Ljubljana 2013
▪ 3rd place in the category Macro on Austria Nikon Salzkam UW Trophy 2012 – Attersee
▪ 3rd place in the category Wide on Austria Nikon Salzkammergut UW Trophy 2012 – Attersee
▪ 3rd place in overall order on Austria Nikon Salzkammergut UW Trophy 2012 – Attersee
▪ 1st on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography in category compact- Bela Crkva 2012
▪ 1st in category Wide on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography – Bela Crkva 2012
▪ 2n in category Macro on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography (Compact) – Bela Crkva 2012
▪ 3rd in category Fish on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography (Compact) – Bela Crkva 2012
▪ Second place with club/team on Open Serbian Cup in Underwater Photography (Compact) – Bela Crkva 2012
▪ 1st on Croatian UW Photography Championship in category Compact – Kraljevica 2012
▪ 2nd on Open Underwater Photography Championship in category Compact – Kraljevica 2012
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Cup – compact – Rovinj 2012
▪ 1st on IUPC Open Croatian Underwater Photography Championship, Compact – Rovinj 2012
▪ 2nd on DRM Online Underwater Photography Contest – Slovenija 2012
▪ 1st in category composition in Pančevo (Srbija) on 9th International Underwater Film and Photo Festival 2012
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Cup – compact Rovinj 2011
▪ 3rd on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship, Compact – Rovinj 2011
▪ 1st Croatian Underwater Photography Championship, Compact – Split 2011
▪ 1st Open Croatian Underwater Photography Championship, Compact Split 2011
▪ 1st on DRM Open 2011 Underwater Photography Championship , Compact – Piran 2011
▪ 1st on Croatian Underwater Photography Championship, Compact – Dugi Otok – Sali 2010
▪ 3rd on Croatia CUP in underwater photography (compact) Rovinj 2010
▪ 3rd on IUPC Ghisleri in underwater photography (compact) Trst 2010
▪ Nagrada Ponos Hrvatske 2023
▪ CMAS President of the jury – CMAS World UW Photography Championship – Cuba 2023
▪ CMAS Jury member – CMAS European UW Photography Championship – Madeira 2022
▪ Member of CMAS Visual Sports Commissions for Video & Underwater Photography – Italy 2017-2021.
▪ Acknowledgment/Plaque of the Embassy of Indonesia for the Best Promotion of Indonesia through Film and Photography – Zagreb 2016
▪ Nomination of the Croatian Olympic Committee in final selection for athletes of the year – Zagreb 2015
▪ Nomination – Croatian Olympic Committee final selection for athletes of the year Zagreb 2014