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This
year the British Society of Underwater Photographers celebrates
its 25th anniversary. Founded back in 1967 by Peter Scoones
and Colin Doeg, who were brought together by a wrongly addressed
competition entry, the Society had a very modest beginning
(see Colin's articles 'Those
were the days' Part 1 and 'Those
were the days' Part 2). The Society's aims were much the
same as they are today - to encourage and develop underwater
photography in all its aspects from slides to cine and video.
Meetings
in the early days were held in member's houses and all participants
were eager to share their pioneering underwater photographic
experiences. At that time, most members were housing their
own land cameras and the methods employed had varying degrees
of success. Sharing their experiences helped overcome some
of the problems and resulted in some exceptional photographs
frequently taken with available light only or in combination
with unreliably triggered flashbulbs.
As
interest in underwater photography increased so the Society
outgrew the members' front rooms. More than 1200 underwater
photographers have joined BSoUP in the last 25 years, although
only about a quarter of these, including the two founders,
are current members.
The
Society has held its monthly meetings in a succession of different
venues ranging from the Bull & Mouth in Bloomsbury, through
the Sherlock Holmes in Baker Street, to the Challoner Club
in Knightsbridge and Imperial College in South Kensington.
We
now hold their monthly meetings on the third Wednesday of
each month at the Holland Club, Sherfield Building, Imperial
College, South Kensington at 7.30 for 8.00 p.m.
Since
December 1984,the Society has produced a more or less regular
bimonthly newsletter, IN FOCUS.
This is sent to all members and contains news of meetings,
festivals and competitions worldwide, items on underwater
photography, sites, equipment, readers letters and equipment
and book reviews, gear for sale, photo dive charters and expeditions.
All members are strongly encouraged to submit copy to IN FOCUS.
Some
members are particularly keen to participate in photographic
competitions. For those who have yet to win a major prize,
there is an annual Beginner's
Portfolio Competition for the Diver Trophy and a cash
prize donated by Diver Magazine. There is also an annual Best
of British Competition for the BSoUP Trophy and an annual
Open Portfolio Competition.
The
Society organises an annual Splash-in
in Plymouth, Devon and this is linked to a photographic competition.
One feature of this event is a competition for the best picture
taken underwater in the vicinity on the day. For the past
five years this event has been sponsored by AGFA (UK) Ltd
who have provided all film and processing chemicals. Exposed
films are processed by volunteers the same evening and then
judged by all the members and their guests who are present
at the viewing, This year's event takes place on Saturday
6 June.
BSoUP
members have dominated most home-based national and international
competitions such as the Brighton
Festivals and Cameras
Beneath the Waves. Some have gone on to win overseas International
events including the CMAS
World Championships. Others have distinguished themselves
in the world of television and cinema as cinematographers
and or directors of advertisements, natural history documentaries
and feature films, some of which are being shown over the
weekend at CPEX'92.
The
Society has organised two film festivals in the past, - one
held at the Commonwealth Institute in 1980, hosted by Canadian
cinematographer Stanton Waterman and sponsored by BSoUP and
the BSAC; and the other in 1985, 'Underwater
Photography 85', featuring two world premiers.
In
more recent times BSoUP has been responsible for the film
shows at CPEX and in addition to
showing a superb selection of underwater films this year will
be mounting a display of some of the best pictures taken by
members over the last 25 years to mark its Silver Anniversary.
Reproduced
from in focus 44 (March/April
1992)
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