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The third National Festival of Underwater
Photography - Cameras Beneath the Waves - was held at queen Elizabeth
Medical Centre, Birmingham, and was organised by United Birmingham
Hospitals branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club and Diver Magazine.
Attended by some 260 people from all over the
country, Cameras was the culmination of a national underwater
photography competition for British citizens with separate sections
for beginners and experienced underwater photographers.
The award for the Best British Photographer went to David George, who
was given a close run by Alan Youngs. In the beginners, Chris Chiles
was a clear winner with a strong portfolio which would have competed
well in the advanced section.
The event itself began on the Saturday evening with a film show
hosted by Horace Dobbs, For the 300 who attended, this turned out to
be a re-showing of a selection of diving films which emphasisea the
low number of films currently being completed.
The evening climax was reached with Mike Portelly's
film 'Ocean's Daughter', which was the most modern film show but this
is now over two years old so let's hope that more films are being
made to provide us with fresh inspiration.
The main event of Cameras Beneath the Waves took
place on the Sunday with the morning session chaired by Peter
Scoones. The first speaker was Peter Rowlands, who outlined various
ways of improving underwater photographs. The main improvementg he
said, would come from one's attitude to underwater photography.
Concentrating on and planning specific shots would help to give
consistency while darkroom work can turn average shots into effective
slides wither by selective enlarging, colour alteration or
sandwiching two images.
Finally, Peter voiced an opinion on the current
state of British underwater photography saying that the general
standard was higher now than ever before but that there did not seem
to be the creative images coming through as there seemed to be in the
past. He felt that the creative category had been stifled with the
result that we were seeing too many straight-forward marine biology
shots with little in the way of artistic exploitation. The solution,
he suggested, was to encourage land photographers and artists to
sample the underwater medium and to allow more creative images in
future photography competitions.
David George then followed with a talk on
Underwater Photography of Marine Life. He described the simple
close-up equipment that most marine biologists use to take record
shots and discussed the need for composition to lift an ordinary shot
into a pleasing image which still communicates marine information. He
showed how various angles of approach produce differing results and
how cropping unwanted areas can improve effects by concentrating on
the important areas. Not restricted to close-up, David showed
wide-angle shots which are not as widely used in the marine
identification world.
After coffee, Bernard Eaton showed some slides of
Samantha in the Red Sea and of other buddies with comments on how to
brief your buddy to achieve better diver shots. Bernard has dived in
several exotic locations but finds himself teamed up with
non-photographeers who are not always sure how to pose or act for an
underwater photographer.
Mike Portelly then continued on the same theme but
from a different standpoint. His work with models has earned him a
reputation for quality results with excitingly different images. He
described the lengths to which he has to go in order to achieve a
successful result and the time and expense involved. His shots varied
from basically simple diver shots to underwater ballooning on a Red
Sea reef. He attributed his success to determination to produce
results combined with the help of several assistants who ensured that
the diving was safe and that the equipment was functioning at all
times.
Prior to lunch, John Hall described the type of
shots and stories which Diver Magazine are looking to publish.
Himself not an underwater photographer, he used slides from the
competition which he felt were suitable for publication.
Tom Hawkyard followed with a brief talk on
submitting shots to larger circulation magazines such as the Sunday
colour supplements. He ended his talk with a three projector AV shot
in Caribbean waters.
After lunch, Bernard Eaton took the chair to
introduce Mike Portelly, who had the task of presenting the results
of the competition. He showed shots which had not quite made the
grade and built up to the presentation of the trophies which, when
displayed on the rostrum, were a very impressive sight. A list of the
winners is printed at the end of this report.
Once the audience had settled down again, Steve
Birchall talked on his specialist subject - Putting Together Audio
Visuals. He showed the basic equipment need to put on AVs and showed
how different voices can affect the overall presentation. In
addition, he talked of the music choice and also of atmospheric sound
- all of which help to produce a professional product. All of these
elements were well illustrated on their own and then shown all
together in Steve's latest AV - Britain's Underwater Kingdom.
Steve works with Peter Rowlands to produce AVs and
this latest show is aimed at schools to illustrate what the
underwater world is like round the British coast. The show was well
received and was followed by a few illustrations of AV techniques
aimed at improving presentations.
Continuing on the AV theme, Martin Edge and Jim
Eldridge showed their six-projector AV entitled 'Sea of Dreams', This
excellent show illustrates the beauty of the Red Sea both during the
day and at night, and is a constant flow of sympathetically coloured
images blending from one fade to another. The applause at the end
voiced the audience's enthusiastic response to this splendid AV.
Martin gave a brief talk on the history behind the AV.
With time ticking away, the final slot of the day
was Peter Scoones talking on Underwater Film Making. Peter is without
doubt our most talented underwater cameraman but when films are being
made he is one of a crew, all of whom have specific responsibilities,
Underwater filming poses different limitations to the normal roles
and the cameraman becomes a director/cameraman as only one person can
look through and operate the camera.
Peter has been involved in filming for BBC TV's
Natural History Unit together with companies producing both
documentary footage and commercials. His description of some of the
hurdles to be overcome during filming would make most mortals retire
but the film must be shot whatever the difficulty.
As a finale, Peter showed some footage not being
used for a film on cave diving in the Blue Holes of the Bahamas.
Edited together rapidly with a sound track on a separate cassette,
his final showing was a ten minute sequence taken inside the caves
using lighting laid down days before with time allowed for the
visibility to clear.
The result was a fantasia style sequence of
spectacular eaves full of underwater stalagtites and stalagmites. The
Planets Suite music provided superb accompaniment to compliment the
images and produce an eventual result which would be hard to improve.
If this is what can be done with the 'out-takes', one can't wait to
see the final film which should be shown on BBC in the very near
future.
With eyelids dropping after a full day of images
and words, it was decided to drop the Open Forum and Bernard Eaton
closed Cameras at around 6-30pm.
Those who attended saw high quality presentations
which were for the most part well prepared and well illustrated.
However, the presenters were marred and I felt that the organisers
were hindered by the choice of venue. The blackout facilities were
far from perfect and before emergency measures were taken to cover
offending windows, the first two speakers suffered as their images
were projected on to a screen covered with stray light. The internal
lighting on each speaker affected the screen and could have been
avoided by the provision of a small anglepoise light. The seating was
all on one level and can never be as visually comfortable as the
tiered seats normally used in proper photographic venues.
In addition to the lighting/blackout, the venue suffered by having
the catering area right next to the speaker's rostrum and screen. The
result was a very distracting noice as lunch was firstly prepared and
then cleared up afterwards.
Despite the venue and lax time-keeping which led to
a late finish with the final discussion being axed, Cameras was well
received and was supported by a trade show from local and national
companies.
However, how much better it could have been in a
more sympathetic photographically orientated venue. The
idea/principle behind Cameras is sound in its intentions and correct
in its programme but would be enhanced immeasurably by a different
venue for the next event.
A total of 121 people entered 475 prints and 1,257
slides. Of these 120 were from laveon Wood and 100 from Chris Chiles.
Others who contributed to this massive total of entries were Mike
Glover (54), David George (50), Alan Youngs (45), Jack Jackson (42),
David Nance (37), Steve Page (35) and Martin Edge (30).
Two others entered between 25 and 30 prints or
slides, five put in between 20 and 25, nine accounted for 15 to 20
entries, thirteen for 10 to 15 prints or slides, thirty-nine for five
to 10 entries and forty-four people submitted between one and five
entries each.
Broken down in another way, there were 97 black and
white prints. Of these, 21 were from beginners and 76 from advanced
workers. The total of oolour prints was 315. Of these 198 were
submitted by beginners and 117 by more experienced underwater
photographers. A total of 1,035 slides was entered. Of these, 606
came from beginners and 429 from advanced photographers.
In the macro category, there were 63 prints and 222
slides. Beginners submitted 42 of the prints and 131 slides. Advanced
workers accounted for 21 of the prints and 91 slides.
Saturday night's film spectacular was attended by
300 people. Sunday's symposium had an audience of 260.
RESULTS OF CAMERAS BENEATH THE WAVES
Black and white prints. United Kingdom, moving
life, gold medal, Alan Youngs, silver and bronze medals, David
George; still life, gold, silver and bronze medals, Warren Williams.
Mike Portelly Trophy for the beat black and white print (UK), Warren
Williams. O-ent moving life, gold and silver medals, David George,
bronze medal, Alan Youngs; still life, gold medal, David George. The
silver and bronze medals were not awarded. The BSoUP Trophy for the
best black and white print (open), David George.
Colour prints. United Kingdom, moving life, gold
medal, Kevin Cullimore, silver medal, David George, bronze medal, Ian
Goddard, still life, no medals were awarded. The Derek Berwin Trophy
for the beat colour print (UK), Kevin Cullimore. Open, moving life,
gold medal, Alan Youngs, silver medal, Jack Jackson, bronze medal,
Linda Pitkin; still life, silver medal, David George, bronze medal,
Alan Youngs, The gold medal was not awarded. The BS-AC Trophy for the
best colour print (open), Alan Youngs.
Colour slides. United Kingdom, moving life, gold
medal, Kevin Cullimore, silver medal, Brian Pitkin, bronze medal,
M.D. Griffins; still life, gold medal, Charles Hood, silver medal,
Alan Youngs , bronze medal, Ian Irving, highly commended, Warren
Williams. Horace Dobbs Trophy for the best colour slide (UK), Kevin
Cullimore. Open, moving life, gold medal, Alan Youngs, silver medal,
Doug Allan, bronze medal, Alex Double; still life, gold medal, Lawson
Wood, silver and bronze medals, Keith Cunningham. Spirotechnique
Trophy for the best colour slide (open), Alan Youngs.
Macro. Slides, gold medal, Jim Greenfield, silver
medal, Brian Jubb, bronze medal, Keith Cunningham; prints, gold
medal, Alan Youngs, silver medal, Charles Hood, bronze medal, Ian
Goddard. Lady Jenny Trophy for the best macro shot, Jim
Greenfield.
Beginners, gold medal, Christopher Chiles, silver
medal, Martin Edge, bronze medal, Jack Jackson. UBH BS-AC Trophy for
the best beginner, Chris Chiles.
Best British underwater photographer. Diver
Magazine Trophy, David George.
Reproduced from in focus 13 (February 1986)
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