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The
Beginners Portfolio Competition 1994 for the Diver Trophy
took place at the November meeting of the Society. The competition
was open to anyone who had not previously been placed in a
national or international competition. Each entrant was invited
to submit a portfolio of six slides taken underwater anywhere
in the world, except in a swimming pool or aquarium.
This
year there were 16 entrants, nine female and seven male. Each
portfolio of six slides was projected three times using six
projectors and a back projection screen. The audience were
invited to vote for their favourite three portfolios in order
of preference.
Third
place with 46 points went to Ken Sullivan. Ken Sullivan, from
Letchworth in Herts, has been diving for nearly 30 years and
taking photographs for 8 years. A regular at BSoUP meetings,
Ken's portfolio slides were taken using either a Nikon F801
in a Subal housing or with a Nikonos V. He uses the housed
Nikon camera with a Nikon SB24 flash in a housing that he
built himself. His portfolio, which came third, comprised
a coral crab taken ona night dive at the Brothers, Red Sea;
a hammerhead shark taken in the Galapagos Islands using a
Nikonos V with 15 mm lens in natural light; a Masked Puffer
taken again on a night dive at the Brothers; a diver and Clown
Fish taken at the Pinnacles, Eilat; a wreck taken at the Dolpin
Park, Eilat in natural light; and alion fish taken off Coral
Beach, Eilat, using a Sea & Sea YS50 flash.
There
was seemingly a dead heat between Nigel Doe and Malcolm Hey,
whose portfolios each scored 67 points. However, following
a recount, which confirmed a dead heat, the number of first
places was counted for each portfolio. Incredibly the two
portfolios had an identical number of first places, so a count
of the number of second places was made. Nigel scored one
more second place than Malcolm and so became the winner of
this year's Beginners Portfolio Competition.
Malcolm
Hey, entering his first underwater photographic competition,
was "over the moon" to come a very close second. He is a diver
turned photographer, currently a member of Bedford BS-AC.
Malcolm has been diving for fourteen years and is a BS-AC
First Class Diver, Advanced Instructor and former BS-AC Regional
Coach. Having qualified, his interests turned predominantly
to underwater photography. He "played around with an Olympus
Trip in a Birchley housing during 1987 and 1988 with "appalling
results" and then bought a Nikonos V suystem and a Morris
F3 Aquaflash in 1988. He used the system on occasional dives
but was disappointed to find that the new system didn't do
much to improve his photography.
Keen
to learn, Malcolm went on a photographic course with Martin
Edge in August 1990 on the MV Maurenn out of Salcombe. Since
then he has been on numerous courses lead by Martin in Poole,
Bournemouth and many of Martin's Red Sea holiday/expeditions.
He travels a good deal and over the last few years has dived/photographed
in the Maldives, Red Sea, Philippines, Cozumel, Grand Cayman
and various other Caribbean locations. This year he bought
a Nikon F801 camera and a Subal housing.
Malcolm's
six slides included a lion fish taken at Panorama Reef and
a Queen Angel fish taken at Abu Kafan Reef, red Sea using
his Nikon F801 with a 60 mm macro lens at f22 and f11 respectively
on Kodak Elite 100; a portrait of a Soldier Fish taken at
Abu Kafan Reef with the same camera system at f22 on Fuji
Velvia; a wide-angle shot of a diver over gorgonia and soft
corals also at Abu Kafan with a 200 mm lens at f11 on his
Nikon F801 on Kodak film; a macro shot of a yellow feather
star taken in the Isle of Boracay, Philippines using a Nikonos
V with supplementary close-up lens, Morris F3 flash on TTL
with Kodak Ektachrome 100; and a diver over soft coral takenat
Ras Mohammed in the Red Sea usinga 15 mm Sea & Sea lens
at f11 on a NIkonos V with a Morris F3 flash on Kodak Elite.
Nigel,
who lives in Barnes, west London, started diving in 1982,
although he didn't take diving seriously until he joined Harrow
BS-AC in 1991. He used an underwater camera for the first
time on an expedition to the Belize barrier reef with Coral
Cay Conservation and immediately became hooked. He purchased
a Sea & Sea Motormarine II camera on his return to the
UK and started attending BSoUP meetings for inspiration.
The
quality of Nigel's pictures improved steadily, but he realised
that there were still a lot of area where he was making little
or no progress. He set himself a target, that if he
couldn't correct these mistakes by the end of 1993 then he'd
sell the camera and admit defeat. A special BSoUP theory course
organised by Peter Rowlands, followed by a practical course
with Martin Edge helped Nigel overcome most of his problems.
Nigel's
winning portfolio were, with the exception of one slide, taken
with a Nikon F801 camera and 60 mm lens in a Subal housing.
They included a lion fish taken at Moses Rock, Eilat at f8
using aperture priority and SB24 flash on TTL with Fuji Velvia;
a clam taken at Little Moses, Eilat shot at f22 @1/125th
in manual mode; a blacktip grouper taken at Japanese Gardens,
Eilat at about f8 on manual; a yellow mouthed moray again
at Eilat, taken at f22 @1/125th on manual; an anemone
at Anemone City, Ras Mohammed taken with a Motormarine II
with a 20 mm wide-angle lens, a YS50 flash at f11 on Kodak
Elite 100; and an orange sea perch taken at Eilat using a
Nikon F801 on Fuji Velvia.
Last
year's winner, Gavin Anderson, presented Nigel with the Diver
Trophy.
BSoUP
BEGINNERS PORTFOLIO COMPETITION |
