My Portfolio
JP Trenque
I learnt to dive in France in 1980, when I was 9 years old. Our
family holidays were usually spent on the South coast of France, near
Banyuls, where I discovered the beauty of the Med. I picked-up my
first camera in the mid 90's, but was shooting video
back then. Although I enjoyed moving images, I was
certainly no Peter Scoones and could not put a nice
story together. In 2002, my wife Jane started shooting
underwater stills and a year later, I swapped the video
camera for a D100. I enjoyed shooting digital stills
immensely and learnt lots from other photographers
at BSoUP meetings
and on various trips. In 2004, a great deal of luck in Ras Mohammed
led to a 3rd place in Black & White prints at the
Antibes World Underwater Images Festival. Another image
taken during that trip won the BBC Photographer of
the Year award in 2005.
I
am also a keen UK diver and wouldn't miss events
like the St Abbs Splash-in for anything. This summer
was particularly prolific, possibly because of a
combination of warmer than usual water and late
plankton bloom. Thanks to Charles Hood, we had a
memorable encounter with basking sharks, one of
which I included in this year's BoB Portfolio.
|
 |
1.
D100 with 60mm lens. 1/60sec at f/32. Twin strobes
.
This
nudi was taken in Portland, on the last dive of the
Photosub Splash-in early spring 2005. The weather
had taken a turn for the worse and only Jane, Bob
Soames and myself were mad enough to get back in
the water. As a treat, the skipper took us to location
I cannot disclose for legal reasons. It was nudi-city
! |
 |
2.
D200 with 20mm lens. 1/200 sec at f/6.3. Ambient light.
I
love playing with seals. Last July, we were heading
to Lundy Island with Jo Horrocks and Keith Lyall.
The sea was a bit bumpy and Clive,
the skipper asked us to don our drysuits. As I put
mine on, the neck seal ripped. After a not-so-successful
attempt at repairing it with gaffer-tape, Keith lent
me his suit, which enabled me to get a few harbour
seal shots on the eastern side of the island. If you
ask Jo nicely, she might show you some of her video
footage of the seals that day. |
 |
3.
D200 with 16mm lens. 1/60 sec at f/2.8. Ambient light
while snorkelling.
After
the BSoUP Splash-in, Jane & I together with Linda & Brian
Pitkin, headed to Penzance to pay a visit to the recently emigrated
Charles Hood. The weather was a bit breezy and damp and we didn't
expect much as we launched Charlie's RIB. 10 minutes later, it was
basking shark soup just outside Penzance. To put things into
perspective, at some point, Brian suggested Jane jumped in the water
as a basker was heading straight at us. Jane's reply was the quote of
the day: "Nah, it's not worth it ! There's only
one there !" |
 |
4.
D200 with 16mm lens. 1/80 sec at f/8 and ISO 400.
Twin strobes.
Another
Lundy beauty, this compass jellyfish was shot on
the wreck of the Roberts. The visibility could have
been better that day, but considering it was blowing
a howly out there, we were lucky to dive at all.
After an interesting night camping at the top of
the island, we were quite lucky find a break in the
storm and head back to the main land on the Sunday.
Our luck ran out in the evening, when France lost
the world cup to Italy. |
 |
5.
D100 with 60mm lens. 1/80 at f/5.6 and ISO 250. Twin
strobes.
I
love the south-west coast of Britain. Last summer,
we organised a trip to Looe. Although the Saturday's
main attractions were the James Eagan Layne and the
Scylla, we spent the Sunday diving near Fowey. On
the afternoon dive, a couple of John Dories made
an appearance. They are surprisingly difficult to
photograph when they don't want to cooperate ! |
 |
6.
D200 with 10.5mm lens. 160sec at f/8 on ISO 200. Twin
strobes.
I
could not finish without a picture from St Abbs.
The day after the competition, our skipper Billy
took us to a site near Eyemouth where Jane & I
spent a long time in the shallows. I took quite a few
shots of Jane playing in the kelp just under the surface
and thought this picture of her looking up and towards
the right of the image would complement the portfolio
nicely. |
|
