BSoUP Meeting - August 2001

by Andy Clark

Reproduced from in focus 72 (October 2001)

PHOTO TECHNIQUE

Learning from your mistakes. It seems that the few of us who attended the August meeting (24 in Wakatobi) are at a stage in their photography of utter contentment. Honed and finely tuned, technique polished to a satisfactory lustre, 'mistakes' have no room in this itinery! Maybe there's a stigma to the word and it's meaning, such to cause embarrassment, to highlight absent-mindedness and haste. "Starting underwater photography!" Warren Williams offered, but I know he doesn't mean it. I could have owned up to shooting frame after frame only to discover I'd failed to turn on my strobe. Or, forgetting to check the ISO number on the display, and shooting whole rolls at an undesirable rating, but I chose not to. Embarrassed? Possibly. Shy? More likely! My mistakes are few, but then I have shot less than twenty rolls. I have plenty more time and many more opportunities to plaster my ageing face with egg. But I'll tell you about them. Promise!

Peter Tatton offered the results and a summary of this years' Fish Hunt. A competition whose judgement lay in the recognition of 'artistic rnerit' as opposed to species identification, the entrants (4), confined to Bovisand harbour - the Bovi shuttle suffering engine failure. However, and despite the disappointment of not reaching the James Egan Lane;

In 3 rd place - Julian Money-Kurl. In 2nd place - Len Deeley. And in 1st place securing the Fish Hunt Trophy and a commemorative shield - Peter Tatton.

"It's not an easy competition!" Peter confessed and went on to offer his rewards and criticism on his own portfolio and a few of the other entrants' images."But it's good fun!" he concluded and keen to keep the competition going, invited us all to take part again next year.

FOCUS ON

August's Focus On Moving subjects attracted 20 entries in the competition. Competitors, consistent in their achievements offered a colourful and varied display including whale sharks, scorpion fish, octopus and jack. Patterns and panning, animated panache. In 4th place with 17 points - Alex Mustard. In 3 rd place with 21 points - J. Cragg - nicely panning a Red Sea turtle. In 2nd place with 22 points - Alex Mustard - cleverly isolating a pair of jacks in a silverside shoal. And in Ist place with 28 points - Ken Sullivan - with a striking lion fish image against surface reflection at Shark Bay. Congratulations!

MAIN EVENT

Linda Pitkin has a new book. 'Coral Fish', her third publication is one of a number of small books in the Natural History Museum 'Life Series' containing factual books 'exploring the panorama of the natural world' on subjects as wide and varied as Lichens and Snakes. Each of the books covers single plants, animal groups or ecosystems, and in that format 'Coral Fish' sets to identify species, groups and sub-groups, habitat, behaviour and conservation of reef life. The 112 pages are testimony to Linda's hard work and dedication over the two years of pain staking research at the NHM 'excellent library'. The 23,000 words and 100 + images were not intended as 'a species identification guide,' Linda explained. 'I wanted to illustrate the points being made in the text.' And she has. The book is packed with vibrant, punchy images with equally illustrative script from all over the world, describing the environment, food and shelter issues and specie interaction.

Coral fish by Linda Pitkin

Favouring her Nik V, Linda has provided a complete picture to life on the reef. 28mm and 15mm for wide angle and an array of extension tubes to produce 2:1, 1:1 and 1:2 images, Linda offered, I may be a bit slow to compose the shots, but they're generally worth it!' And, if change is called for, the Pentax LX, housed in a Hugyphot with Sunpak Marine 32 (& 3200 TTL manual) strobes are put to good use in filling in gaps.

It's an eye-catching book, the cover designed by the NHM graphics team, offers a colourf ul sample of the vividness within. 'It was a lot of work.' Linda confessed. 'So much writing... But I'm happy with the layout.... A rewarding end product!'

...... accessible, authoritative and explorative ' the catalogue of the series submitted. 'Visually delightful,' is all I would add!