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News - December 2003

Open Portfolio Portfolio Competition 2003
Focus on Final 2003
Image 2004 Calendar
Top Sexy Moment
Out of the blue by Colin Bateman - new book

Fish Face by David Doubilet - new book
Next BSoUP Meeting - December
BS-AC Travel Club Photo Competition
Underwater Photography Magazine
PhotoDeal - digital print offer

BSoUP Open Portfolio Competition 2003

Congratulations to Charles Hood, who won this year's Open Portfolio Competition, with the first ever all-digital entry (reproduced on slide film).

Second place went to Len Deeley and third to Linda Dunk. A total of 18 portfolios were submitted.

Colin Doeg (right) presents the Open Portfolio Trophy
to Charles Hood [Photo: Pete Ladell]

BSoUP Focus On final

Congratulations to Anita Marshall who won this year's Focus on Final with a stunning portrait of a Leafy Sea Dragon (see cover of in focus No. 76 and Image 2004 Calendar).

Second and third place went to Jane Morgan, with two equally stunning pictures of a school of dolphin and a shark.

Image Calendar 2004 - free with DIVER

DIVER Magazine are gving away their Image Calendar 2004 with the December issue. The calendar, promoting the Image 2003, Festival of Underwater Photography and Film organised by DIVER in association with BSoUP, features winning images by Alan James, Mirko Zanni , Marchione Giacomi, Ernst Seeling, Roy Waller, Lesley Maw, Alexander Mustard, Anita Marshall, Ken Sullivan, Zac Macauley, Will Postlethwaite and Werner Thiele.

Further images

Download full results as a pdf file or link to DIVER Magazine

Cover photo: Male cuckoo wrasse by Alan James

Dive goddess Ursula voted 'sexiest screen moment'

The sight of Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in James Bond film Dr No inspired generations of divers, and has now been voted the 'sexiest screen moment' in a public vote on Channel 4.

Ursula Andress as
Honey Ryder in Dr No

Channel 4 put together the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments after thousands of people voted on the issue throughout October.

Despite far more explicit scenes in more recently made films, the relatively innocent footage of Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in a bikini with a diving knife strapped to her waist clearly has a sexual resonance that has endured for over 40 years. Dr No also featured some ground-breaking underwater fight scenes between divers.

At number two was Sarah Michelle Gellar's kiss with Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions, and third was Salma Hayek dancing topless with a snake in Tarantino's Dusk Til Dawn.

More links of interest
Channel 4 website - Greatest Sexy Moments

Out of the blue by Colin Bateman

Colin Bateman died in 2002 aged just 49. His wife Lorraine has produced a limited edition 157-page book to help generate funds for the Scuba Trust, a charitable organisation whose aim is to give people with physical disabilites an oppurtunity to experience the pleasure and excitement of snorkelling and SCUBA diving.

For a copy of the book either e-mail Lorraine or Ocean Optics

Fish Face by David Doubilet

This book takes a look at the work of David Doubilet, widely acclaimed as the world's leading underwater photographer. He has photographed fish for over 25 years and 'Fish Face' looks at the most colourful, fun and bizarre fish he has encountered. This book should appeal to anyone who has ever wondered about the variety of fish living in our oceans and to naturalists and photographers alike.

Hardcover: 408 pages; Dimensions (in inches): 1.35 x 7.62 x 5.26
Publisher: Phaidon Press Inc.; (September 2003) ISBN: 0714843016

BSoUP Meeting Wednesday 17 December at 7.30 for 8.00 p.m.

Annual event: Focus on Final. The winning and second place slides from monthly meetings compete for the BSoUP Focus ob Trophy.

Annual event: Open Portfolio Competition. All comers compete for the BSoUP Open Portfolio Trophy.

Special event: Image 2003 - winning slides, portfolios and prints from this year's International Festival of Underwater Photography and Film organised by DIVER in association with BSoUP

Annual event: Party

Launch of BS-AC Travel Club Annual Photography Award - 2004

The British Sub-Aqua Club is delighted that world-renowned photographer and author David Doubilet launched the first Travel Club Photographic Award at BSAC Diving Officers' Conference in London on 29 November 2003, the 50th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Club. It is intended that the Award will be made annually. The presentation of the Photographer of the Year Award will be made in the autumn each year at BSAC's Diving Officers' Conference.

All entries, which must be underwater photographs, must be submitted via the photographic section of the Travel Club website.

The Award, which is open to divers of all agencies, will be held in two parts. There will be a monthly competition with the six best photographs published on the website, the best of which will be selected as the 'Star Shot'. Each of the 'Star Shots' during the year will go forward to the final, the winner of which will become 'Photographer of the Year'. There is a particularly fitting prize too - a thrilling Coral Sea Adventure trip to the Great Barrier Reef and Osprey Reef on the research and conservation vessel Underwater Explorer. This is bound to captivate the imagination of both budding and experienced photographers everywhere.

Up to three separate photographic entries can be submitted each month per person as digital attachments via the entry form, which can be found with full details at: www.bsactravelclub.co.uk

Underwater Photography is a web magazine edited by Peter Rowlands with articles by BSoUP members and others.

The December/January 2003/4 issue of Underwater Photography (UwP no. 16) is now available for download free at Underwater Photography.

Cover Photo: Amos Nachoum

Digital Pro Deal

Digital photography offers instant results but if you want a high-quality print from one of the pictures you have on file, you usually need to get down to a high street outlet. The Digital Camera Company now provides a digital software solution, enabling you to order your prints on-line and have them delivered to your home within five working days. Its introductory offer provides the first five prints free.

Digital Camera Company, www.photodeal.co.uk