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News - March 2006

Martin Edge's latest book reviewed by Alex Mustard
XARIFA Unterwasser Foto & Video Festival
Good home wanted for Aquatica 90 ports
Theme Portfolio Competition Results
Martin Edge's latest book
March BSoUP Meeting
Theme Portfolio Competition

BSoUP at Go Diving
BSoUP at LIDS
Award-winning image sells for charity
Holiday Prize for BSoUP Splash-in on the day winner
New book on swimming
Antibes Festival re-locates - back to Antibes
Beneath The Sea 2006
New book by Nick Hanna & Alexander Mustard

XARIFA Unterwasser Foto & Video Festival

The XARIFA Unterwasser Foto & Video Festival takes place on October 14 and 15, 2006, in Kelsterbach.

There is still some time to take the winning shots or videos. However, you should not miss the closing date (September 1, 2006). Further details www.uwfv.de/xarifa/ now.

The XARIFA-Team and
Leonore & Karl-Heinz

Good home wanted for Aquatica 90 ports

I have a macro port and a dome port (plus a few gears) for an Aquatica 90 housing that we
would like to find a good home for. It would have to be the original A90 housing with the screw fitting for the ports rather than the 'bayonet' fitting. Otherwise we'd just have to throw them out and it goes against the grain to get rid of something that could still be of use.

The housing itself went back to Aquatica and was unfortunately not able to be repaired. (Actually, I think they lost it, but that's another story).

Paul Travers: e-mail p.travers@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

Theme Portfolio Competition Results

Congratulations to Alex Mustard on winning yet another portfolio competition!

1st - 62 points - Alex Mustard (Circles in the sea)
2nd - 42 Points - Jane Morgan (Sealed with a kiss)
3rd - 41 Points - Anthony Holley (Cuddles)
4th - 40 Points - Pedro Vieyra (Tiger Beach)
5th - 29 points - Annette Price (Commercial Diving)
6th - 26 Points - Martha Tressler (Nemo)

Martin Edge's latest book - The Underwater Photographer : Digital And Traditional Techniques. Focal Press. Oxford, Auckland, Boston, Johannesburg, Melbourne, New Delhi. 256 pages. ISBN: 0240519884

BSoUP member Martin Edge's latest book is scheduled to be published on 27 March this year. It builds on the previous edition by inclusion of digital as well as traditional techniques.

Martin will be on the BSoUP stand (No. 346, see below) at the London International Dive Show at 12.00 - 13.00 on Saturday and Sunday 1-2 April 2006, where he will be available to answer questions on underwater photography and sign copies of his book.

Review by Alex Mustard.

March BSoUP Meeting

The next BSoUP meeting takes place on Wednesday 15th March 2006 at 7.30 for 8.00 p.m. at The Holland Club, Imperial College, London SW7 5BD.

THEME PORTFOLIO COMPETITION

The Theme Portfolio Competition is open to members only. This is the first portfolio competition to be projected 100% digitally. If you have any questions or problems, or to submit your entries please email competitions@bsoup.org or contact one of the committee. See rules, contact
details and guidance notes on this website.

All portfolios will be judged by the audience present at the meeting and the winner will receive the BSoUP Theme Portfolio Trophy and a cheque for £100 donated by Ultimate Sports.

AN EVENING WITH HELMUT DEBELIUS

Hands up anyone who has not got 'a Debelius' on their bookshelf? Then you surely must at least have referenced one on some dive trip or other. We are thrilled to welcome Helmut to our meeting this month. He will be describing the creation of his massive new book, 'World Atlas of Marine Fishes' which he co-wrote with Rudie H. Kuiter. This is a world record breaking tome with
a staggering 6,200 photographs covering 4,200 fish species and weighing in at 3kg.

Born in Frankenberg, Germany, Helmut discovered the ocean when he was 16 and after trying scuba in the Canaries at 25 there was no looking back. He has several species of fish and crustaceans named after him, for example Lysmeta debelius, the scarlet cleaner shrimp which he discovered in a cave in the Philippines. From the mid-90's he has been producing his own familiar Ikan Marine Guides, publishing 13 volumes in the last 11 years.

In total, over the last 20 years he has written 21 marine books (www.oceans.com.au/oe-ikan.html). His guides are created for divers and snorkellers who wish to both identify the creatures in their watery universe, and recognise their environment and behaviour.

This promises to be a fascinating evening spent with one of the world's foremost marine naturalists, identifiers and photographers - Helmut Debelius.

gill mcdonald

The annual Theme Portfolio competition at the 15 March BSoUP meeting is the first portfolio competition which we are projecting only digitally. If you have 35mm slides and would like some help converting them to digital we are very
happy to lend a hand, but we need to know in the next few days in order to manage logistics.

Our monthly 'focus on' competitions are still open for slides.

gill mcdonald

BSoUP at Go Diving

The Ordanance Survey Outdoors Show takes place at the NEC Birmingham from the 17-19 March. Go Diving is now established as an integral part of that Show.

Leading equipment manufacturers will be presenting the latest kit on the market, while top travel firms will be there to give expert advice on the best dive travel.

PADI have a special area called the PADI National Geographic Dive Zone and there is also a Try Dive Pool and a Volkswagen Beach Café

See stunning underwater photographs and beautiful films at the British Underwater Image Festival, sponsored by The National Geographic Channel and Canon.

Helmut Debelius and Gavin Newman are just two of the speakers in the Watersports Theatre.

Professional television documentary makers to first-time photographers are among the thousands of entrants in the British Underwater Image Festival.

Make sure you see the fantastic competition winners on display outside the DIVE theatre. The six finalists in the film categories will be shown throughout the show on Friday and Saturday.

‘Now we are putting on something which could grow into a showcase for the incredible talent I know is out there,’ says DIVE editor Simon Rogerson. Colin Doeg, co-founder of the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP) heads up the panel of prestigious judges, which includes Peter Scoones, co-founder of BSoUP.

BSoUP has its own stand within the Go Diving Show. Why not drop in and say hello?

Tickets are £14 at the door, £8 for children. Phone the ticket hotline on 0870 010 9086 or see www.theoutdoorsshow.co.uk.

BSoUP at LIDS

The London International Dive Show, run by DIVER Group in association with the BSAC, takes place on Saturday/Sunday 1-2 April 2006 at ExCel - Docklands, London.

This year's London International Dive Show is a feast for existing divers and newcomers alike. More than 250 companies will line up at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre on 1 and 2 April to show off the latest kit, holidays, training options, dive leisure-wear and much more.

The Dive Shows also attract world-renowned underwater experts to the free seminar programmes that run alongside each event. Speakers this time include Richard Lundgren, Jean-Michel Cousteau, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, BSoUP co-founder Peter Scoones, Monty Halls, Leigh Bishop and Teresa Telus, Rick Stanton and John Boyle. See Programme for full details.

JP's award-winning barracuda shoal image sells for charity

Following his recent success as BBC Photographer of the Year and in response to demand, BSoUP member 'JP' Trenque, BBC Photographer of the Year, is making limited edition giclé prints of his award-winning barracuda shoal available.

JP is selling prints of this great image and sharing the proceeds with the Scuba Trust, a non-profit charity created to promote scuba diving for all abilities

Further details may be found on his website.: www.jptrenque.com/bbc.php.

For the first time in its almost 40 year history, digital and film photographers will go head-to-head in the British Society of Underwater Photographers annual one-day shoot-out for a major prize at Mount Batten Centre on Saturday 1 July this year.

The prize for the image selected by an independent panel of judges as the best taken in Plymouth waters on the day, will be a fabulous one-week liveaboard holiday in the Red Sea generously donated by Tony Backhurst Scuba.

Said BSoUP chairman Martha Tressler: 'This year's event is more open than ever before, thanks to the large number of divers who now own compact digital cameras. We hope to attract more of them, especially as some of the winning entries last year were taken on these modestly priced cameras. Anyone with an underwater camera is welcome to enter."

In the past, competitors in the Society's 'Splash-in' have had only one film on which to take their winning images in several different categories.

However, this year, to give every photographer an equal opportunity, they will be able to use as many films as they wish. This is because digital cameras have the capacity to take many more photographs on their memory cards than is possible on a single film.

Another innovation is that the Society has teamed up with Plymouth's National Marine Aquarium to stage a major, five-week exhibition and print competition, opening on 10 June. Prints of various categories of underwater subjects will be judged by the thousands of people who visit the aquarium during the period until 1 July.

Attractive prizes for both the Splash-in (separate film and digital categories) and the print competition have been provided by Ocean Optics Ltd, Cameras Underwater, Alan James Photography and the National Marine Aquarium charity.

Full details of both the Splash-in and the print competition will be published shortly on this web site. Competitors should note that the closing date for submitting entries for the print competition is Saturday, 27 May.

For further information:

Martha Tressler (BSoUP chair) 0776 460 3657

Brian Pitkin (Splash-in organiser) 020 7942 5707

JP Trenque (BSoUP press officer) 0776 7874046

Melanie Cowie (National Marine Aquarium Communications Manager) 01752 275210

Full details: Splash-in 2006

Antibes Festival re-locates back to Antibes

We announced recently that the 33rd edition of the World Festival of Underwater Pictures would take place in Nice at the end of October. This will not happen. A sudden change round of the Eastern wind forces us to take shelter in the Vauban Port of Antibes.

In spite of the closing of the Convention Centre of Juan les Pins for conformity works, the County Council and Antibes town agreed to make the Festival 2006 in Antibes. At the same time, the County Council reinforces its support to the Festival that becomes the "World Festival of Underwater Pictures of Alpes-Maritimes"

So, the 33rd World festival of Underwater Pictures will happen from October, 25th to 29th 2006 in Antibes at the Pré aux Pêcheurs (in the Vauban Port). A tent village of 6,000 m² will include 3 show rooms and an exhibit surface. It will thus enable to welcome the event under the best conditions. With Daniel Mercier, the general delegate and Philippe Vallette, the president, all the team of the festival will do their best in order to have a successful edition and a big party.

The honorary guest of the 2006 Festival is Papua New Guinea, a destination much appreciated for diving.

Congratulations to BSoUP member Pedro Vieyra on finishing runner up in the General Category in the Beneath the Sea Underwater Photography competition. Pedro's image was a black and white shot of three manta rays flying in formation.

The top award of Best In Show and the David Doubilet award for Excellence in underwater photography went to American photographer Rand McMeins for a photo of a cormorant hunting fish. This image also has a BSoUP connection as it was taken with a Magic Filter developed by BSoUP members Alex Mustard and Peter Rowlands.

New book by Nick Hanna and Alexander Mustard

The art of DIVING
and adventure in the underwater world

by Nick Hanna &
Alexander Mustard

Publisher: Ultimate Sports Dive Co Limited
Price guide: £20.00 (£19.00 from Amazon.com)

“Come, dive into Nick Hanna and Alexander Mustard’s bright blue world. This is the best book about diving since Jacques Cousteau’s The Silent World. Here turtles bow, flounders court, sharks skulk and, best of all, divers leap, soar and even meditate. Alex has a unique eye. This is dynamic underwater imagery at its best.” David Doubilet

The website for the book is www.artofdiving.com/
Although much of the content of the site is password protected (the password is printed in the book).

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