News - February 2007
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BSoUP's magazine 'in focus'
JP Trenque's picture on DAN membership cards
Focus on - February 2007 - Close-up
Website of the Week - Paul Carpenter
February BSoUP Meeting
Shoot the Sport Diver cover
Our World Underwater & Deep Indonesia
Website of the Week - Ken Byrne
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Housing for Nikon Coolpix S-9
Look out for UK turtles
British marine life celebrated on stamps
Website of the Week - Simon M Brown
DiverSE diving conference
BSoUP website visits
Website of the Week - Simon Brown
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To submit an article for the Spring issue of 'in focus', please contact Gill McDonald |
BSoUP's magazine 'in focus' - Winter 2006/7
The winter 2006/7 issue of BSoUP's magazine 'in focus' has now been circulated to all members. Jam-packed with interesting articles, issue 86 includes:
Editorial by Gill McDonald
Speakers 2007
'A sense of style' by Alex Mustard
'Building a photography website - part 2' by Jeremy Cuff
'Whirlwind New Zealand tour - part 3' by Jane Burnett
Annual Beginners Portfolio 2006
Monthly meeting reports by Alison Mayor, Gavin Parsons, Martha Tressler, Andy Clark and Gill McDonald
Annual British Portfolio 2006
Annual Open Portfolio 2006
Focus-on final 2006
Classifieds
Forward planning
BSoUP
Officers 2007.
If
you would like to receive printed copies of in focus,
as and when it is published, then why not join
BSoUP.
[23-February-2007] |
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JP Trenque's picture on DAN membership cards
Congratulations
to BSoUP member JP Trenque who won the 2006 edition of the DAN Photo Contest.
His shot of a pufferfish taken in Jackfish Alley (Ras Mohammed) will feature on the front cover of the next Alert Diver issue and will be used for the DAN Europe membership cards, distributed to all DAN members.
For more information about insurance and emergency assistance services provided by the Divers Alert Network, please click here. |
[23-February-2007] |
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Focus
on - February 2007 - Close-up
Congratulations
to Alex Mustard who won this month's Focus
on competition,
and to Richard Boutcher who was runner-up.
The
first two images each month qualify for the final in
October, at which the overall winner will receive the BSoUP 'Focus
On' Trophy.
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1.
Alex Mustard (53 pts)
2. Richard Boutcher (31 pts)
3=. Steve Jones (24 pts)
3=. Pedro Vieyra (24 pts)
5. Martha Tressler (22 pts)
6. Tony Baskeyfield (20 pts)
[22-February-2007] |
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Website of the Week - Paul Carpenter
Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Paul Carpenter 's is this week's choice.
If you are a BSoUP member and your website is not included on the BSoUP member's websites page, please send the URL of your site to the BSoUP Membership Secretary, Mike Russell. Subsequently your website will be added to the list. All we ask is that you provide a link on your website to www.bsoup.org
[19-February-2007] |
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February BSoUP Meeting
Wednesday 21st February 2007 at
7.30 for 8.00 p.m. in The
Holland Club,
Imperial College, South Kensington,
London SW7.
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Len Deeley (www.imagine-photography.co.uk), BSoUP member, will describe his journey on the road to achieving a Fellowship distinction in 2006 with the The Royal Photographic Society in the Nature category. Len began diving with the army in 1970 and has been a member of various BSAC clubs ever since. His three favourite subjects are photography, diving and music and he loves to bring them together in digital audio visual presentations. In 1988 Len formed 'Photosub', a thriving underwater photography club which has many common members with BSoUP. Check it out at www.photosub.co.uk Len has also been on the lecture circuit of the Surrey Photographic Association since 1993 giving regular talks, slide shows and lectures.
'Focus on' competition - Close-up
Focus on is a BSoUP member's only competition. Each photographer may
submit a maximum of two 35mm slides or two digital images. See Rules and Entry Form |
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Simon Brown (www.simonbrownimages.com), BSoUP member, will start by describing how his transition from 'real job' to freelance photojournalist has progressed over the last 18 months. He will go on to describe military diver training. In 2005 Simon was granted access to dive with and document the work of the Defence Dive School in Portsmouth. The training is rigorous, demanding – some might say punishing for those who think they are tough enough to withstand the mental and physical commitment the military instructors demand from them. Once qualified, military divers get all the choice dives the world can offer, such as disabling an acoustic mine intent on blowing them and their ship out of the water, or searching a well in the former Yugoslavia for evidence of ethnic cleansing. In short, active service military divers are never tasked with 'watching the cleaning station at Manta Point' and dive in a world from which civilians are normally excluded.
Note about parking |
For those of you who drive and/or may arrive early, the congestion charge has now extended to cover Kensington & Chelsea, but only applies before 6:00 p.m.
[17-February-2007] |
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Shoot the Sport Diver cover
Sport Diver magazine have teemed-up with Fuji to organise a photo competition. Photographers are asked to send a portrait shot that could feature on the cover of the magazine. When sending your entry, please take into account that a cover shot needs plenty of space above and around the subject for text.
The overall competition winner will be invited on a trip with Tony White worth £2,000 courtesy of Dive Tours and will receive a Fuji Finepix F30 camera. |
In order to cater for all levels of photography, the competition is divided into 2 categories. The best professional will receive a Buddy Explorer BCD and an Apeks XTX200 regulator while the winner of the amateur category will receive a Buddy Explorer and an Apeks XTX50 regulator.
More information can be found in this month's Sport Diver and a JPG entry form can be downloaded here.
[15-February-2007] |
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Our World Underwater & Deep Indonesia
Popular underwater photography websites Wetpixel.com and DivePhotoGuide.com have made underwater photo history by running two major international competitions simultaneously on opposite sides of the globe. The 2nd annual Wetpixel & DivePhotoGuide International Underwater Photo & Video Competition is held in association with the 37th annual Our World Underwater dive show in Chicago. The 1st Annual DEEP Indonesia Competition is held in association with Indonesia’s first diving and water sports show in Jakarta. Photographers from around the world competed in still and video categories. In the true spirit of an international competition, winners across both competitions hailed from 18 different countries.
Esteemed judges Eric Cheng (Wetpixel), Stephen Frink, Dr. Alex Mustard and Tony Wu (Fins), Berkley White (Backscatter) and David Espinosa (Scuba Diver AustralAsia), had the difficult task of selecting winners from 2,000 entries that flooded in from all over the world.
Competitions such as this are not possible without the support of generous sponsors. Winners were awarded premium dive travel packages to some of the top photo destinations in the world, photo equipment, dive gear, signed books, DVD’s and more! Dive packages included trips to Wakatobi, South Africa, Socoros Islands, Vietnam, Raja Empat, Komodo, Malaysia, the Galapagos, Bora Bora, the Solomon Islands, Bali, Palau, Manado, Lembeh Strait, Yap, Cocos (Keeling) Island, Philippines, Grand Cayman, the Red Sea and the Bahamas. Special offers from competition sponsors can be found on the competition website.
As a competition that celebrates the beauty and delicacy of our oceans and reefs, 15% of entry proceeds are donated to vital marine conservation efforts. |
DEEP Indonesia
Best of Show
Magnus Lundgren
Sweden
Our World Underwater
Best of Show
Jose Alejandro Alvarez
Dominican Republic
For more information visit the competition’s official website: www.UnderwaterCompetition.com or click on an image.
[13-February-2007] |
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Ken Byrne's Home Page |
Website of the Week - Ken Byrne
Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Ken Byrne's is this week's choice.
If you are a BSoUP member and your website is not included on the BSoUP member's websites page, please send the URL of your site to the BSoUP Membership Secretary, Mike Russell. Subsequently your website will be added to the list. All we ask is that you provide a link on your website to www.bsoup.org
[12-February-2007] |
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Fantasea Line announces release of FS-9 underwater housing for Nikon Coolpix S-9 digital camera
Fantasea Line announces the addition of a new housing specifically designed for the ultra-slim Nikon Coolpix S-9 digital camera. The FS-9 housing is included in Fantasea's new generation of fully functional Coolpix housings which enables the underwater photographer to access all essential control functions. This housing is ideal for outdoor and underwater photographers who enjoy the camera's automatic exposure features for capturing fast action pictures easily and creatively. |
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The Fantasea FS-9 housing provides the most compact design for easy handling and accurate access to camera functions through the critical placement of push-button controls.
Further details from Fantasea
[8-February-2007]
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Look out for UK turtles
The Marine Conservation Society's website (MCS) is asking anyone who uses beaches to keep an eye out for stranded turtles this winter and to report any sightings to the managers of the TURTLE database of UK turtle sightings and strandings.
Strong south-westerly gales blowing around the country since December have been stranding the animals, including a rare and endangered Kemps ridley turtle, and may continue to strand more over the next few days.
Since early December eleven turtles, including four leatherback turtles, six loggerhead turtles and a rare Kemps ridley turtle have washed up on beaches in England, Wales and Scotland. Only two of the loggerheads and the Kemps ridley were found alive and are now being cared for by the Sea Life Centres in Weymouth and Oban.
Stranded live turtles should be reported immediately to the RSPCA on 08705 555 999. The animals should not be put back into the sea.
[7-February-2007]
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British marine life celebrated on stamps
Royal Mail is celebrating the best of underwater Britain with a collection of stamps featuring marine life found around our shores. Images were taken by film-maker and BSoUP co-founder Peter Scoones, DIVE's British Beast columnist Sue Scott as well as other well-known underwater photographers including BSoUP members Paul Kay and Paul Naylor.
The 10 first-class stamps issued last Thursday, include pictures of British Moon Jellyfish, Beadlet Anemone, Bass, Common Starfish, Grey Seal, Lesser Octopus, Common Mussels, Shore Crab, Thornback Ray and Common Sun Star.
The Wildlife Trusts described Royal Mail's celebration of sea life as 'a timely reminder for the Government to fulfill its commitment to protect the UK's seas in a Marine Bill'.
'The UK's coasts and seas are home to a fantastic variety of wildlife, from giant basking sharks to tiny corals,' said Lisa Browning, marine development manager of The Wildlife Trusts.
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'Over past decades, these have come under increasing pressure from fishing, sand and gravel dredging, oil and gas extraction and many other uses.
There is almost nowhere in our seas that has not been damaged in some way and every level of marine life is under threat, from top predators, such as dolphins, to precious sunset corals and delicate pink sea fans.'
Further details on Royal Mail and The Wildlife Trusts websites. View the complete set of stamps.
[5-February-2007] |
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Website of the Week - Simon M Brown
Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Simon
M Brown's is this week's choice.
If you are a BSoUP member and your website is not included on the BSoUP member's websites page, please send the URL of your site to the BSoUP Membership Secretary, Mike Russell. Subsequently your website will be added to the list. All we ask is that you provide a link on your website to www.bsoup.org
[5-February-2007] |
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DiverSE diving conference
18
February 2007
The DiverSE diving conference takes place at Surrey University's campus in Guildford on 18
February 2007. Divers from all over the southeast of England will be gathering for the
second DiverSE diving conference.
The full day of events, sponsored by DIVE
and Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel includes presentations from British
wreck-diving experts Leigh Bishop & Theresa Telus and Rod Macdonald, Metropolitan Police
diver Phil Marsh, submarine expert Innes McCartney, marine biologist Paul Naylor, Andy Jeffery from the Royal Navy, blind deep-dive record holder Mark Threadgold and the Nautical Archaeological Society. BSoUP will be manning a stand at the event. |
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'After a sell-out on tickets a month before the event last year, a bigger
venue has been found; there will be more stands, a dive shop, a prize draw
and even a bar on site,' said BSAC's southeast regional coach Dave
Tresidder, who is once again organising the event. 'I hope that as many
divers as possible from all organisations attend the event and that it will
inspire them to broaden the kind of diving they do in the future.'
Tickets cost £5. For more information or to buy tickets phone
0976 749607 or see the DiverSE website www.bsac-se.org.uk.
[3-February-2007] |
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BSoUP website visits
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BSoUP website visits - new record set
During January 2007 the BSoUP website recorded a record number of 11,961 visits, the highest since March 2006 with 10,606.
Over the last twelve months a total of 101,539 visits have been recorded.
The most popular pages in order are: |
Home page
Gallery
News
Photosites
Competitions
Basic techniques |
29.89%
7.44%
6.00%
4.20%
4.01%
3.33%
[1-February-2007] |
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Website of the Week - Simon Brown
Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Simon
Brown's is this week's choice.
If you are a BSoUP member and your website is not included on the BSoUP member's websites page, please send the URL of your site to the BSoUP Membership Secretary, Mike Russell. Subsequently your website will be added to the list. All we ask is that you provide a link on your website to www.bsoup.org |
Simon Brown's Home Page
[29-January-2007]
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BSoUP
T-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts and jackets.
Jane
Morgan,
our Meetings Secretary, has a selection of BSoUP branded
items of clothing for members to purchase. T-shirts will be
available in navy blue or white with a white or blue BSoUP logo and the full name of the Society. Other items,
sweatshirts and polo shirts, in navy blue with white BSoUP
logo and name. Caps by special order!
Prices from £10 for T-shirts to £24.00 for jackets.
You can buy yours at any of the monthly meetings of the Society
or contact Jane Morgan |
To
order please contact
Jane
Morgan
Tel: 0208
255 6939 (home)
07887 558832 (mobile)
email: jane@morganreefphotography.com
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COMING
SOON : NEWS
ARCHIVE : JANUARY 2007 |
