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News - September 2007

Focus On - The World in our hands
Website of the Week - Gavin Parsons
IUCN's Most Endangered Animals of '07 Announced
Bali Gallery- Alex Mustard
Southern Red Sea Galleries - Jeremy and Amanda Cuff
September BSoUP meeting
ANZANG 2007
DIVE 2007
Underwater Photography Magazine
Website of the Week - Graham Parker
An evening with Jamie Watts

Sony announce new D-SLR A700 camera
Alan James on the road to recovery
St Abbs Splash in 2007
LAUPS 2007 International Competition
NAUI 'Just Dive' Photo Contest
Website of the Week - Helen Parris
DivePhotoGuide.com's 100th Gallery
Edinburgh Exhibition by Mike Clark
REEF: Exploring the underwater world
New UK photo group - EMUP
BSoUP's 40th Anniversary
Website of the Week - Malcolm Nobbs

Focus On - The World in our hands

Congratulations to Gavin Parsons who was the winner of this month's Focus On competition with an image of a stranded Manta ray (right) caught as by catch by local fishemen on the coast of Tanzania. Gavin wins a copy of 'Reef: Exploring the underwater world' by ScubaZoo, donated by publisher Dorling Kindersley (see below).

Mark Webster came second with an image of a Basking shark caught in a net set in Mounts Bay, Cornwall. The shark was subsequently freed from the net and swam away.

Stranded Manta ray © Gavin Parsons

Gavin Parsons' Home Page

Website of the Week - Gavin Parsons

Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Gavin Parsons' 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 http://www.bsoup.org

IUCN's Most Endangered Animals of '07 Announced

The Banggai cardinal fish is one of many new additions to the World Conservation Union (IUCN)'s 2007 Red List of Threatened Species which was made public this week

The Banggai cardinal fish's popularity as a pet for the home aquarium has landed it on the 2007 IUCN Red List. In the wild, the striped fish is only found in the Banggai Archipelago off Indonesia.

Human pressures such as the aquarium trade are the main reason for the fish's decline, with habitat loss and climate change also posing major threats.

Banggai cardinal fish in Lembeh Straits, Sulawesi,
Indonesia. Image © Linda Pitkin

Fish stocks are in free-fall all over the world, both from overfishing and the aquarium trade. Scientists estimate current extinction rates are at least a hundred to a thousand times higher than natural rates.

Further details: www.iucn.org/themes/marine/marine_species.htm

Bali Gallery - Alex Mustard

BSoUP member Alex Mustard is 'just back from a most productive trip to Bali. It was an unusual trip in many ways. First the main aim was shooting wide angle model shots (although I have not put that many in the gallery as many are staying under wraps until the book they are for comes out). Second I got to take my girlfriend with me (a rare treat indeed) and third we did almost all of our diving without a guide (which meant we had to find the blasted critters ourselves). We also met plenty of Wetpixel folks, including Mike Veitch, Simon Buxton, Drew Wong and Jeff and Dawn Mullins.

Diving wise we really covered many sites along the north coast, from Gili Selang right across to Gillimanuk. And while it was a predominantly wide angle trip we did have plenty of exceptional marine life encounters. Highlights included a sequence of mating Ghostpipefish (i'll post them at some point), my first Wonderpus, many mimics and a cone shell snail that had caught and was eating a fish. I decided not to go after the Mola mola on this trip, but as luck would have it we had a fantastic Mola mola encounter, all to ourselves, in the warm waters of the Liberty Wreck in Tulamben.'

Further details www.amustard.com/

Southern Red Sea Galleries

Jeremy and Amanda Cuff, photographers, photojournalists and BSOUP members have recently published a new series of galleries from the southern Red Sea, from a week aboard the Sea Serpent in late June/early July.

Jeremy is the recent winner of Sport Diver magazine's "Underwater Photographer of the Year Award 2007." The winning image of the week, however, was taken by Amanda and captures four clownfish that have arranged themselves into a unique heart shape.

The new southern Red Sea images can be viewed on Jeremy and Amanda's website at www.ja-universe.com

The website features a selection of photography and articles with particular emphasis on scuba diving and travel, although other topics such as abstracts and black and white photography are also included.

The website features a selection of photography and articles with particular emphasis on scuba diving and travel, although other topics such as abstracts and black and white photography are also included. New work is regularly added to the JA-Universe website in the form of new galleries and articles, and also news items and an image of the month.

Clown fish © Amanda Cuff

Clown fish in an anemone
© Shannon Conway

Underwater Photography Magazine

The September/October issue of the FREE bi-monthly web based magazine Underwater Photography (UwP) is now available as a pdf at www.uwpmag.com/

This issue includes News and Travel, New Products, BSoUP Splash-in,Puerto Galera, Layang Layang, Compact choice, Perfect system, Belize fish, Wratten 22 trials, Abstract, Shooting filters, Book review and Parting Shots

The magazine is produced by former BSoUP Chairman and current member Peter Rowlands and includes articles by BSoUP members and others.

UwP No. 38. Cover photo: Ralph Mortimore

Website of the Week - Graham Parker

Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Graham Parker 's is this week's choice, although the site is currently being updated..

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 http://www.bsoup.org

An evening with Jamie Watts

How to find the world's best dive sites at the best times of the year (and the best years): a marine ecologist's perspective

Thursday 27th September 2007. Meet first at Ocean Optics 7.00pm for 7.30pm. You must pre- register. All welcome.

Download further information.

Sony announce new D-SLR A700 camera

Sony is expanding its a (Alpha) digital SLR system with the introduction of the DSLR-A700 camera, which is aimed at photo enthusiasts or serious photo hobbyists.

The new 12.2-megapixel model features advanced imaging technologies and ultra-responsive operation, as well as a lightweight, dust- and moisture-resistant, magnesium alloy construction common to enthusiast-class D-SLR cameras.

Like Sony's mainstream DSLR-A100 model, the new A700 unit incorporates Super SteadyShotandreg; Inside image stabilization in the camera body and is compatible with most Minolta Maxxumandreg; mount lenses in addition to Sony lenses.

Further details: www.divephotoguide.com/sony-a700.php

Alan James on the road to recovery

Award-winning underwater cameraman and BSoUP member Alan James suffered a heart attack on 1 August, less than a month after winning the Close-up and Fish categories at the British Splash-in Championship.

Alan has now had a by-pass operation and in a web exclusive for DIVE online, Alan tells the story of how a day's diving went wrong, and starts to formulate a plan to recover quickly and get back into the water.

BSoUP wishes Alan a speedy and full recovery.

Further details:www.divemagazine.co.uk/news/

Alan James

Lions Mane Jellyfish © Kam Arya

Northern Prawn © Jason Gregory

St Abbs Splash in 2007

Congratulations to BSoUP members Kam Arya and Arthur Kingdon who won first and second respectively in the Digital Marine Life Portrait category at the recent St Abbs Splash in. Also to Mike Clark, Jean Manson and Peter Ladell who came first second and third respectively in the Digital Reserve Atmospheric cateogry.

Kam Arya's Lions Mane jellyfish was voted Best Digital Image and Andy Pickersgill was voted Digital Best Beginner.

David Ireland and Jason Gregory came first and second in the Film Marine Life Portrait category and David Ireland also won the Film Reserve Atmospheric category and was voted Film Best Beginner. Jason Gregory's Northern Prawn was voted Film Best Image.

Richard Hall, Sam Bean and JP Trenque came first, second and third respectively in the John Goldie Most Humerous Shot category. Robert Grieves won the Special Award for Young Up and Comer

Full details: www.marine-reserve.co.uk/

Website of the Week - Helen Parris

Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Helen Parris ' 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 http://www.bsoup.org

One of Helen Parris' website pages

DivePhotoGuide.com's 100th Gallery

Congratulations to DPG on adding the 100th Gallery to their website last week.

'A hundred of the best, most prolific, talented and inspirational, underwater photographers in the world. DPG set out to develop THE gallery of all underwater photo galleries - a way to feature the top pros, the image makers whose images transcend time and place and touch our emotions.'

The site includes galleries by BSoUP members Steve Jones, Charles Hood, Zac Macauley, Jane Morgan, Alex Mustard, Linda Pitkin, Peter Rowlands, Mark Webster and Tony White, although you will need to register to view all of these.

Edinburgh Exhibition by Mike Clark

BSoUP member Mike Clark, noted for his temperate water photography, is exhibiting a selection of his work in Edinburgh.

The exhibition is aimed at celebrating the diverse marine life and colourful shipwrecks found around the British coast.
Entry is free and the exhibition will be running until the end of September. The venue is The Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre, Ocean Drive, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6JJ.

Mike Clark

REEF: Exploring the underwater world

Words and photography by Scubazoo
Publication Date: 6th September 2007
Price: £25.00

'Explore the reefs of the world with divers, photographers and marine conservationists, Scubazoo. Created in collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society, this incredible book of stunning underwater photographs includes a 30 minute DVD of amazing underwater montages. Discover the wonder and variety of the reef, from the Coral Triangle of South-East Asia to the Red Sea and Hawaii.'

Further details: http://dpnow.com/4135.html

BSoUP members qualify for a 20% discount. Details in the September BSoUP meeting announcement e-mail.

New UK photo group - EMUP

An underwater photographic group has been formed to serve divers living in the East Midlands.

East Midlands Underwater Photographers (EMUP) has been created to cater for divers who would otherwise have to make their way to London for meetings of the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP); to Manchester for the Northern Underwater Photography Group (NUPG); or to Bristol for the Bristol Underwater Photography Group (BUPG).

The group's inaugural meeting on 16 October will be the first of monthly get-togethers from October to May each year, in the Nemo Bar at the Stoney Cove dive site, in Leicestershire. Each meeting will feature a well-known underwater photographic speaker, and a "lighthearted monthly competition" for attendees, judged by the guest speaker of the day.
There will be a small charge to attendees, based on numbers attending and any sponsorship obtained, to cover the cost of hiring Stoney Cove's function room.

BSoUP's 40th Anniversary - Members portraits wanted please

BSoUP will be mounting an exhibition to celebrate its 40th anniversary at the Dive Show organised by DIVER Magazine in Birmingham on 13/14 October 2007. We'll be showing a lot of different things to illustrate what BSoUP is, who we are and some of the things that the Society and its members have done over the years.

We are planning a display of as many current BSoUP member's faces as possible just to show how many of us there are! So far 40 BSoUP members have responded to our request for portraits of themselves.

If you are a BSoUP members and have not already done so, please send a passport type image of yourself - minimum size 45mm or 530 pixels high and 300 dpi. Please send your image as an e-mail attachment to Brian Pitkin

Website of the Week - Malcolm Nobbs

Each week we are highlighting a BSoUP member's website. Malcolm Nobbs' 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 http://www.bsoup.org

Malcolm Nobbs Home Page

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