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Our World Underwater

Our World Underwater

Deadline 2nd February 2014

The Our World Underwater competition 2014, run jointly by Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide, is calling for entries. There are over $85,000 worth of prizes, including $1,000 in cash for the winner.

The deadline for entries is 2 February, so please don't delay. Full details on how to enter and the contest rules are on the underwatercompetition.com site.

Focus On - Images of 2013 - Results

Congratulations to Trevor Rees who was the winner of this month's Focus On competition with an image of Jellyfish taken in Malta with a Nikon D6000 and a SIgma 15mm lens.

Congratulations also to Nick More and Mark Drayton who came second and third with images of a Frog fish portrait, taken in Lembeh, Indonesia with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 with a 60 mm macro lens, and a male Ornate Ghost Pipefish, taken in Lembeh with a Nikon D7100 with a 60 mm macro lens, respectively.

1st © Trevor Rees
Jellyfish taken in Malta

2nd © Nicholas More
Frog fish portrait

How the top six scored:-

The top six may be viewed in the Gallery.

BSoUP Members can view all the entries in the Competition Archive Slideshow (enlarged and named), but you will be asked to login if you have not already done so this session.

Next month's Focus On competition - Molluscs (squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nudibranchs, snails, slugs, limpets, sea hares, mussels, clams, oysters, scallops etc) is open to BSoUP members only. Please read the Rules and guidelines before entering your portfolio of six images in two rows of three as a single jpg image at 1400 x 1050 pixels and 72 pixels/ inch.

3rd © Mark Drayton
Male Ornate Ghost Pipefish taken in Lembeh

Website of the Week - Malcolm Nobbs

Nowadays I live near Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Australia with my wife Mary, but am British and spent most of my life based in Folkestone, UK. I am a regular contibutor to Sport Diving Magazine, a member of the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP) and enjoy up to 200 dives per annum worldwide.

I used to have no interest in diving whatsoever. However my late wife Eve did and in December 1994 I reluctantly joined her on a Try Dive. To my amazement I thoroughly enjoyed it and was soon assuring everyone that I had always wanted to dive.

Keen to capture memories of my underwater dives, I began shooting video but eventually became seduced by, in my opinion, the greater challenge of still photography. Some of the photographs on this website date back to when I first began diving. That is, images from March 1995 to November 2003 have been scanned from conventional film snaps or have simply been taken from analogue video stills.All photographs from December 2003 to May 2006 were taken with Olympus C5050 and C5060 compact cameras, from June 2006 to July 2012 a Nikon D200 digital SLR and since then a Nikon D7000 digital SLR.

I particularly enjoy photographing sharks and feel comfortable in their presence. With one exception. The Great White. I prefer to be in a cage when Great Whites are around!

Paul Colley

Focus On - January 2014 - Slideshow

Last year he picked up national and international awards, including the Royal Photographic Society south-western region 2013 printed image gold medal. With one book already published in 2013 about diving and snorkelling in Ascension Island, he is just completing another about photographic composition, which Dived Up publications will publish at the end of May.  He is currently an INON UK instructor working for the Scuba Place, concentrating on shark photography in Cuba.

Focus On 2013 Images (show us your favourite image from 2013 which didnt win a competition, the one that the judges missed!)  The Competition is now closed. A total of 39 images were submitted and 30 of these hae been short listed for projection and judging.

BSoUP Members only may view the Competition Slideshow. You will be prompted to login if you have not already done so this session

Dave Peake: Beneath High Tide - natural light photography in shallow UK waters.

This talk is all about a small area of very old lava rocks in SE Cornwall and what happens when the tide covers them and the sun shines bringing out all the fantastic colours and patterns. Dave has captured some amazing images in this shallow sea using natural light. He will talk about the techniques he used to capture these images, including some panorama shots.

Dave is a longstanding BSoUP member who lives and dives regularly in Cornwall. He has been diving for 55 years and taking underwater images for about 30 of them.  He is a regular participant at the BSoUP Splash-In with many successes over the years and has had images published in various books, magazines, pamphlets, newspapers and calendars.  The images in this talk were taken with a Sony NEX5 using oldish lenses and a Nikonos adapter.

Dave Peake

Website of the Week - Alex Mustard

Dr Alexander Mustard from the UK, trained and worked as a marine biologist, but since 2004 has worked full time as a professional underwater photographer and author. He took his first pictures underwater at the age of nine. They were not very good, but over the years they improved and he is widely regarded as one of the most creative underwater photographers, whose works is admired and respected around the world. You can see a portfolio of his work here.

His images are known for their distinctive style that makes them instantly recognisable, often with bright, strong colours and simple, yet memorable compositions. They have won many awards and have been widely published.

IWUPC Winners 2013

The Indonesian World Underwater Photography Contest 2013 (IWUPC) has announced its results. The contest has been running through participating dive resorts in Indonesia from 1 January through 30 November 2013 and has awarded over $20,000 in cash prizes. Perhaps uniquely, the contest also awarded cash prizes to the guides that were escorting the photographers when the images were captured.

Congratulations to BSoUP Member Will Clark who came second in the Compact Plus Macro category with an image of a hairy frogfish.

To see all the winners please visit www.indonesiaunderwatercontest.com/

FiveSixEight Bar on the Ground Floor of the Union Building

Pacific North West Diver - Latest issue

The latest issue of the FREE Pacific North West Diver is now available for download.

The January issue includes Photographers / Videographers, Technical Corner, News Corner, Archives and Travel Corner.

To download your copy please visit pnwups.com/images

Pacific North West Diver. Cover Jim Ramaglia

Website of the Week - Paul Morgan

"Whilst I do have a wide range of photography interests, underwater photography has proved to be a wonderful experience for me!

Time almost stands still for the 90 minutes or so that each diving adventure takes!

It is difficult to describe the beauty that is all around you. Coral gardens with colour that is a challenge to describe. Undersea vistas that are hard to capture by camera.

Variety abounds in shape, colour and size of the creatures around you.

My website is an attempt to share something of the magic I am fortunate to have experienced."

X-Ray Magazine - Latest issue

The latest issue of the FREE X-Ray magazine if now available for download.

Issue 58 includes articles on the Solomon Islands, the Frakenwald wreck, Bunaken, a profile of Doug Allan, an article on Fluorescence and much more.

To download you copy please visit www.xray-mag.com/

Underwater Journal - Latest issue

The latest issue of the FREE Underwater Journal is now available for download.

Issue 31 includes articles on the Ocean Art Photo Contest, Goliath Groupers, an Inside look at the Mysterious Pygmy Seahorse, and the KISS Orca Spirit Rebreather.

To download your copy please visit www.underwaterjournal.com/

SUPS - Next Meeting

Tuesday 14th January

The next meeting of the Stevenage Underwater Photographic Society takes place on Tuesday 14th January at 8pm at the Stevenage Arts Guild, Community Arts Centre, Roaring Meg, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK (Map).

Focus-On - Wrecks. Both below and above water shots.

5 images from all those that have dived in the Farnes, upload in the usual fashion.

Further details at www.sups-online.com/

NUPG - Next meeting

Monday, January 13th 2014

The next meeting of the Northern Underwater Photography Group takes place on Monday 13th Janaury at 8.00 p.m. in the Gurkha Grill, 198 Burton Road, West Didsbury. Manchester, M20 2LH (Map).

Competition Best of 2013

Your best shots from 2013 up to 2 shots in each of 4 categories

UK Close Up
UK Wide Angle
Overseas Close Up
Overseas Wide Angle

Further details at www.nupg.org.uk/

UwP 76. Cover by Guido Villani

London International Dive Show

15-16th February 2014

ExCel, London Docklands

Speakers are lining up to entertain underwater photographers on the London Stage in the PhotoZone. They include Duxy Duxfield (how to take both stills and video on a single dive); Nick Robertson-Brown (fast frame! - shooting under pressure); Steve Jones (deep wreck photography); Simon Rogerson (the wary, the lairy and the downright scary the top 10 challenging photo subjects); and Alex Tattersall (miniature masterpieces musings on macro).

Saeed Rashid, underwater photographer, post-production guru and organiser of the PhotoZone, is bringing back the always-popular interactive Digital Clinic, giving visitors the chance to pick up vital tips and compare notes in an informal setting. While Saeed's advice is hard to beat, he is going belt, braces and more braces with his special guests Martin Edge, author of the diver's bible The Underwater Photographer, and John Bantin, whose long career in photography started in advertising before embracing all aspects of the underwater world.

Visit us on Stand P20 in the Photozone.

New BSoUP Committee Members

BSoUP are delighted to welcome two new Committee Members - Paul Colley and Nick Watson. For a complete list of Committee Members please visit Committee.

Joss Woolf, has kindly made her Chairman's Address, given at the A.G.M. in December, available for those who missed it. This summarises BSoUP's achievements during 2013.

Please also note that annual subscriptions have been increased for the first time in eight years. Members who pay by Direct Debit or Standing Order are kindly requested to increase their annual payment accordingly. See Subscriptions for the new rates.

Website of the Week - Jane Morgan

Jane is a freelance underwater photo journalist, diving instructor and commercial diver. She dives substantially in the UK and overseas and is available for commissions.

Jane discovered underwater photography during a trip to the Southern Red Sea in 2001 and never looked back. She moved to digital photogaphy in late 2004, and now uses a Nikon D300s camera in a Sea & Sea housing with twin Inon Z240 strobes.

Jane's work has been widely published in the UK diving press and national newspapers.

Red Sea Photocall

Deadline: 8th January 2014

Do you have underwater photos taken in the Red Sea that youre busting to show off? Photos that could win you a weeks diving holiday for two in Egypt aboard Emperor Asmaa on the new Fury Shoal & St Johns itinerary? Or, if you'd rather be land-based, photos that could win you a week at the Zabargad Berenice Hotel in Hamata, with diving all the way?

Both holidays should provide excellent opportunities to take further inspiring photographs - and your preference is the prize in DIVER's Red Sea PhotoCall online competition. But do upload your entries fast, because you have only until 8 January. All accommodation and diving is hosted by Emperor Divers and return flights from the UK provided by the Egyptian Tourist Office.

Sixty entries will be short-listed by a BSoUP panel of judges and prints displayed at the London International Dive Show in February. Visitors will be invited to vote for their favourites, with the British Society of Underwater Photographers(BSoUP) overseeing the display and judging at the show.

The overall winner receives the holiday prize, and a selection of short-listed pictures will be published in DIVER and also displayed at the DIVE 2014 Show at the NEC later in the year.

Full details, including Terms & Conditions and entry form, at www.divernetxtra.com/