Diving:
After completing the BSAC snorkel diver training, he obtained
his 3rd Class diver qualification in 1979, and has subsequently
survived modern day diver training to become BSAC Advanced
Diver, Instructor and is Diving Officer of his branch.
Photography:
Initially a devoted wreck diver in the early 80's, watching
and learning from other divers what can be achieved with a
hammer and chisel in 30 minutes at 30m, Martin soon came to
realise that there must be more environmentally friendly ways
to take treasures from the wrecks than wrecking them further.
Hence in 1984 he became the proud owner of his first underwater
camera, a Nikonos III and Sunpak 28 flashgun. He has been
taking away treasured memories of his dives ever since. Mainly
self taught but he has attending various short courses, seminar
presentations and conferences. In more recent times he has
attended local colleges, where various City and Guilds qualification
have been gained in photography and he has now achieved the
standard of LRPS with the Royal Photographic Society http://www.rps.org.
He has been a member of BSoUP for about 6 years now
and has attended the London meeting when possible and has
found the meetings a useful forum for knowledge exchange and
meeting like minded people.
Equipment:
Martin has progressed from the Nikonos III in 1984 to the
Nikonos V in 1989, adding Extension Tubes and a Sea and
Sea 16mm wide lens with a Morris Aquaflash F1 completing the
outfit. Now using a Nikon F5 in Sealux housing,
http://www.sealux.de with a single Sea and Sea flash
gun this has been his standard kit for the past six years.
Dive
travel: Martin spent much of his early days diving and photographing
British Waters. Although he has to admit that the clear blue
warm waters of far-away are more conducive to underwater photography,
he still says that there is no place like home where he strives
to meet the real challenge of underwater photography in UK
waters. The Solent area offers the ultimate challenge in terms
of visibility; large tidal range and deep water, there are
hundreds of wreck sites a stones throw from home on Hayling
Island and all offer a unique photographic challenge. A favourite
dive local to him is Mullbery where in the summer you can
see more fish on a dive that in some very exotics foreign
places. Other superb dive locations around the UK he likes
to visit are, the sound of Mull, The Scilly Isles, The Farne
Isles and Devon and Cornwall. Around the world he has visited
Malta, the Red Sea, Honduras, Sulawesi and Hawaii to list
a few.
Splash-in
2005 |
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 |
1st
place Wide Angle film
Diving
inside the wreck of the James Eagan Layne,
This Picture taken from inside number 4 hold looking
up at the ribs and superstructure of the wreck, depth
20m.
Nikon
F5, 16mm lens, Camera settings 13th second shutter,
aperture F2.8, 100asa Fuji Sensia film. |
 |
2nd
place Wide Angle film
Diver
swimming along the bow of the James Eagan Layne
Picture take on the Starboard side in 10m of water Nikon
F5, 16mm lens, camera settings 20th second shutter,
aperture F3.5, 100 asa Fuji Sensia film.
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 |
1st
place Creative Humorous film
A
diver has discovered what really happened at Glastonbury!
Nikon
F5, 16mm lens, camera settings 20th second shutter,
aperture F8, 100 asa Fuji Sensia |
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