NEWSLETTER JUNE 2007

 

FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME

July 10th: Lembeh Strait & North Sulawesi - Arthur Kingdon

Aug 14th: Presentation by Gavin Newman

COMPETITION PROGRAMME

July 10th: Open

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

July 10th Meeting

The Meeting (start time 2000hrs) will be at our normal venue (click here for how to find us).

Please try and be on time as we have to keep the main doors locked while we are using the building. However, there is an intercom entry system so you should be able to get in if you are running late.

The main presentation will be by Arthur Kingdon and will cover his recent trip to Lembeh Strait and North Sulawesi. Expect plenty of macro stuff but also some of wide angle. Not just pretty pictures - there will be a fair bit of technical content and successes and failures (including using a compact) will be discussed.

The monthly competition theme is 'Open' - so how easy is that? Let's have a good number of entries - even if you don't feel you have any winners, send some in to benefit from the audience feedback . Send your digital files to Bob Anthony anthonyrez30@tiscali.co.uk or bring your slides on the night (let Bob know if you will require a slide projector).

BSoUP Splash In 7 July

Our boat is booked for the weekend of 7/8 July and entry forms for the Splash In will be available at our Monthly Meetings (or can be downloaded from the BSoUP website). Check out the details here http://www.bsoup.org/Splash/2007/intro.php  Please note that entries for the Print Competition had to be in by 23rd May. Also, BBQ tickets need to be booked by 27th June.

RECENT EVENTS

June Meeting

Monthly Theme Competition - Wide Angle

This was not such  a popular subject and attracted only 17 entries but there were some very good images:

Tied for First Place were Anna James and Arthur Kingdon:

Anna with a shot of a diver silhouetted against the sun, with a foreground of red sponges (with two nudibranchs!). Taken on her recent trip to Nuweiba.
Arthur's image of a shoal of catfish was taken in Lembeh strait using a Canon A540 with an Inon fisheye converter.

In  Third Place was Bob Anthony with a manta and diver shot from Koh Bon, Thailand. (Editor's note: great model - who is that?)

In Fourth Place was Tamsin Eyles with this shot of the stalactites and stalagmites in the Blue Hole, Belize. (Editor's note: I've done this dive several times and never managed a shot anywhere as near as good as this - it is deep and dark in there.)

 

Maldives Magic - Presentation by Pam Bowden, Fiona Bowles, Ian Blair, and Jim Drake

The Maldives are a popular destination with UK divers and quite rightly so. This presentation covered both land - based and liveaboard options.

Jim Drake has been visiting the island of Komandoo for several years now. Situated on Lhaviyani Atol it is a short flight in a seaplane northwards from Male. It provides Jim and his wife with a very comfortable holiday destination. However, Jim's wife is a non-diver so Jim has to take pot luck as far as dive buddies are concerned. This certainly increases the degree of difficulty for the underwater photographer

Diving is from spacious day boats and, being limited to a max of twelve divers per boat, there is plenty of room for cameras. There are a couple of wrecks nearby, both tuna boats, with the deepest being in 28 metres. These provide plenty of photographic opportunities.
Other than the wrecks, the photographic opportunities include all the normal reef dwellers plus the occasional shark or manta.
However, having to keep up with the group means that many shots are a bit of a grab as you fin past - or whiz past in the current. Much can depend on who you have been buddied with.
Longnose hawkfish are quite common - providing you can spot them.
A boxfish posing for the camera.

Pam, Fiona and Ian had all been on board one of the best liveaboards in the area - the MV Sea Queen. This is a popular boat on which Pam has done several trips over the past few years. The boat is well geared up for photographers and most divers on board will have a camera of some sort or other. Below are some shots from Ian and Fiona - Pam was using slide film and showed some great stuff but I have been unable to obtain any scans.

The Maldives offer great opportunities for seeing mantas, and March is probably the best month for them. On Fiona and Ian's trip, mantas were found at Rasifari reef (north Male) in about 4 metres but in fairly poor viz. The best images were from Donkarlo, on the west of Ari, where there were in excess of forty mantas for the entire dive. Pam was also swamped by mantas. I

It certainly seems that March is the month to go for the best chance of seeing mantas and whalesharks.

Ian and Fiona both used compact cameras with wide angle supplementary lenses.  Fiona managed some great shots from her Olympus C40 before it died part way through the trip!
Not the same fish as Jim's but another good shot of a longnose hawkfish. All the regular reef fish were found during the trip but there were also sightings of rarer stuff such as leaf fish, frog fish, and other small stuff. In addition, there were: turtles, grey reef sharks, white tip sharks and even a whaleshark.

Moving fish are never easy with a compact camera but Fiona has done an excellent job with this coral trout.

Ian was using his new Olympus SP350
and managed some great results as these five images show.

The liveaboard certainly provided better photographic opportunities but that option does not always fit in with family requirements.

 

                               

 

This was a polished presentation with some stunning images and good information.

Considering the strong currents, use of reef hooks, and sometimes poor viz, all four presenters deserve congratulations for the quality of the images.
   

MISCELLANEOUS

Cape Wrath Liveaboard

Several of our group, along with other Bristol divers, are visiting Cape Wrath and the Western Isles over the period 18 - 25 August. This promises to be a great trip and anyone wishing to go on it should contact Roger White on 01179 771 779.

Maldives Manta & Whaleshark Safari

Ocean Optics and Maveriks Diving are organising a rather special trip to the Maldives in late October 2007. Read all about it on their website (tell them you saw it here if contacting them) http://www.mavericksdiving.co.uk/events/20071027maldives.html

 

Arthur