newsletter june 2009

July 14th: Competition - Green Water
                     Foto Forum - Animal Behaviour - Arthur Kingdon
                     Presentation - Water Babies - Anna James
                     BSoUP Splash In review
                     BUPG Splash In judging

The Meeting (start time 2000hrs) will be at our normal venue - The Casson Centre, Rodway Road, Patchway, BS34 5DQ (map) It is easiest to access it via Durban Road, off Highwood Road - you can turn right at the traffic lights if coming from the Gloucester Road direction. The Casson Centre is the left hand part of the Patchway Community Centre, immediately next door to the Patchway Town Council Offices. There is off road parking adjacent to the Centre and further spaces along Rodway Road, near to the local Spa shop.

The monthly competition theme is 'Green Water' - this covers any image captured in temperate waters. Send your digital files to Bob Anthony ( anthonyrez30@tiscali.co.uk ) and please include BUPG on the subject line. Unsure about entering? Even if you don't feel you have any winners, send some in to benefit from the audience feedback - it's an ideal way to learn.

The presentation this month is by Anna James and will cover her work photographing babies in swimming pools.

We will have a review of the BSoUP Splash In which is being held on 4th July and we will also judge our own Splash In which was held on 13th June.

If time allows, there will be a Forum on 'Animal Behaviour' and this will be led by Arthur Kingdon.

There was a very large entry of 55 images which reflects the popularity of this type of photography.

Simon gave a very inspirational talk and he has kindly sent me some notes about what he covered. He has also sent some excellent images and these appear at the end of the article. Simon is very much a fan of wide angle and big creatures as you will see. Over to you Simon:

Galapagos has many big animal subjects, but there are problems such as skittish creatures, fast currents, thermoclines and variable visibility. With shy subjects such as eagle rays and scalloped hammerheads, it’s a question of choosing your moment before pushing away from the reef to try and get close enough. However this brings its own difficulties: you can’t really do it when the other divers are still enjoying the action, so you have to hang back from the group. That said, you want to remain aware of where the group is, as it’s very easy to get swept off the seamounts in Galapagos and you do not want to be on your Jack Jones. Scalloped hammerheads are really shy – you can shoot big schools from a distance but you may well find yourself shooting through a thermocline, which makes everything look out-of-focus. If they don’t come to you you’ve got to look for a dominant female in the middle of the school and swim towards her – with a little luck, she’ll let you get close. I lucked out on my last dive at Darwin Island, where I came across a dense school of sharks streaming over white sand. Shooting down from above created a unique image.

Next up was the Maldives, where I chartered a liveaboard for a group of friends. Of course, the downside to diving with your friends is when they unintentionally stray into your photographs: a good proportion of mine appear to feature Jane Morgan checking out her image review in the background, or Douglas Seifert and his yum-yum yellow wetsuit. The solution is to commandeer a friendly dive guide and monopolise their services as a model; if a friend strays into your image, chances are you are in theirs as well. It's not a big deal. As for the mantas, the secret to a good encounter is to avoid swimming at them.

In Seattle, I found myself trying to photograph sixgill sharks at night. This turned out to be a major challenge – dark subjects against a black background in low visibility, not to mention freezing water. The best tactic was to use local experts to make the encounter as safe as possible so that I could concentrate on the photography. In this case, I was diving from a cage with a lighting rig attached, which made it easier to concentrate and focus on the sharks. While waiting for the sixgills to arrive, I photographed chimeras – normally deep-dwellers but common in Seattle from 8m down. The local divers in Seattle may not have cared for this subject, but my advice is never to shy from regional specialities, as they often offer the best opportunities to photograph a subject.

There was an interlude to discuss the versatile Nikon 28mm lens, then I spoke about the difficulties in photographing the current-blasted passes of French Polynesia. Above all, my advice is never to disguise the presence of a current in your images – it is part of the story and so it needs to be addressed and represented. That’s not an excuse to take bad images, but if fish, sharks or divers moving in a certain way because of the current, it doesn’t hurt to photograph them in a way that highlights the dynamic nature of the environment.

Next was a section on the humpback whales of Rurutu. Here, the major factor is luck. You need co-operative whales, and you need good weather, otherwise it can be a draining experience. I had the gift of a playful calf, so I got dozens of useable images to choose from. Calves are easy, because they are more friendly, they throw more poses and they are smaller (a small big animal being easier to shoot than a big big animal). However even in favourable circumstances there can be problems. In this case, one of the guides was a filmmaker who considered his presence more important than that of the clients. Contradicting his own briefing, he often swam directly at the whales, and repeatedly thrust his camera in front of clients who had dutifully remained still in the water. My tactic was simply to try and keep as far away from him as possible. I tried to anticipate the movement of the whales, and positioned myself in such a way as to avoid this difficult character and still get the shot. Also, if someone did swim in front of me, I tried to use them as models and in a few cases this tactic yielded some interesting images.

I finished with a section on Britain, where my tactic for coping with variable visibility and weather conditions is to base myself on an island, where there's usually somewhere to shelter from prevailing winds, and where viz is normally better than mainland due to the proximity of deep water. The last few images were from my favourite UK dive spot, Shetland.

This presentation was well received by the audience and we are very grateful to Simon for taking the trouble to visit the BUPG - thank you Simon.

Rick Ayrton, with his jewel anemones above, was the clear winner of the BSoUP June competition. It was the only British image entered and beat some stiff competition to secure First Place. So, even if you don't win our competition, another audience on another day may well view things differently. Well done Rick. See http://www.bsoup.org/News.php#FOJune

With Rob Bailey, the previous month's winner, we now have two of our members in the running to represent Great Britain - how about you entering?

I have received details of this event to be held held at the Royal Geographical Society, London in October. This event, hosted by Chris Packham, has a sensational line-up of international nature photographers including Daniel Beltra, Niall Benvie, Vincent Munier, Solvin Zankl, Kevin Schafer and a keynote presentation from the world-renowned National Geographic photographer, Michael 'Nick' Nichols. Also presenting their work will be winners from this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the results of which will be announced immediately before WildPhotos. For more info www.wildphotos.org.uk