Articles
New DiveFilm HD podcast: Circle of Life
Simon Spear’s film “Circle of Life” is now available as an HD or iPod podcast via DiveFilm HD on iTunes. The film is about our deep connection to the ocean realm.
DiveFilm HD showcases some of the best high-definition underwater short films being produced today from all over the world. Featuring beautiful images of the underwater world, marine life large and small, interviews with interesting people, and updates on underwater imaging. Produced in association with Wetpixel and available via iTunes.
Help establish a new shark sanctuary in Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Indonesia is both one of the most biodiverse ocean environments on the planet and the world’s largest shark fishery. Shark Savers is working with Misool Eco Resort, Conservation International’s Indonesia Marine Program, WildAid, and other NGOs and eco-tourism companies on a new initiative to convince the Raja Ampat government to prohibit all fishing of sharks, mantas, and mobulas.
This is not a “feel good” petition. The petition is one piece of a comprehensive initiative to show the Raja Ampat Fisheries and Tourism Depts. that sharks, mantas and mobulas are very valuable to their local economy - ALIVE!
Sign the petition now – we need your support. Spread the word!
Call for entries: Oceans in Focus competition
To recognize the United Nations declaring 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, Project AWARE Foundation and SeaWeb’s Marine Photobank are calling for entries for the third “Ocean in Focus” Conservation Photography Contest. This features species in need of protection, the human impacts upon them and their environments, and the critical need to conserve biodiversity.
Randall Bentoni returns from Socorro / Revillagigedos Islands
Last year’s Picture of the Year winner, Randall Bentoni, was awarded a one-week liveaboard dive trip to the Revillagigedos by our POTY sponsor, Solmar V. Randall has just returned from his expedition:
The crew of the Solmar V took great care of my wife and me. The food was fantastic (I gained a few pounds) the service was superb, and the diving was sensational. We saw enormous mantas that swam and played with us on nearly every dive. We also saw large hammerheads and galapagos sharks, dozens of white tip sharks and beautiful Clarion Angelfish that evidently we will never see anywhere else.
Randall has posted a few photos from his trip. Be sure to enter our Picture of the Week contest for a chance to win Ikelite underwater flashlights and a trip aboard the Solmar V!
Howard Hall’s Cocos 2010 video short, shot on RED
IMAX 3D director and producer Howard and Michele Hall recently returned from a 14-day expedition to Cocos Island, Costa Rica, where they made four dives aboard the Undersea Hunter submersible, Deep See. Howard has posted a 3-minute video short using footage he shot using the RED ONE camera.
Coral bleaching affecting Maldives
The Maldives is now suffering the most serious incidence of coral bleaching since the major 1998 El Niño event that destroyed most of the country’s shallow reef coral.
Coral bleaching is caused when rising water temperatures stress the coral, leading it to expel the algae it uses to get nutrients. When water temperatures rise even slightly, algae leave the coral polyp and enters the water column, causing the coral to lose its colour and eventually die.
Bug eye / endoscope video from Lembeh, Indonesia
I’ve just posted a short video shot in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, with a Canon 7D in a Nauticam underwater housing with 60mm macro lens and INON Underwater Micro Semi-Fisheye Relay Lens UFL-MR130 EFS60 (AKA “bug eye” or “insect eye”)—effectively, and underwater endoscope.
The INON bug eye lens produces images with a perspective otherwise impossible to achieve—like seeing the macro world from a small critter’s perspective!
Wetpixel PNG Eastern Fields Expedition, January 2012
Wetpixel is going back to the remote Eastern Fields of Papua New Guinea! We’ll be aboard the liveaboard dive vessel, M/V Golden Dawn, with captain Craig de Wit, one of the few captains out there with the expertise necessary to navigate the Eastern Fields atoll system. The Eastern Fields is not over-dived, is not over-fished, and is not sitting next to areas suffering from over-development. We’ll be the only ones in the water and will structure the diving to maximize photography and videography productivity.
Click through for detailed trip information and a short video introduction of the Eastern Fields.