Articles
Underwater Images 2010 results announced
The results of the Underwater Images competition 2010 have been released.
The competition attracted entries from 17 US states, and 25 different countries worldwide. Congratulations to all the award winners, many of whom are Wetpixel members.
Valerie Taylor honored
Underwater adventurer and shark expert Valerie Taylor has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to conservation in today’s Queen’s Birthday honors list.
Together with her husband Ronald, Ms Taylor has fought for over fifty years for the protection of underwater creatures, in particular the great white shark and the grey nurse shark. She has also fought for the conservation of habitats including the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef Marine Park in Western Australia and also wants to see sea lions, the potato cod, the southern right whale and marine turtles protected.
Phuket reefs damaged by warm weather
Bleaching has struck 90 percent of the coral reefs around Phuket, Thailand, and in 10 to 40 percent of them, this is irreversible. This is due to a greater than usual exposure to hot sun and warmer than normal water temperatures. This has placed the entire Andaman region’s reefs at risk this year. Other reefs around Thailand and the Australian Great Barrier Reef have also been affected. Scientists measured reef temperatures this week at 30.5 degrees. Prolonged exposure to 31 degrees or above is harmful.
The damage may be short-term, as the corals being bleached are fast-growing varieties. However more unseasonably warm weather would continue the trend, and if this was an annual change, regeneration may not take place.
Canon 5D Mark II underwater housing shootout
The Canon 5D Mark II is the most popular HDSLR with 1080p video and 21 megapixels on a 35mm sensor. From feature films to TV, this camera has been touted as the game changer. With such fanfare, join Drew as he reviews 2 housings for the camera, the Aquatica A5D Mark II and Sea & Sea MDX Pro, to compare the pros and cons of each housing brand’s design philosophy.
Click through to see this in-depth, 7-page review…
Jacques Cousteau centennial
June 11 marks the centennial of the birth of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and we at Wetpixel want to honor the legacy of the man who is truly one of the fathers of our industry. Among his many accomplishments, Cousteau was an innovator of Scuba diving, which is essential to our enterprise, as well as a pioneer of underwater photography and filmmaking itself.
Harnessing the power of visual imagery, Cousteau created more than 120 documentaries and 50 books, and brought awareness of the marine environment to millions of people around the planet. The world stands in his debt for inspiring entire generations of marine biologists, filmmakers, photographers and conservationists. Later in his life, Cousteau saw that the ocean’s resources are not infinite, and sought to educate the world about the fragility of the environment.
The Cousteau legacy continues through his children and grandchildren, who have followed in his footsteps to educate and inspire. Jacques Cousteau said, “people protect what they love.” As a community, we must also continue his legacy, to share our images and videos with the world, showing species and places that most people will never see, but which are vitally important to conserve. Read more about Jacques Cousteau’s remarkable achievements.
Aquatica announces Canon T2i/550D underwater housing
Aquatica today officially announced a housing for the Rebel T2i/550D - the AT2i housing. The housing is one of the smallest and lightest that Aquatica has made. It features connectors for a variety of strobes - including Nikonos, Ikelite, S6 and fiber optical connections. The housing also features a retractable lens release lever in order to be able to remove the camera body from the housing with both the lens and gears attached.
1 spot on Sep 2010 Bahamas sharks / dolphins / goliath groupers trip
We’ve just had a single cancellation for our September 11-19, 2010 Bahamas sharks, dolphins, goliath groupers trip. We’ll be with Jim Abernethy aboard the M/V Shear Water, and will be spending 4-5 days in the Bahamas photographing dolphins, tiger sharks, lemon sharks, and Caribbean reef sharks, and will then head back to Florida for 2-3 days of aggregating goliath groupers. Trip is led by Eric Cheng.
If you’re interested, please contact Dan Baldocchi at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Byron Bay Shoot-Out results published
The results of the 2010 Byron Bay Shoot Out are now on-line.
Over 40 photographers took part in the event with the grand finale and the announcement of all winners taking place on Sunday 30 May. Congratulations to all the winners. The event took place over a week, with diving and social events each day.