Filmmaker Howard Hall explores the issues around the tagging of marine creatures for scientific research. Whilst the technology and data that tagging programs can provide is amazing, are the studies in the animals or the researchers best interests? Is the proliferation on tagging programs really giving us the scientific data we need to protect the creatures, or are we damaging the very animals we seek to protect with them?
Subal has released rendering of their housing for the Panasonic LUMIX GH4 camera, which will be shipping in December. The housing is machined from a single block of aluminum and will be compatible with Subal’s existing ports and accessories.
We have one space available for the Wetpixel Ultimate Tiger Sharks expedition. The trip, based in Freeport, Grand Bahama, runs from 03 to 10 January 2015, and will feature 5 days of diving and photographing the amazing population of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) which are resident at Tiger Beach at this time of year. The trip is land based, and we will be hosted by Epic Diving with the trip leader being Wetpixel Editor, Adam Hanlon.
Allison Vitsky Sallmon writes about her encounters with, and some of the issues around, diving with large whales whilst diving her “home turf” of Southern California. The article is accompanied by her, and her partner, Andy Sallmon’s images. She relates, for the first time, the actual events that occurred when an inflatable boat on a whale photography tour was overturned by the whales which perhaps emphasizes how vulnerable large cetaceans are to interference by human actions.
Artists and underwater photographers Kozy and Dan Kitchens have released their “Kelp Magic” print as a part of the PangeaSeed “HOME” print suite, which aims to bring attention to threatened marine habitats around the world. The prints are a numbered limited edition.
The 2014 Outdoor Photographer of the Year contest is calling for entries in its “Underexposed” category, which is specifically for underwater images. The deadline for entries is 14 December, with the results being announced on 15 February at ExCel, London.
Nauticam has announced their housing for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II camera. If features a dual function lever for ISO and M Fn (focus area adjustment) and a button to allow the vacuum system to be reset from the front. It features Nauticam’s multi selector pad, and for the first time on a Nauticam housing for a Canon camera, a lever to activate or deactivate the camera’s flash.
Scientists from Florida’s Mote Tropical Research Laboratory have discovered a technique to grow corals for transplantation 25 to 50 times faster than they would one their own. The technique is known as micro-fragmenting and may help to re-grow corals to transplant onto dead or dying reefs that took centuries to develop.
The annual DEMA show is the world’s biggest scuba and underwater equipment show and is also the venue for the vast majority of new product releases. Wetpixel attends the show with the express purpose of trying to bring the “contents” of the show to those that cannot attend. We will be posting daily updates over the next four days, so please keep checking back.
Once thought to be old portions of port facilities, archaeologists have recently determined that the underwater ruins off the coast of Delos are actually those of a small and ancient settlement. Lying in water at just 6 feet deep, archaeologists from the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Ephorate of Undersea Archaeology discovered the base of structures of buildings, including a pottery workshop complete with a kiln.