As part of a re-launch of their on-line presence, Gates Underwater Housings has introduced “Shot on Gates”, a showcase for beautiful and innovative material shot by Gates users. Gates is actively seeking additional submissions for possible inclusion, the only criteria being that the material must have been taken using Gates product(s.) Films currently being showcased include “Circle of Life” by Simon Spear and “Windows of Life” by Danny Van Belle.
Disneynature has announced a date of October 19 2010 for the release of their film Oceans as a DVD, Blu-ray and download. The feature film was released to cinemas on Earth Day, April 22 2010, and was a box office success, grossing $2,466,530 in its first days showing. The film, shot at over 50 different sites, took four years and $66,000,000 to make and is narrated by actor Pierce Brosnan.
“Oceans allows the audience to be a part of marine life—to share all the emotions engendered by the exploration of the last great wild expanse: wonder, fear, calm, tenderness, violence, vitality, power. We took the time to allow the animals to invite us in. We waited to become a fish among fish.”
Jacques Cluzaud, Director. “The secrets of the ocean have always fascinated explorers. Man first ventured into the sea gradually, unaware of its infinite richness and diversity. Over the centuries, there have been so many discoveries, but the sea is still an immense and wild territory.”
Jacques Perrin, Director.
Wes Skiles, a renowned explorer and underwater photographer / cinematographer, died yesterday while diving off of Boynton Beach, Florida. According to local papers, Wes signaled to other divers that he was ascending. Details are spotty, but he was later found at the bottom of the reef, motionless.
Wes’ photography and work is featured in this month’s National Geographic article on Bahamas Blue Holes. His beautiful cover shot shows two divers exploring a beautifully-lit limestone cave.
If you have something you’d like to share to memorialize Wes Skiles, please leave it in the comments here, or send it to us via email and we’ll add it to this post.
UPDATE: NPR did a story about Wes this morning. It’s a nice piece and includes a slideshow of the photos from the current issue of National Geographic.
There is also a notice of a memorial celebration and service.
Blue Ocean 2010 Film Festival has announced the judges’ shortlist of entries. The event will to be held from 24 to 29 August this year in Monterey, California, and counts among its aims:
“Bringing together the worlds greatest ocean films and filmmakers.”
Tickets are now available for the event, and all films accepted into the festival will be available for viewing on-demand in the event’s video library, which will be open during the festival.
Canon has just released a firmware update for the EOS 7D. This update is version 1.2.2. It aims to:
“Fix a phenomenon in which the set aperture moves unexpectedly when shooting movies in manual exposure mode using some Canon lenses (such as macro lenses).
Supplemental Information: This phenomenon involves the aperture of the lens moving unexpectedly when the focusing ring moves (during focusing).”
This film, shot with an in-water crew of 5 over an amazing 4 hours over two days is described as an “underwater chase scene.” The team used underwater scooters (transportation!) for propulsion and film effects and was filmed on the USS Vandenberg in the Florida Keys. The film is accompanied by a section on its making and interviews of the cast and crew.
Nauticam has recently released a series of new products. These include a new white balance dome port, a 4.33” mini dome, a housing for the Nikon SB-R200 speedlight and a port/adapter to allow the use of the Nikkor 60mm lens with the innovative Inon micro semi-fisheye relay lens.
A few days ago, I took delivery of a BS Kinetics DuoDive housing, which is designed to house 2 consumer camcorders for use in capturing underwater 3D video. The housing is a carbon fiber + epoxy oval (as opposed to being a rigid cylinder or machined aluminum housing, which is more typical), and features a flat port, red/orange filter, hinged port cap, and rear LCD that toggles between left and right camera display…
Check out underwater photographer Stephen Wong’s second and third day photo gallery from the Diving & Resort Travel Expo in Hong Kong (DRT Show). The esteemed Mr. Wong and his wife, Miss Takako Uno, gave a slideshow presentation that attracted over 120 people, blocking traffic in the aisles. I wish I had been able to attend!
Shark Savers recently launched the “Say ‘no’ to shark fin soup” campaign (an extension of WildAid’s campaign in China) in Hong Kong at the DRT Show 2010. The campaign will encourage people to stop eating shark fin soup and aimed to get 20,000 expo visitors to pledge not to eat or serve shark fin soup. Wetpixel applauds Shark Savers for extending its efforts in shark conservation into the area that needs it the most.
Click through to read the full press release. Also included is a teaser video from the campaign and some anti shark-finning banners you can use on your own website.