Monday, October 19th, 2009

Wetpixel sperm whale expedition, update 3

Those of you reading these updates might think that it’s easy to find and photograph a sperm whale underwater. I assure you that it is not. During this expedition, we spent days on the ocean looking for miniscule signs of life above the surface. Noticing a single blow in the huge expanse of ocean extending out to the horizon can mean the difference between success and failure. The crew of Sea-Tac’s Dancing Whale work hard, stopping regularly to listen to the ocean via hydrophone. Everything has to be right in order for a photographer to capture a good shot: weather, equipment, positioning, and above all, the presence of the animal(s)!

The three days since the last web update have been rather slow, but the action was so good for the first few days that I consider anything more to be a bonus…

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Wetpixel sperm whale expedition, update 2

The typhoon to the east continued to throw huge swells into Ogasawara, resulting in extremely difficult conditions during our next couple of days out at sea. On day 3, we decided that the weather was too bad to make it out to the sperm whale area, so we turned around and stayed in the protection of the island’s lee. Luckily, we found a school of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the bay.

Swimming with these dolphins are one of the reasons Japanese tourists flock to Ogasawara by the hundreds in high season, and when we jumped in, we could immediately see why…

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Beneath The Sea 2010 Image Contest

Beneath the Sea 2010 is pleased to invite all Photographers and Videographers from around the world to enter the Beneath the Sea International Imaging Competition. For the first time this competition is now open to both amateurs and professional image makers. The contest deadline is 31st December 2009.

In addition to spectacular prizes, BTS also awards the David Doubilet award for excellence in underwater photography, the Stan Waterman award for excellence in underwater video, and the Jim Church award for excellence in creative underwater photography.

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Wetpixel sperm whale expedition, update 1

We arrived in the Ogasawara Islands two days ago after enduring a typhoon in Toyko and an arduous 25.5-hour ferry ride. Ogasawara is 1000km due south of Tokyo and sits, isolated, at approximately the same latitude as Okinawa. As the ferry approached land, Tony Wu translated what was being broadcast over the ship-wide speaker system.

"There's another typhoon coming, and it's supposed to hit tomorrow..."

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Wetpixel members sweep Fotosub Gran Canaria

Congratulations to Wetpixel members David Barrio, Carlos Villoch and Carlos Suarez for finishing 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the 5th Fotosub Gran Canaria (2009), Costa Mogan, Spain, dividing the 6000 Euro cash prize fund between them. Fotosubs are underwater photography competitions, where photographers dive the same dive sites at the same and must submit images as unadjusted jpegs, directly from the camera.

The Costa Mogan event is an invitational, the organisers inviting and paying for leading photographers and their models to compete. Wetpixel’s Alex Mustard was one of the judges for the competition and posted live updates from the event on the Wetpixel forums, where you can also see the winning portfolios.

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

NYUPS presentation by Emory Kristof

NYUPS (New York Underwater Photography Society) is proud to present “20,000 Bytes Under The Sea”, a special presentation by legendary National Geographic photographer and IMAX filmmaker, Emory Kristof, who will recount the challenges and solutions encountered in bringing back striking images from miles down in the world’s oceans.

The presentation will take place Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker St New York, on 30th October. Admission is complimentary, but seating is limited. You must RSVP to attend.

Monday, October 12th, 2009

2010 Our World Underwater & DEEP Indonesia competitions

Underwater photographers of all levels, from novice to professionals, are invited to compete in what has become the “Superbowl” of international underwater imagery events, with over $80,000 of world-class prizes and the opportunity to have their images showcased to the world as some of the very best.

The unique competition series was founded by professional underwater photographers Jason Heller & Eric Cheng and hosted by popular websites DivePhotoGuide.com and Wetpixel.com. Deadline for submissions Jan 15, 2010.

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Ocean Optics open underwater photography stage

British underwater photography retailer, Ocean Optics, has opened a unique underwater photography stage at their retail shop in Essex, east of London, UK. The stage has been specifically designed for teaching, training and testing kit and is designed to replicate realistic coral reef, with subjects including corals, sponges, jellyfish, a wreck and even a hammerhead shark built by a props company from the movie industry.

A two hour session on the set, including tank and weights costs £45 GBP per person.

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Tony Wu catalogs humpback whale calves in Tonga

Photographer Tony Wu spends more than a month each year photographing humpback whales in the calving grounds near Vava’u, Tonga. For the past two years, he and his network of local friends have been cataloging humpback calves in August and September. This year, they have photographic IDs of 26 calves (compared with 14 in 2008), as well as 25 additional sightings where they were unable to identify the calf in question.

Tony’s results are available as a PDF download. If you’d like to help in this year’s calf survey, please contact Tony directly.

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

A Conversation With… a new series of articles

Welcome to a new series of conversation based articles focused on the techniques underwater photography by Wetpixel’s associate editor Alex Mustard. Alex said, “I realised how fortunate I am to meet so many photographers on my travels, and how the conversations we share continue to help my photography improve. My aim in this series of articles is to spread this knowledge around. I hope to do one every month or two and publish them on Wetpixel and Underwater Photography Magazine. I hope you enjoy them.

The series kicks off with A Conversation with Todd Mintz and Rand McMeins, photographers with an enviable track record in photography competitions chatting about the secrets of their success.

Articles