BSoUP in focus magazine issue 118

in focus Spring/Summer 2021 no 118 Inspiring and informing underwater photographers since 1967



in focus Spring/Summer 2021 Contents 2 Editorial 7 New Logo For BSoUP 8 Through Snell's Window - Ivan Donooghue 20 BSoUP to launch new web site 22 Blue fingered gardening in Fiji 30 Torbay Splash-in 2020 36 Focus On - Competition Results 60 The Curse of the Blue Hole - Dr Diane Gan 62 Diving in Barbados - Catherine Holmes 78 Silver steps and the sea - Shannon Moran 81 Science photographer of the year Simon Brown 82 Derawan Island - Joss Woolf 98 The World Beneath - a book review by Joss Woolf 101 I Miss You - Alex Mustard Cover image: BSoUP in focus • 3 Yarrel's Blenny by Rob Bailey Joss Woolf, Editor, [email protected] Chris McTernan, Design/Production, [email protected] Mike Russell, Images/Distribution, [email protected] Paul Morgan, Layout and editorial assistance, [email protected] Martha Tressler, Advertising, [email protected] www.bsoup.org Spring/Summer 2021

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Editorial by Joss Woolf - Editor Spring/summer 2021 It’s been almost eighteen months now since this dreaded virus reared its ugly head and what with this variant and that variant, we are only just beginning to open up the airways to a dozen countries. Sadly, none of them is a diving destination on my list. When is it all going to end? For the second year running, our cherished annual Red Sea trip has been scuppered; we are all zoomed out and diving and underwater photography seem like a distant memory. I optimistically bought some shiny new strobes from Alex Tattersall last Autumn; I expect they’ll be obsolete by the time we are allowed to start travelling again. Still, it’s not as if we are short of fantastic diving spots around our very own British Isles. And, don’t forget, this year’s BIUPC takes place on the 4th September. But it’s not all bad. Behind the scenes, certain people have been very busy with their spare time; we are about to announce the imminent launch of our long-awaited and much-needed new web-site. This has been a huge undertaking and the golden halo award goes to Paul Colley, supported by his dedicated team. There’s a page inside to tell you a bit about it. We’ve got a new logo too – I'm sure you will like it! Fingers crossed by the time the next edition of in focus lands on your metaphorical door-step, we will all be back in the water. Your In focus team: Joss Woolf, Chris McTernan, Mike Russell, Paul Morgan and Martha Tressler Spring/Summer 2021 Inspiring and informing underwater photographers since 1967 BSoUP in focus • 5

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New Logo for BSoUP Spring/Summer 2021 With the new website well under way at the back end of last year, it made sense to update the BSoUP logo at the same time. Within our community, we are fortunate to have a diverse wealth of skills. Tony Baskeyfield is a graphic designer with over 40 years’ experience, and runs his own purpose-built photography and graphic design studio, Plus Two Designs, in Deeping St. James, just north of Peterborough. We approached him in December and he was delighted to have been asked. He came up with a variety of designs and the BSoUP committee finally settled on the version shown here which can be adapted to suit our various media requirements. We chose this one because it still bears some resemblance to the original logo, sketched all those years ago on the back of a cigarette packet. Many thanks Tony! BBSSooUUPPiinn ffooccuuss••77

Through Snell’s Window in focus editor Joss Woolf interviews Ivan Donoghue Ivan Donoghue was named overall winner of the 2020 “Love your Coast” competition. It was the first time that an underwater picture has taken the top prize. He has also been placed a couple of times in the BIUPC competition. He won the “above water” category of the 2020 Diving Life competition with an image of a jumping diver and in the British Wildlife awards, his image of a spider-crab was commended. What got you into diving in the first £25. After sitting through the lectures, place? delivered with hand drawn acetates and pool sessions, where water fitness It was 1990. I was walking to a was tested to the point of hypoxia, I friend’s house when I noticed a poster moved on to snorkelling in the sea in a shop window advertising a try-a- before finally being taken on a shallow dive with Wexford Sub Aqua Club. I dive that autumn. had been thinking about something to do to keep me occupied and with Where are you from originally? a love of James Bond’s film The Spy Who Loved Me, I decided I’d rope I was born in Wexford town in the in a friend and go along to their south east of Ireland. It is near introductory night. Rosslare Harbour where the ferry to Fishguard departs from. I was obviously hooked after the try dive as I signed up for the course for Where do you live now? 8 • BSoUP in focus

Diver in Cave Hook Head, Wexford Ireland Not far - I live just on the outskirts of loved looking through the downward Wexford town now, about forty minutes viewfinder and pretending to take from some great shore dives and even pictures. less to Kilmore Quay where the club I have been taking underwater pictures boat is moored. since 1996, so that’s 25 years, even though after that considerable amount What do you do for a living? of time, I still consider myself to be on a learning curve. I work as Quality, Environmental Health and Safety manager in a local What was your first camera? stainless steel Fabrication company Kent Stainless Ltd. It was a small film Undy camera bought from an advertisement in Diver When did your interest in Magazine. A local diver was selling underwater photography begin? a Nikonos V and SB102 flash. Even second hand, I struggled to afford it; I had always been the one to bring I had no idea what I was doing with a small film camera with me for the it and the vast majority of pictures nights out. There had been a box Brownie in my house as a child and I Following page: Jellyfish and Diver Aran Islands, Co Galway, Ireland Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 9

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Spring/Summer 2021 were scrapped. I bought slide film so I could present pictures to club members on social nights. I remember the laughs they had “at yet another picture of green water”. The Nikonos does look good on the shelf now. What cameras have you had since and what do you use now? When digital came out, in 2004, I switched to that with some Canon IXUS compacts, then the Canon 980IS which offered limited manual control, but most importantly, it could be fitted with an INON fish-eye lens. Eventually I bought a Canon 550D SLR and then a Canon 7D2. Both are in an Aquatica housing. To what do you attribute your success? My first mentor was Denis Martin, who was one of the founders of Wexford Sub Aqua Club in 1971. He is a wonderful man and just loves the scuba diving. He has five kids and four of them are divers! Denis was the man who took me under his wing and instilled in me not only a love for diving but also a love for the history of diving. He also took underwater pictures. Then I learnt so much from other photographers on the Irish diving BSoUP in focus •1111

scene. In recent years it has been photography learning trip, but Covid Nigel Motyer who has helped promote intervened. My son finds it amusing underwater photography to a wider that I’m guaranteed to meet someone audience. I know zero about the I know in the Egyptian airports. technical aspects of photography so just watching Nigel underwater and Another trip of note was a Bahamas asking him questions helped me to shark diving trip with Nigel Motyer in learn. 2010. I’m proud that I was second into the water and before long I was Which other photographers’ work night diving while the Lemon sharks inspires you? swam between my legs. The best in the world is Alex Mustard. For my 50th birthday, I pushed the He does everything from teaching, boat out and we went to Mexico for writing books, winning competitions the guaranteed chance to snorkel with etc. I wish I had travelled with him Whale Sharks and dive their cenotes. on his workshop about twenty years The most joyful of all for me has been ago (especially now since COVID has the chance to share the underwater postponed my later attempts). world with my family. My wife, Carmel is a diver. Although my son Liam What type of marine life attracts loves the Irish sport of hurling more you the most? than anything in the world, he has snorkelled since he was a toddler and I love the big animals but have had is now qualified to dive to 12 meters. to travel to see the big ones such as Whale sharks and Tiger sharks. In Favourite spots? Ireland, the animal that rocks my boat is the grey seal. I love seeing them It would be too easy to pick a Red underwater, especially when they are Sea site like Elphinstone, so I will in a playful mood. choose a shore dive close to my home. The only downside is that Tell me about some of the places there is a five-minute kitted walk to you have dived around the world. the site across fields and rocks. The walk back is even more demanding My first trip to the Red Sea was in depending on how much energy 1996 and I fell in love with the country and the history of Ancient Egypt. I Right: What lies beneath, Hook Head, was due to go back for my tenth time Wexford, Ireland last June to undertake an underwater Following pages: Lighting the way, Hook Head, Co Wexford, Ireland 12 • BSoUP in focus

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Left: Diver and Anchor, Hook Head, Co Wexford. Above: Jumping Diver Saltee Islands, Co Wexford. you expended getting out of the changing event. I’ve been diving for sea. By the time you are back at the thirty years now, which is over half of car, your weight belt is likely to be my lifetime. How more life changing around your knees. Anyhow, I love can you get? It has been a privilege this site because it's shallow, features to have made a lot of good friends a wreck, hidden gullies, a huge cave, through diving and to have seen some sunbeams and a blowhole you can wonderful things underwater. surface in for a chat. It has loads of photo opportunities and I love guiding Has BSoUP helped you along your people around. photographic journey and if so, how? However, when the conditions do not play ball, it can be a long walk for Yes. Meeting Paul Colley was a little reward. I am thinking specifically real pleasure. That man has done of the 2020 BIUPC where we lasted BSoUP very proud, especially with the 12mins in the water because visibility development of BIUPC competition. was so bad. Notwithstanding his outstanding underwater, bat and astronomy Any life-changing events in photography, he and his wife Vinny your life? are a lovely couple, and time in their company is well spent. Learning to scuba dive is the life Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 17

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What advice would you give to It’s not easy taking pictures in Ireland, people starting out? especially when your club is also depending on you to teach and lead Read books. Get a wide-angle new divers. Enjoy a competition lens. Go on a dedicated underwater success if it comes along, and never photography workshop. Respect worry if it doesn’t. nature. On the other side of the coin, I have What do you think about spent more time organising Irish competitions? underwater photography competitions than I have spent entering them. I love them and hate them at the same time. I don’t enter many, especially Anyone interested in seeing Irish as my Irish pictures are up against underwater pictures should visit Diving photos taken in super conditions, or Ireland Underwater Photography on not eligible because of their location. Facebook Left: Protector of Wrecks, Hook Head, Co Wexford. Above: Bathtub with Balazs Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 19

BSoUP to launch new web site at 18 May meeting The committee is pleased to announce a new web site to BSoUP and hopes you’ll find it a suitable replacement for the old site that served us so well. We were keen to preserve our strong heritage, but also to provide a modern external face to the underwater photography community that is compatible with mobile devices. We also wanted to make it easier to join BSoUP and to enter all of our competitions. And we intend this new web to be easier for people to update and for others to contribute to, without needing specialist skills. You can browse much of the new web site now by going to bsoup.org.uk but you will not yet be able to access the members-only areas, noting that: • When you get the password re-set activation email on 19th May, please log in to the new site with the allocated password, or change it to your own. The new site will force you to choose a strong password. Guidance is at the login page. Strong passwords are an essential part of making the site secure and protecting your data. • We have pre-filled your profile with data from the old site, but you can add additional profile information that will eventually be seen by others using the site. Add as much or as little as you wish, for example links to your web site and social media accounts. • You can access your profile by clicking on the small bsoup.org.uk tag in the top left-hand corner of the site, then Dashboard and Profile. You can access your account status when your subscription is active or at the renewal date by clicking the ‘My Account’ link at the bottom centre of all web pages. • Please note that all future subscriptions will be through the PayPal portal, which has a credit and debit card facility if you do not have a PayPal account. BACS will no longer be used as it has proved too labour-intensive to manage. For those renewing from 1st July, you will receive instructions by automatic email on how to renew two weeks in advance and you will be offered an option to ‘automatically renew subscription’ in future years. • If you have problems getting access to the new site after 19th May, please contact one of the people below, who all have web site admin rights and they will help you through the process. 20 • BSoUP in focus

Finally, please be patient during the transition. Despite our considerable best efforts, there may be teething problems. There is rarely good traction in any worthwhile project without a little friction! We will get all of you onto the new web as soon as we can. I’d like to add a big thank you to all those who helped with the development of the new web. Principally, Martha Tressler, Andy Deitsch, Justin Beevor, Joss Woolf, Sarah White, Rob Bailey and David Alpert who all contributed directly. But also those who responded to the call for fresh articles, which I’m sure you will all enjoy. We also had a substantial anonymous financial contribution, which means that the costs of development funded from your annual BSoUP subscriptions will be modest. Paul Colley Paul Colley [email protected] Martha Tressler [email protected] Justin Beevor [email protected] All information can be found on the web site Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 21

Blue-fingered Gardening in Fiji by Jay and Dan Shipp Alessandro steps off his boat few hours and goes on to explain onto the wooden jetty on which some of the techniques that we will be we await. He greets each of using. us, six in all, with a handshake and a welcoming smile. We are all part of a We don our snorkelling gear and volunteer programme, run by Alex, to enter the water. All about us are encourage local coral regrowth after smashed up pieces of coral. It's so the severe damage caused by Cyclone sad to see such devastation to a reef Yasa in late 2020. It was one of the that we've dived on so many times. strongest cyclones to have hit Fiji since Alex descends to the bottom, searches records began. He outlines what he amongst the scattered pieces until hopes we can accomplish in the next he finds an appropriate one, and Below: Alex gathers fragments for replanting. Right: Alex positions coral fragments 22 • BSoUP in focus

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surfaces. \"This is what we're looking upwards from there. for,\" he says. “It's the right size and still alive”, he adds. Our first efforts either turn into soup in the water or harden like cricket Armed with this knowledge, we begin balls, but we quickly get the hang of searching for similar pieces. Alex it. Soon, we are installing two or three secures a couple of baskets from the lumps of concrete on suitable rocky underside of a surfboard and asks us outcrops in about five metres of water, to fill them with the fragments that we then returning with a new lungful of air have gathered. to carefully position our fragments into the waiting concrete. We do as instructed and then all head over to the nursery which consists of It all seems rather ‘bish bash bosh’ several parallel ropes strung between but he assures us it works and at two sturdy stands. We spend a while least some of the results speak for attaching the coral, making sure that themselves. they are evenly spread along each rope line and in the best possible Because we live only a few hundred position to regrow and become yards from the nursery, we can be candidates for permanent replanting. layman judges of that over the coming months. Even now, after just a few After we’ve done as many snorkels weeks, we’ve noticed a clear increase down to the ropes as our lungs allow, in fish populations around the nursery Alex huddles the group for a quick and the coral fragments which have rest and demonstrates the next stage: been attached to the rope are healing the technique of securing viable coral nicely. pieces directly to the substrate using small balls of concrete. “The concrete Work done, we call it a day. Alex is needs to be soft enough to mould into very passionate about his quest to cracks but hard enough to stay solid in restore Fiji's coral reefs. We walk away the water”, he explains. “In fact, if you feeling inspired by his energy and can manage to wedge the coral into commitment. He is one of a group of gaps in the rocks without concrete, people in Fiji dedicating their time to that can work well too”. He goes on to give coral reefs a helping hand - and show us that the best way to position coral fragments is actually lying down, Left: The rope nursery from underneath rather than upright. This is so you can Following pages: Jay wedges a expose the healthy side – the new coral fragment directly into rock. growth will emerge Right: Mangrove, 2nd place Marine category South Pacific Climate Change Competition Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 25

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it's a difficult battle. photography to highlight some of the problems facing ecosystems due to In Fiji, the emphasis is on creating climate change. nurseries using only thermal tolerant corals and those with a natural Using our photography to record resistance to predation by the crown- the efforts of coral gardeners like of-thorns starfish. With a rise in sea Alex, and bring attention to issues temperatures, this sounds like a caused by climate change, is very reasonable strategy. On top of this, rewarding. So much more so because village youth groups are being set up stories we hear of recent dive trips and encouraged to participate in these to exotic locations invariably contain coral regrowth initiatives - a move in the message \"it's not as good as it the right direction. Of course, coral used to be\". Just imagine if we could restoration is only part of the solution. reverse that. Alex's coral gardening A global response to curbing climate is only a tiny piece in the jigsaw of change must be at the top of every environmental recovery, as is the countries’ agenda. photography competition, but it's a start. Will it make a difference? We'll Meanwhile, back on land we were have to see. As the saying goes, happy to see one such initiative set desperate times call for desperate up by the British Consulate here measures. in Fiji. They hosted a photography competition with the aim of spreading It's hard to predict when borders will awareness of our changing climate's open again here in Fiji, but when they detrimental impact on pacific island do, let's hope that the colourful coral nations. This is part of the lead up reefs that attract so many tourists, to the 26th UN Climate Change divers and of course, people like us - Conference taking place in Glasgow underwater photographers - will still later in 2021. be here to greet us all. We both entered, and were delighted For those curious to learn more, to be chosen as finalists, giving us budding coral gardeners in Fiji use an the opportunity to get dressed up and easy to digest DIY guide to help them attend the awards night - and then set up and maintain coral rejuvenation utterly thrilled to both be announced projects. We will post a link to it on the prize winners! BSoUP Facebook group when In-focus is published. The competition certainly made us think a little more about using our Left: A freshly implanted coral fragment Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 29

Torbay Splash-in 2020 The fourth annual Splash- to select the peoples’ favourite. in underwater photography Official Judging was conducted competition run by the Torbay anonymously by Peter Rowlands, the branch of the British Sub-Aqua well-respected photographer and Club took place on Saturday, 19 editor of Underwater Photography September. The competition was Magazine, who provided insightful originally scheduled for July but had to and interesting comments on the be postponed due to the Coronavirus winning photographs. lockdown. This year, the competition attracted A Splash-in competition is one where sponsorship from Christopher Ward, the photographs must be taken who donated a prestigious diving on a single day, and sometimes watch for the winner of the Popular within a certain area. There were Vote, and O’Three, who sponsored four categories of entry: Beginner, the Beginners category, with a voucher Compact Camera, Wide-angle, and for 50% off a new drysuit. Close-up/Macro. Peter Rowlands: “Thank you for Unfortunately, bad weather on the inviting me once again to judge the day presented the competitors with images from this year’s Torbay Splash- particularly challenging conditions, so in. For obvious reasons, this year’s it was heartening to receive a total of earlier event had to be postponed 49 photographs, submitted by 12 of and rescheduled. This later date ran the 19 registered competitors. the risk of a weather gamble and unfortunately the conditions on the As in previous years, the quality of day were not, shall we say, sparkling. the images remained high which, A shame it may be, but that is the given the circumstances on the essence, and also the attraction, of a day, is testament to the skills and Splash-in. You are all, so to speak, in resourcefulness of the contestants. the same boat. With good weather it An evening dinner and presentation is easier, but when the conditions and was held at the Royal Torbay Yacht visibility are significantly restricted it Club following the ‘Rule-of Six’, where all the images were shown, Top: Right: Wide Angle Winner: Dave and a ‘Popular Vote’ was held Peake. Below:Compact Camera Winner: Guy Mitchell 30 • BSoUP in focus

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Above: Close-up Winner: Dan Bolt Right: Popular Vote Winner: Simon Temple Below: Beginner Winner: Oliver Newhouse 32 • BSoUP in focus

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Top left: Close-up Runner-up: Dan Bolt Below: Wide Angle Runner-up: Dan Bolt Top right: Beginner Runner-up Oliver Newhouse Below Compact Camera Runner-up: Jon Bunker 34 • BSoUP in focus

becomes a test of your photographic questionable at best and “he definitely mettle, so I would first of all like to shouldn’t be invited back next year!”. congratulate each and every one Such is the nature of competitions. On of the entrants on your day’s work. the positive side they do provide a very Competitions are cruel for the valuable opportunity to see other’s entrant but also for the judge. For work, and to learn how and why they the few, I will be the good guy, but succeeded.” for the majority my judgement will be BSoUP in focus • 35 Spring/Summer 2021

Focus On - Competition Results NOVEMBER 2020 when I had a second opportunity, I BEGINNERS PORTFOLIO took a fisheye. I had a hunch I would Congratulations to Rick Francis who like the perspective exaggerating came first. There were 9 entries and the head and obviously the teeth. I the competition was judged by was lucky to catch a moment with a Nur Tucker. sunbeam lining up with an eye that was clearly interested in me. Nikon The top six: D850, Nikon 8-15mm fisheye @ 15mm. Ikelite housing and strobes. 1. Rick Francis ISO500, f16, 1/250. 2. Andy Deitsch 3. Gabriel Jimenez Ghost goby on a sea pen: I took a 4. Jo Cudmore number of profile shots of this goby on 5. Christine Grosart a sea pen, and it was so comfortable 6. Dan Shipp with me I gradually moved around to face it. I was rewarded with a shot 1st Rick Francis highlighting the surprisingly deep blue I spotted these two \"Sean the sheep\" of the eyes. Anilao, Philippines. Nikon nudibranchs (Costasiella kuroshimae) D850, Nikon 105mm, Ikelite housing on a leaf and was alternating between and strobes. ISO 100, f22, 1/200. the two when I realized their grazing trajectories might allow a shot of 2nd Andy Deitsch both in a single plane of focus. The Stingray: This shot was taken at the complete absence of current or surge dawn snorkel on Stingray Sandbar in made it possible to plan composition Grand Cayman. While I had done of a supermacro shot and wait for the this \"dive\" 3 times before, I never had Seans to align. Anilao, Philippines. a shot with the seagrass in the frame, ISO 200, f36, 1/320. Nikon and I thought it would be nice to D850, Nikon 105mm, Nauticam get that green colour. I spent some SMC1+SMC Magnifier, Ikelite time on the periphery of the group housing and strobes. waiting for stingrays to come by. For a while it was a bit lonely but they The crocodiles of Cuba’s Jardines eventually showed up where I wanted de la Reina draw photographers them. Taken with a Nikon D850 in a from all over the world. I had had Nauticam housing. one wonderful session using the Nikon 16-35 f4, but, because of the opportunities for close encounters, 36 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

Humpback: This baby humpback was Image 2 was taken in Cabo Pulmo, quite playful frolicking around on the Mexico in 2015. Due to bad weather surface and periodically going back I was only able to dive one day during down to mum for reassurance. Tony this holiday. However I was very Wu, our guide, was quite concerned pleased there was plenty of life willing for my safety when I took this shot as I to be photographed. Canon 7D II, was finning backwards while shooting Nauticam housing, Tokina 10-17mm, to avoid getting accidentally hit. 10mm, f/8, 1/125, two Z240 strobes. Taken in Tonga with a Canon 7D in a Nauticam housing. Image 3 was my first attempt at a split image, again in a highly productive Raja Ampat: On Alex Mustard's Raja workshop with Alex in the Red Sea. Ampat workshop last November, we Canon 7D II, Nauticam housing, spent time working on split shots. Tokina 10-17mm, 10mm, f/18, 1/15, The current through the channel two Z240 strobes. here was quite strong so it required getting to a place that was sheltered DECEMBER 2020 from the current but also provided a FOCUS ON - ABSTRACT decent perspective. I have to admit Congratulations to Paul Short who that I wasn't successful crossing the came first. There were 40 entries and channel at first but then watched Alex the competition was judged by navigate it and followed his lead. This Laura Storm. was taken in an area known as Pele's Playground with a Nikon D850 in The top six: Nauticam housing. 1. Paul Short 2. Warren Williams 3rd Gabriel Jimenez 3. David Alpert Image 1: Peacock Mantis Shrimp 4. Jeremy Brown taken in 2014 in Anilao, Philippines 5. Henley Spiers during a workshop with Alex Mustard. 6. Catherine Atkinson This was the first workshop I had attended and also the first time I had 1st Paul Short used a macro lens and two strobes. It This picture was taken in Tonga from was a lot of info to digest, but in that the Liveaboard Nia. single week I learned more than the previous 5 years of trial and error. After a full day’s snorkelling with Canon 650D, Nauticam housing, humpback whales, we did the last dive 100mm, f/4.5, 1/200, two Z240 with scuba gear at Paradise Reef. As strobes. we approached the reef, I was amazed Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 37

Focus On - Beginners portfolio. Winner, Rick Francis 38 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

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Focus On - Beginners portfolio. 2nd place, Andy Deitsch 40 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

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Focus On - Beginners portfolio. 3rd place, Gabriel Jimenez BSoUP in focus • 43 Spring/Summer 2021

Focus On - Abstract. Above, 1st place, Paul Short. Top right, 2nd place, Warren Williams. Below, 3rd place, David Alpert 44 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

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at the abundance of giant clams with My aim was to use creative or unusual stunning colours. I chose this one for photography to capture the attention the competition as it was a vivid blue of the viewer, drawing them in to – something I hadn’t seen before. The the story of Misool, highlighting the difficult part was getting close enough success achieved against the odds. to photograph it without disturbing it Pictured is a Clown Trigger Fish. I have and making it close up. photographed this using a polished metal tube in front of my camera to Canon 5DMK3 in a Subal housing create the circular reflections. with a 100MM macro lens @1/200 F18 ISO 100 with only one Retra Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia strobe firing. Canon 5D MKIII, Canon 100mm Lens. Inon Z240 strobes x 2 2nd Warren Williams 1/250 sec F/9 ISO 320 My image shows the reflections of the river bed at the water/air interface. JANUARY 2021 The white lines and specks are air FOCUS ON - bubbles trapped in the fast-flowing FISH PORTRAIT water movement. The equipment Congratulations to Robert Bailey used was a housing of my own design who came first. There were 53 entries and construction with WiFi head up and the competition was judged by display, HUD viewing. Also known as Martyn Guess. the CYCLOPS PROJECT. The camera used was a Panasonic GX7 fitted with The top six: a fisheye lens. Exp 125sec @ f8. 200 1. Robert Bailey ISO. River Dart, Devon. 2. Spike Piddock 3. Jeremy Brown 3rd David Alpert 4. Kirsty Andrews Clowning Around 5. Nur Tucker The Misool marine reserve, in Raja 6. Mark Drayton Ampat, stands as a beacon within the marine conservation movement. 1st Rob Bailey Its founders brought to life a dream Yarrell's Blenny to turn this once badly mismanaged Taken in Lochcarron in Aug 2020. and over fished area into a flourishing Nikon D500, Nikkor 60mm macro, reserve. Healthy eco systems are and one Backscatter strobe with snoot. characterised by balance, diversity and abundance from the smallest creatures 2nd Spike Piddock right to its apex predators. Juvenile Porcupine Fish 46 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

Taken on a trip in Jan 2010 with FEBRUARY 2021 BSoUP members to Ganga and KBR in FOCUS ON - Sulawesi, Indonesia. BLACK AND WHITE Congratulations to Rick Ayrton who Picture was taken at KBR with a Canon came first. There were 54 entries 40D, 60 mm macro lens, housed and the competition was judged by in an Ikelite housing with two Ikelite Henley Spiers. strobes. The top six: 3rd Jeremy Brown 1. Rick Ayrton Low angle, close-up of a very friendly 2. Robert Bailey flounder, Pleuronectidae, at Seal Reef, 3. Dan Shipp Loch Fyne, Scottish West Coast. 4. Hannes Klostermann 5. Nick More Nauticam housing, Olympus OMD 6. Yazid El Shaari EM1mkii, 60mm Olympus M4/3 macro lens at ISO200, f16 and 1st Rick Ayrton 1/250s. Strobe lighting from slightly This photo of an amphipod was taken above the subject to hide substrate at Eyemouth in August 2020. I was (and ectoparasite on its chin) in its there having joined Pete Ladell’s trip own shadow. and we were diving from Oceanic run by Derek Anderson. Shot with a Nikon D800 with a Nikkor 16mm fisheye lens at f8, 1/320 sec Having done a couple of days’ wide ISO 640 and two Retra strobes. angle photography I felt it was time to put on the 105 and do some Image 3 - On a freediving trip to the macro dives, although I immediately Azores we were fortunate to find a regretted the decision when one of the huge baitball of longspine snipefish, first things I encountered was a big a pelagic relative of seahorses. They angler fish! were being preyed upon by dozens of tope sharks with barracuda circling to After that disappointment I set about pick up the scraps. looking for subjects. I had never previously taken shots of or even seen Nikon D800 with a Nikkor 16mm amphipods so when I started looking fisheye at f5.6, 1/500 ISO 640, -3ev closely at the fields of deadmen’s and natural light. fingers and was able to spot them quite easily, I set about trying to capture a decent shot. I had varying Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 47

Focus On - Fish Portrait. Above, 1st place, Yarells's Blenney by Robert Bailey Top right, 2nd place, Juvenile porcupine fish by Spike Piddock . Below, 3rd place, Flounder by Jeremy Brown 48 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

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Focus On - Black and White. Above, 1st place, amphipod by Rick Ayrton. Top right, 2nd place, Razorbill by Robert Bailey. Below, 3rd place, Cleaner wrasse by Dan Shipp 50 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS