Weekend Photo Workshop in Key Largo, Florida - 16-18 September

I'm so excited at going back to Key Largo in Florida next month to join Christopher Parsons run his Nauticam Photography Weekend Workshop from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th September. Suitable for complete beginners with point and shoot cameras to those looking to develop their advanced skills using either housed compacts or SLR rigs, there will be something for absolutely everyone. Chris will be giving a series of lectures as well as talks on Lightroom and much, much more! I'll be there to help out from Thursday evening where we will meet for an informal briefing until Saturday afternoon, so if this is tickling your underwater tastebuds, then just get in touch with Chris at Nauticam USA. Check out the schedule on his website here



Have a great weekend and hope to see some of you there! It's gonna be a lot of fun :)

Lembeh Straits - Critter Paradise Underwater

Please forgive me for the quietness on my blog the past week, after such a crazy year or few, I finally realised that I needed a little rest. So off I headed to Lembeh Straits to continue playing with Canon Powershot's S95. I knew that I was well on the way to falling in love with this camera whilst in Nuweiba during my recent photo workshop, but how would it cope with the really small stuff here in Critter Paradise.

Well, I absolutely loved it even more and for the first time there was no need to use my INON Close-Up Lens. The camera focused quickly and sharply on all the subjects shown here and apart from a little cropping, none of the attached images have been photoshopped.

I used the camera's underwater mode to capture the photograph of the mimic octopus, I was lucky enough to see 4 of these in just two days there. Lembeh Straits really is an amazing place for any underwater photographer to go and sample macro heaven and get those photos ticked off the wish list!

I'll be continuing to play with my INON close-up lens as well as stacking them this coming week, so stay tuned for more news.

Have a lovely weekend :)

Underwater Photography Talk with ProDiveScuba to raise money for RNLI in Hull, Yorkshire

I have to say that it felt mighty strange going up the M62 to give a talk, but found something very familiar right at the end of it - a huge bridge that looked very similar to Dartfords! The talk was held in an amazing venue, none other than Home Farm's Premier Inn and I must say the food looked extremely lush!

There was a great turnout of around 60 guests, all keen beavers wondering which buttons to press to get fabulous results with their compacts. First we watched a fabulous video on the Farnes with the seals, and then ProDiveScuba's guests were presented with their achievements.

After my talk there was an absolutely brilliant game of Rock and Roll Bingo followed by prizes up for grabs by Beaver and Oceanic as well as a Chinese Meal for Two with all funds raised going towards the RNLI.

It really was a cracking night, and I'll definitely be back for another game of Rock and Roll Bingo and a cheeky dive too! Let's just hope that the M62 doesn't close at nighttime again like it did on the way home, it took me over 2 hours to get back .... A long drive home, but very well worth it :)

For more photos, do join my page on Facebook. Here is what Kim Rowan, the owner of ProDiveScuba said today. Thanks so much Kim, David, Dane, Sean and Steve for giving me such a lovely welcome and making me chuckle. Hope to see you soon! :)

Hi Maria, it was so lovely to meet you, and I would like to think you are now part of our diving family. As to the talk we found it to be a very informative and entertaining presentation, we have had extremely positive feedback from people all day and also mass disappointment from people who couldn't make it! We are very grateful to you to take the time to visit us at Pro-Dive Scuba in Hull and would strongly recommend you to any other club that is interested in learning more on DUP, you were so approachable and helpful to everyone.