Underwater Photography Christmas Gift Vouchers

Well, I can't believe that over two months has passed since I last managed to write. All sorts has been happening from attending the Birmingham Dive Show where once again so many people asked me for help with their compact cameras, teaching and then moving as well as launching a fabulous new venue in the heart of the beautiful countryside in Frome, Wiltshire. The Glebe Guesthouse in Frome is just a few minutes drive from Vobster, making it the perfect location to simply come and relax and practice your photography in a homely venue with its own private indoor heated pool to combining it with a day's diving at Vobster itself and take advantage of their fabulous facilities. A homemade lunch will be freshly made onsite by myself and a lovely 2 hour pool session is guaranteed to make sure that you come back with the true underwater colours that your camera deserves to capture. Check it out here http://www.glebehouse.me.uk. Christmas Gift Vouchers make the perfect gift for the underwater snapper who has everything. They can be taken at any of our venues in London, Leeds, Lancing (on Fridays), Swanage (during the Summer Months) or in Frome! They are valid for 6 months. A personalised card will be sent to you together with a yummie gift to share and all that needs to be done is to get in touch after the New Year to book your place. It's really that simple, so get in touch today and make sure that a world of underwater colour awaits your compact camera this Christmas :)

New Landcape Photography Courses in gorgeous Corfe Castle Village, Dorset

Hi everyone, So, I can't say sorry enough for the silence over the past few weeks. I literally have been stuck with the "Photobus" just outside of Corfe Castle with no way of being able to move it. But it has meant that I have had to do lots of walking around the area and it is absolutely gorgeous. So many breathtaking views at every turn of wildlife, every day there is a different sunrise or sunset to witness with the richest hues of reds, pinks and oranges that you can imagine. Pheasants running across the field, the stunning Swanage Railway steam trains saluting twice an hour and gorgeous Corfe Castle commanding breathtaking views at whatever time of day you look at it, and yes, even in the raindrops! So I am really proud to launch new landscape photography courses here during the week in and around Corfe Castle Village. We will start the morning at the Morden Hotel where we will go through all the theory, tailor-made to your interests of course, to help you understand your camera to make sure that you will take beautiful photographs whatever the situation you are in. We will then continue after a spot of lunch to walk around the village taking in Corfe Castle, the nearby Church, a gorgeous waterfall and some stunning panoramic vistas around the hotel itself. Have a peek at the area to see the beauty and photographic opportunities that await you. Creative moments are placed at every corner of this stunning location. Just tap it into Google and brace yourself for a landscape paradise. A delightful place to stay is nearby Challow Farmhouse, I met the owner Kate this morning and she really knows how to deliver the personal touch. I would highly recommend staying overnight so that you can continue exploring yourself the next day with your new-found set of skills. Durdles Door, Lulworth Cove, Swanage and Studland Bay with it's famous dunes await you ... and don't forget the gorgeous Purbeck Marine Life Centre at Kimmeridge too. I'll be back on Friday ready to upload some pictures. Thanks for reading this. Have a lovely evening, maria

Underwater Photography Day with Ocean Divers, Caterham, Surrey

And so it was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday 2nd June, I think a day that I will always remember in the history of teaching underwater photography over my past 7 years. It was most definitely the course that I arrived to with the least amount of sleep, after just arriving after a marathon 2 day journey from Bali to help Aquatic Alliance, the Manta Trust and Shark Savers and spent the night camping in the airport terminal to make sure that I got to work bang on time, or even early :) .... I love the team at Ocean Divers in Caterham. Led by Paul Davies, they are always full of cheerful smiles and giggles and have a great atmosphere. The theory session that morning was held in a gorgeous Spanish restaurant, most definitely the perfect venue for me to be in, particularly when suffering from jet-lag. Those strong Spanish coffees worked very well to help me keep up my compact camera magic and guide Paul, Stratis, Sam and Kevin to master all of the controls that their compacts had. And what a variety we had today! Paul had two cameras, a Canon Powershot 640, an Olympus MJU and was also testing out the Canon Powershot S100 that Cameras Underwater had kindly lent us. Sam was determined to get to grips with her INON Z-240 strobe for the first time, together with her Canon S95 and wide angle lens. Keith was also in the Canon club, with a Canon Ixus and a wide angle lens too. And Stratis had a Sony Cybershot, without any strobes or lenses, but was still really chuffed by what he could achieve with his camera. And of course, with it being Jubilee weekend, we had to have something way more patriotic than my fluffy toys to practice with! And a special thank you goes to Sam who went to the lovely effort to bring along home-made cupcakes all in jubilee casings. They were simply ace! It really was a fabulous day, we went off to the local school nearby to use their pool to practice underwater and everyone was really pleased with what they could achieve. Paul couldn't believe how much he learnt in just one day and also got to grips with his strobe. All of them finished the day full of confidence and afterwards had a lovely final review of the photos they took to make sure that everything was grasped before heading for the local pub. Thanks guys, it really was an amazing day and a really great welcome back. Check out Ocean Diver's website if you are a diver looking to join a club in this area. A warm welcome and gorgeous cupcakes are guaranteed all year round!

Shark & Manta Ray Fishery in Lombok, Indonesia

So after helping Ian and Jacqui with their photoshop skills in Northampton, it was time to head back to London and up to Bradford, Yorkshire on the overnight coach and see what could be sold out of my storage container there, to try and raise enough money for a trip out to Indonesia to help the manta ray and shark researchers there to shed some light on the number of sharks and rays that are being fished off the island of Lombok. I saw a Facebook thread the week before from Shark Savers and Aquatic Alliance which really shocked me to see what was going on in such a beautiful part of the world and just instinctively knew that I had to help somehow. My boyfriend is from Indonesia and not working at the moment, I felt that it was ideal to get him from Manado to this area so that he could talk to the locals and get a real feel to see what was going on. I tried to work out an itinerary to see how I could get there to make a mini-documentary on this, but however hard I tried there were so many options it was impossible to do this alone. I emailed a couple of companies based in Bali directly who I'd had contact with over the years, but for whatever reason, none of them wanted to help me make the documentary to help raise awareness of this issue. It was a last minute call on Monday afternoon at 3.30 pm that I will never forget to Sarah at Dive Worldwide to see if there was any way that she knew where I needed to go to get to the market. Unbelievably, and I will never ever forget this moment either in my whole 15 years of travelling the world's oceans, and email came back to me the next morning to say that an itinerary was all sorted for me by Bali Diving Academy and that I was travelling as their guest. I was so unbelievably touched that the owners, Sveva and Michael, wanted to help me and Michel so much and the speed of their help was truly touching. So after travelling back on Wednesday, it was time to head to the airport on Thursday morning and a special thanks goes to Jo and Graeme from Ocean View Diving Services in Lancing, Sussex who went out of their way to give me a lift to the train station. Just a shame that in the hurry of packing all my camera equipment that I couldn't text them to say thank you though! And of course they couldn't phone me to tell me to go back and pick it up either! Two days of flying through Hong Kong and as soon as I arrived in Denpasar, it was time to catch another flight to Lombok. Sveva was waiting for me there with the largest welcome smile I've ever experienced in my whole life. Two hours later and we had arrived at our little cottage where we were staying. Two hours of sleep and it was time to get up at 4 am ready to go to the fish market in nearby Tanjung Luar. I had never been so scared in my life, but knew that it was something that I had to do. Sadly, as soon as we turned up at 6 am whilst it was still dark, a dead manta ray was already there, caught as by-catch from the squid fishermen. We stayed there for 5 hours, Amir our taxi-driver went to interview the squid fishermen and Michel stayed with me to interview the guy who is responsible for catching sharks. He told me that a large shark would be coming in later, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that morning. This morning, or this story isn't about just sharks and mantas, it was also about other beautiful ocean animals. I found a gorgeous eagle ray still alive in the market with locals walking over it. I tried to buy it and took it back to the sea to try and set it free, but sadly it's tail was broken and therefore it couldn't get enough strength to swim back out to sea. Much as I prayed for a solution, there was no other way but to take it back to the market to meet it's fate. As soon as it landed back on the cold concrete floor that was now it's destiny, it let out a huge sigh and for as long as I will live, I will never, ever forget it's face or that sound. I even wanted to build it a little home so that at least it could still live in the ocean or at least go to "Eagle Ray Heaven" in its rightful home, the sea, instead of being sliced to pieces by a knife whilst still alive. Every day I think of that beautiful creature and has instilled and reinforced the very reason why I started following my passion for whales, dolphins and sharks back in 1997. All around me were crates and buckets of fish. We found endless buckets of squid, more buckets of shrimps, triggerfish, blue spotted rays on kebab sticks as well as huge tuna heads and even a sailfish and a blue marlin. There were knives and blood absolutely everywhere and still that beautiful manta lay on the floor waiting for someone to come along and buy it. It didn't take long and whilst I was on the other side of the market trying to save the eagle ray, there was someone chopping it up and taking away the parts that they needed leaving behind just the insides of the manta with a pool of blood. And then arrived one shark and then another one on canes, both measuring between 2.5 to 3 metres. They needed 4 men to carry them and were quickly dropped onto the tiles whilst men circled around measuring their fins. An auction ensued and both of them were sold for 4 million rupiah, about £280 pounds for both of them. As soon as one of them arrived I said to Michel that one was pregnant, and sadly I was right, 13 little baby sharks were all lined up in front of me with nothing more than the mother's eye remaining that was recognisable as to the creature that she used to be. We learnt that the shark fins are dried just a few metres away at a local house and that all the fins as well as the gill rakers go to Surabaya in Indonesia before going to Hong Kong and Singapore directly. We also found out that the local fisherman earn about £100 per month for being out at sea practically every day and that they would gladly welcome a change. The saddest part about this trip was that there was women and children in amongst all the blood and gore which ensued from chopping the fish, sharks and rays, such a shame when the little village itself was so pretty. Michel is out there for another 2 weeks collecting daily data as to what kind of sharks are being captured and numbers as well as the rays. I've left him my camera so that he can hopefully ID them as well and send the information over to Shark Savers as well as Aquatic Alliance and The Manta Trust. I've also been in touch with Project Aware who have been really helpful and sincerely hope that this data will be able to help them change this area in some way. Did I learn something from this trip? Yes, I learnt that the local people are doing what they need to do to make a living and feed their families and that for me, I fell in love with the ocean even more deeply than when I first saw my programme on whale sharks back in 1994 in St James Hospital in Leeds .... A really special thank you goes to Bali Diving Academy for hosting me during the craziest 5 days of my life last week. Without their passion and dedication, this project to help our oceans would never have got off the ground and am hoping and praying that it will not be in vain. I'll keep you posted ....

Photoshop Course in Northampton - 19th May

So a week later it was time to go and help Jacqui and Ian with their photoshop skills at The Marriott Hotel in Northampton. A nice early start and a lovely train ride from Brighton with a morning capuchino and lovely smiles were waiting for me at the station. A great day was spent helping Ian and Jacqui to develop their already beautiful photographs of their recent trip to Botswana. Skies were enhanced, grass stems removed, images were converted into black and white with splashes of colour being added to create interesting effects, all in an easy-to-understand and very hands-on way. I really enjoyed travelling to help them, so if you are reading this and would like me to come along and help your dive club have a fabulous day or evening having some photoshop fun to make collages and turn your photographs into stunning works of art, just get in touch. Prices start from just £129 for a full day per person depending on the size of the group.

Panasonic & Canon Day with Graham and Ruth at London

Phew, what an incredibly busy few weeks it has been. What with moving my stuff between Bradford back to Brighton, moving into a little shared studio right near to Brighton seafront as well as helping lovely guests with their photography, today is the first day of sitting still enough for the past month to be able to update this blog. I promise that it won't take me so long in future ... So on 12th May it was time to welcome lovely Ruth and Graham with their Canon Powershot and Panasonic Cameras to Amphibian Sports. It was definitely one of the most special occasions of ever running my underwater photography courses in 6 years as Graham had absolutely no idea where he was going! His lovely wife Adele had booked the course as a complete surprise for him and kidnapped his camera without his knowledge, sneaked it into the car and took him on an unknown mission! Ruth was learning how to make the most of her strobe as well as getting to grips with all the different creative settings that her Canon S95 could offer her. Graham learnt how to make the most of his Panasonic camera and had lots of fun playing with his settings and learnt that even though he had less buttons to use than Ruth, that he was still capable to taking beautiful shots without having any of the manual controls that Ruth's camera did. Graham also had another surprise, not only did I bring him a birthday cake, his favourite chocolate one but Ruth did too, a lovely chocolate and cola one, so there was cake for everyone at Amphibian Sports that day, including its customers! Happy Days! It really was a great day helping them both and having Adele along too ... it was another reminder for me that all compact cameras can take great pictures, it really is a case of knowing those settings that each camera has to make the very best of it!

Fabulous Weekend at Pentewan Sands with Sal Diving

It really was a fabulous event hosted by Sal Diving with Pentewan Sands at their stunning location in Cornwall. Over 500 people attended and a fabulous time was had by all. There was great diving both from the shore as well as from the boats and PADI, Oceanic, Triton Scuba, Sea & Sea, Oonas Crew and Freedive UK all exhibited as well as Midlands Rebreather Diver Training showcasing their new courses, products and trips. There were chances to try out Freediving techniques, rebreather training from Matt as well as trying out a Hollis SMS50 side mount system with Triton Scuba

which was really amazing, particularly good for anyone who has a bad back as the weight of the tank is supported on the side instead of on your back. Fancy dress was the all the rage on Saturday night with many groups bringing along crazy costumes for the Curry Night whilst the live band played. There was a quiz night and again many prizes were on offer from Oceanic, Oonas Crew and Midlands Rebreather Diving to name a few. It really was an incredible atmosphere and everyone is already excited about Pentewan Divefest 2013. Looking forward to seeing everyone there already .... Here are a few photos from the event and a special thank you goes to Ali, Jane and Kelvin from Oceanic, David Jones from Triton Scuba and an amazing one to Tamsin and Sal for hosting such an amazing event at short notice.

Scubapro Day with PADI and SSI at Ocean View Diving in Lancing, Susex

So after a short 9 hour skip and a jump down the motorway from Yorkshire to Brighton I was all set to go and catch up with the lovely team of Ocean View Diving Services in Lancing West Sussex and Scubapro, PADI and SSI for their Scubapro Event. We got the chance to try on all of Scubapro's new equipment range, twinsets, drysuits and regulators as well as the new Apnea free diving range by Subgear. Talking of free diving, Corrie from SSI was also sharing breathing techniques and a full insight into the different free diving courses offered by themselves and the lovely author, Emma Farrell. The club was absolutely buzzing on Sunday afternoon with lots of members turning up and jumping in to try out the gear and new free diving techniques. The team will be at Stoney on Wednesday, Blue Lagoon on Thursday before heading up to C&C Marine at Largs, Scotland on Saturday. I really hope that the sunshine is going to be with them all the way. If you are close by, do pop along, they really are a fabulous team and guarantee a great time.

3 hr Evening Course at Gomersal Park Hotel, Leeds

What an amazing evening, despite the raindrops, a warm welcome and a lovely fresh coffee were waiting to welcome Linda to the Gomersal Park Hotel in Leeds with her Canon Powershot G12. She was up and running in no time taking control of her settings and playing with her apertures understanding how to change her aperture to create different effects for the macro subjects which she loved. It was then time to head to the pool for an hour long pool session and we ended up having the whole pool to ourselves to practice followed by a quick dip in the jacuzzi ... It was absolute BLISS and all Linda could say was, when can I come back to do another course. In fact, she emailed me the next day asking if I could go back up to Ripon to help her group with their underwater photography skills ... Looks like I'll be back on the coach up there with the plastic fish very, very soon ...

New 3 hr Intro U/W Photo Course at Leeds this Thursday

So things have been mighty busy the past couple of weeks with relocating from Yorkshire back to London ... instead of ending up in London though, sadly a shoe slipped, my cat died and I ended up in Bristol and Devon instead to stay with friends. A lovely time! So, I'm really looking forward to heading to Swanage Pier tomorrow to see what is happening in the world of the great team of Divers Down down there on the pier and seeing Pat, Pete, Andy, Hooter and the team. Sunday will be spent in London helping Michele, Ali and Ruth with their underwater photography. Today has been spent making chocolate sugar coated marshmallow fudge which is setting as I am typing this! Then next week it is heading back up to Leeds to help Linda with her underwater photography on Thursday evening at the wonderful venue of the Gomersal Park Hotel. I absolutely love this venue and am really looking forward to getting back. There is just one spot left, so do get in touch to book it for the crazy price of just £75. Check it out here More exciting news is coming soon, so just let me know how I can help you with your underwater photography. Wishing you all a fabulous weekend. Maria

Lovely weekend at Swanage Pier with Divers Down

Firstly, a huge apology for the delays with me the past few weeks. It has been really hard to keep on top of things whilst travelling weekly from Yorkshire to London and have made the decision to move back and base from the south of England which I hope will be finally finished in the next week or so ... More importantly, it was a really lovely weekend at Swanage Pier last weekend with Divers Down. Can you believe that one of their team saw a Basking Shark right by their boat! Divers had up-close and personal encounters with cuttlefish, there were nudibranchs laying eggs right by the pier and had a fabulous time with their cameras. It was really amazing helping Cara, Jackie and Julia with their underwater photography there in the Photobus and met Scott and Jim too who simply said "Maria, your book has helped us so much!" Thanks a million guys, I'm really pleased that it has helped you. Wishing you all a lovely week and I will be back on the pier this Saturday at Swanage. My new mini-courses are proving popular at £50 for the whole day of mentoring on the pier in-between your dives ... The kettle will always be on and brand new sugar coated chocolate marshmallow fudge will be on-board! Just a couple of spots remain! Really looking to helping Ruth this weekend ... and Michelle and Ali on Sunday in London in our private 30 degree indoor heated pool. Look forward to seeing you too very soon! :)

Wishing you all a lovely Easter weekend

Happy Easter everyone - hope that you are having a lovely weekend. I am sorry that I haven't been able to post as much as I would like and I promise to catch up soon. It has been really lovely here at Swanage Pier this weekend with the great team of Divers Down seeing lots of familiar faces, catching up with old friends and making new ones. A special thanks goes to Adventure Divers in Portsmouth for a lovely Easter Egg treat. I'll be here next weekend too offering personal tip guides for just £9.95 as well as a full day course for £50. If you are around pop past and say hi, it would be really great to see you. Have a great week and do let me know how you are getting on with your photography.

It's the London Dive Show time again and I really don't know where the time has gone too, the past two months have absolutely flown with teaching weekly since the beginning of January as well as giving talks to raise money for the RNLI, The Scuba Trust and others. So come and find out all the latest news on Stand 713 in the Photozone this weekend and find out the latest news on the hottest underwater photography kit in town. The first 5 guests to book a one day underwater photography course for 2 in London can bring 2 of their friends absolutely FREE ... Maria is also launching a new Drive and Dive the UK tour in her very own travelling Photobus. Why not come and help her plan her route which will be to help charities such as Sea Shepherd and The Scuba Trust. She will be at Swanage Pier during the Easter weekend offering special mini-courses for just £50 for all day tuition, so just pop along to book your space. Limited copies of her new DVD will be on offer as well as personally signed copies of her award-winning book. Her new iPAD application will be launched next month, so watch this space! Wishing you all a lovely weekend and I promise to update this blog far more often from now .... Hope to see you soon :)

Red Sea Photo Trips with award winning blue o two

I'm so proud that luxury Red Sea liveaboard specialist and award-winning blue o two have asked me to lead their fabulous "In Focus" trips this year to help both beginner and the more advanced compact camera user to develop their underwater skills and come home with a portfolio of underwater photographs to be proud of. There will be 3 trips this year, one from 29th June to 6th July to the Northern Red Sea, Tiran, one exploring the Northern Red Sea and the Thistlegorm in August and one focusing on the Southern Red Sea in October. All will concentrate on helping you make sure that you come home with fabulous underwater photographs with whatever make or model equipment you have. Please do give the friendly, expert team of blue o two a call at their office on 01752 480808 for more information.

Canon S100 Powershot Review

So after spending a lovely weekend helping David, Susie, Stuart and Chris get to grips with their underwater photography, it was time to make the fastest sprint in history to Manado, Indonesia to see Michel, my boyfriend. I only had 2 and a half days there, so naturally a part of that had to be spent diving and Cameras Underwater pulled out all the stops to lend me a Canon Powershot S100 to take on a test dip whilst over there. A few things really stood out for me, the build of Canon's own brand housing seemed a little sturdier and the traditional blue buttons had been changed for black ones. There was also a handy shortcut one touch video record button which I found incredibly useful for grabbing a lovely video of a seahorse. Lastly, the shutter button seemed faster than the S95 which is probably due to the larger sensor. As with the Canon S95, don't forget to carry an extra battery. You can read all about it on Sport Diver's website at

New Year Courses in London

So as soon as I finished helping Susie and David get to grips with their underwater photography, it was time to head to London that night to help Stu and Chris get to grips with their Canon and Olympus cameras. It was a long night journey that saw me have a power snooze on the M1, but it was a lovely day helping them and seeing them learn so quickly. Once again I was blown away by photos before the course with Stuart showing me some stunning ones taken with just his Canon 110 Ixus using the camera's white balance. I lent him a Sea & Sea strobe for the afternoon's pool session so that he could see the difference that it would make to the textures of his photographs. They both had a lovely day and I was really touched that I received lovely emails from them letting me know that they had learnt a lot from the course. Simba had a really super time too exploring the surroundings!

Welcome to the New Year's U/W Photo Courses

Phew, what a New Year it has been and it has got off to a lovely start welcoming course guests back who were with me a few years ago and have upgraded their camera systems. The first weekend of the new year welcomed PADI's Project Aware Dive Show Competition winners, David Graham and Susie Lawrence to the Gomersal Park Hotel in Leeds for morning coffees and theory practice before moving onto the pool at Robin Hood Watersports for the afternoon session. We then coffee hopped again, finishing off the day for a nice pub lunch nearby going through their images. David was using a Sea & Sea 860G and Susie was shooting with a Sea & Sea D-1G and a YS-110 strobe. Susie's photos before the course were pretty incredible so I am really curious to see how she gets on now that she has mastered the art of her strobe. I had a lovely email from them both the next day saying how much they enjoyed the course and the slight detour around Yorkshire to find an afternoon pub! You can tell that I don't get out of my little flat very often on an evening!