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!