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.