Devon weekend

Oaten Pipe hydroids

Sending up the shot

On the bottom

Waiting on the line

I greatly enjoyed a trip to Devon last weekend and, though the water was cold, the visibility was surprisingly good. I managed four dives- two reefs and a wreck (twice). The reef, East Rutts was a very pleasant place to spend an hour and this early in the season is covered in Oaten Pipe (Tubularia indivisa) hydroids. Those hydroids won’t be around for very much longer, as they are the food for nudibranchs (sea slugs). We saw many spiral swirls of eggs, but no slugs yet, but I would expect that by May the hydroids will be gone.

The wreck was called the Riversdale. It’s large and intact (except for the bow), with an impressive rudder and prop. It’s a while since I dived and took photos on wrecks at this depth (38m to the deck) and, photographically it was quite a challenge, due to the narcosis and the limited time. Even with good vis, lighting is difficult. We dived it twice, on consecutive days, as we could not get the shot line up after the first dive, so had to leave it in overnight and send it up on a lifting bag at the start of the second dive!

The vis was very good (about 8-10m), but I could see the beginnings of a “May bloom” of algae in the top few metres. Let’s hope that comes and goes quickly and does not spoil the view too much.

Stargazing

This hermit crab looks for all the world as if he’s looking up at the stars!

 

On a recent trip to Scotland, we were dogged by poor visibility. This image of a hermit crab (Pagarus bernhardus) shows how much silt was suspended in the water. This site was actually one of the better ones (the shore of Loch Sunart, at a place called Camas Torsa) and I like the way the hermit crab seems to be looking up into a starry sky. I find hermit crabs endlessly entertaining and I have mused about them before, but it did make me smile. This particular individual had lovely iridescent hairs on it which have been picked up by the well-snooted strobe. I was shooting using the Nikon 60mm macro lens on my trusty D200. The critter was conveniently walking on an old crate in the water, which provided a fantastic stage from which I could take his portrait as he looked up and wondered if alien life existed out there…

Photo Quest

The first three Photo Quest articles

I am very proud to have been offered a regular column in Scuba magazine. It is an interesting commission because each monthly article is written jointly with my long-time dive buddy and fellow underwater photographer Trevor Rees. Each month, we are showing a pair of images and using them to exemplify a particular photo subject or style. It’s just as well that Trevor and I get on well, because it has taken quite a lot of discussion to evolve our own style and I’m grateful for the advice and encouragement of Scuba editor, Simon Rogerson.

We started with some obvious topics – wrecks, fish, big animals – and we’re hoping to touch on the whole range of underwater photography, UK and overseas. We’re trying to focus on camera technique, rather than post-processing and also to keep to ideas and advice that divers can try, regardless of their camera kit. I’m looking forward to shooting some images to demonstrate our ideas and I hope that the series might inspire others to take photos underwater, especially in the UK.