First proper season - England 2009

[Alex_Mustard]

That seahorse was about an hour from home in Dorset. Underwater photography used to mean getting on planes for hours, it is great to be able to shoot so close to home.

My next, but one, PhotoPro column in Dive Magazine is about photographing British seahorses - so that will have all the stats.

Actually one of the reasons I have been diving more in the UK has been to be able to cover British subjects in my column. British waters have been rather ignore in UW Photo articles in the UK diving mags in recent years, so I decided to redress the balance. The current issue has tompots, the next but one is UK seahorses and after that is the remote slaves in the Capers VW. I am expecting this to go down well here at Digigreen!

If you want seahorses, Thau is a better bet - many more individuals (I found 11 (well 10, my buddy JP found one) on Monday and Tuesday morning), the same species as UK and better wine after diving!

Alex

[decosnapper]

My next, but one, PhotoPro column in Dive Magazine is about photographing British seahorses - so that will have all the stats.
Alex

Hi Alex

This may be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs....but you need a permit to photograph seahorses, they are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside act. Speak to Steve Trewalla if you need more info....like I said, Grandmothers and hen-based production units.....

Just curious - what's "wrong" with the BSOUP portfolio comps? The format? The style? I can't say I have an opinion about them....I enter, rarely get placed but don't attach a huge level of disappointment to what some would see as abject failure. Its all very subjective and if I don't have the "subject" then so be it. Interested to hear your reasoning.

[ScubaDiva]

....but you need a permit to photograph seahorses, they are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside act.

Why would this preclude photographing? Disturbing yes and other activities yes but photgraphing? No idea just never heard of this before so am interested.

[Cussy]

Why would this preclude photographing? Disturbing yes and other activities yes but photgraphing? No idea just never heard of this before so am interested.

You can stress them to the point of death. Even with a permit there are restrictions on number of shots of a single animal.

[DDT uk]

Hi Alex

This may be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs....but you need a permit to photograph seahorses, they are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside act. Speak to Steve Trewalla if you need more info....like I said, Grandmothers and hen-based production units.....

I wrote to Nature Britain about photographing seahorses; whether I needed a permit and how to get one. How to get one - only if you have a clear educational or scientific goal. Do you need a permit - Without it is an offence to use a flash, return to the same animal or take repeated shots. Apparently anything more than a single shot of an animal you happen to stumble across could be deemed an offence.

D

[ScubaDiva]

You can stress them to the point of death.

Oh that's really sad - poor things. Although I have to admit that it is unlikely that I'll ever be the cause of seahorse death by strobe cos as we all know I don't spot the small stuff.

[Maria_uk]

Hi Alex,

Love the resting/sleeing seal, it is so peaceful. Where did you play with the seals?
Of course I do like the rest of your pictures as well, UK/coldwater diving at its best.

Maria
Ps where did you go in Norway?

[buchhawk]

Anyway I think Alex should go back to the blue water stuff, he is making us look bad, only 20 dives

[Alex_Mustard]

Hi Maria, the seals are mostly from Lundy, but a couple are from the Farnes. Curiously I had better viz in the Farnes.

In Norway I went to Gulen Dive Resort - fly Norwegian direct from Gatwick to Bergen - they have a great luggage allowance. They have some great wrecks and excellent marine life. This is where the Frankenwald wreck is, which was recently voted the best Scandinavian dive in the Norwegian dive magazine.

However, if you really like metal, also look into going further north to Knarvik (spelling?). Check out Simon's article on that area here:
All the fun of the fjord - DIVE Northern Europe
Which I think is illustrated with some fabulous pictures.

Hi Simon and Daniel,

Yes, my column is about the seahorse licence situation and when it is and isn't necessary with advice straight from Natural England. I want it to be about what you can do, rather than can't. And if you apply for a licence, what is involved etc, my licence number is 20093052. I don't want to say too much and preempt the article - which is out in the next, but one issue of BSAC's Dive. Daniel's advice is pretty much spot on.

Personally, I don't see the seahorses being overly concerned with flash, but UK seahorses are threatened by other factors that are destroying their habitat - so as divers it is important we divers/photogs play by the rules if we are to campaign successfully for their protection. We all want them thriving in UK waters.

[rant on] And finally, I don't like the BSoUP portfolio competitions because in the last few years the emphasis has (mistakenly in my view) become too much on the balance of the portfolio at the expense of excellence in the individual images. This all came about because Alan James gave a talk at BSoUP a few years ago and said that for him, this is how portfolios should be judged - and it stuck.
The other part of the problem is that from the back of the room, given the average age and average wine consumption of BSoUP members - many people can see the individual images clearly.
When the BSoUP portfolios were devised it was seen as the ultimate test of a photographer to produce 6 strong images, rather than just one. But now 6 average images can win if they balance well on the screen (bit of red in the bottom left and top right etc) - which is a totally arbitrary criteria - and has no relevance for any other competition out there. [rant off]

Also winning means that Sport Diver publish your 6 best British shots for the £100 prize. Which will restrict future sales in the UK. It is generally hard to sell UK diving images outside the UK.

Alex

[Alex_Mustard]

The irony of the seahorse situation is that there have not been as many about this year down at Studland - and according to the wardens there - quite a lot of photographers have been down there - but they are not aware of any of them actually finding them (unless they have been diving with the scientists) in 2009.

If you are interested there is a talk on Dorset seahorses in Southampton on Thursday:
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton - Home

Alex