Whilst announcing a redesign of Flickr, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer claimed that the company wants “to make Flickr awesome again”. She went on to say that: “There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro today because [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore,” although she acknowledged that there are photographers with “different skill levels”.
TechCrunch has published an article about Google’s ongoing project to add “Street View” style imagery from the underwater realm. Google’s recent I/O conference included a presentation from the Catlin Seaview Survey team, and details have been made public of how the team’s imaging scooters create the underwater mapping.
Shark Angels has launched a charity auction to raise funds for its conservation initiatives. The sale, which runs through until 11 June, includes diving trips, celebrity attendances at film premieres and a fashion shoot.
Businessman Sir Richard Branson hosted a conservation meeting of nine Caribbean governments last weekend. Held at the eco resort on Necker Island, the group discussed the “Caribbean Challenge”, which calls for special protected zones along at least 20 per cent of the region’s coasts by 2020. In addition, Branson said: “About 1.5m sharks and rays a week are killed for the Chinese fin and medicinal market. It is the biggest mass killing of any genus. The Caribbean leader here want to set an example by banning shark fishing.”
The Smithsonian Collage of Arts and Sciences blog has published a photographic study of sea butterflies or pteropods by zoologist Karen Osborne. She and her fellow researchers are capturing the animals by hand while on scuba in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Mexico and California and then bringing them back to the research ship and photographing them in a shallow tank of clear water.
Ikelite has launched its Smart Housing for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds camera. This represents a departure for the company as it is its first housing for a mirrorless or EVIL camera. The housing is immediately recognizable as an Ikelite and shares the TTL flash control and polycarbonate design of its siblings, but also moves the video and AF lock controls onto the side of the housing for thumb activation.
Wetpixel Editor Adam Hanlon reviews the Underwater Kinetics Aqualite eLED video lights. Although light, compact and well made, he finds that the light’s output means that they may be of limited use, especially with POV cams like the GoPro and Sony AS-15 Actioncam.
Filmmaker Howard Hall has posted a short film of footage of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) captured at Vavau’u, Tonga. Howard cites the help of Whale Watch Vava’u and Endangered Encounters in getting the encounters necessary for the film.. The images were captured with a RED Epic and a Tokina 10-17mm lens in 5K resolution.
Wave photography and the name Clark Little are almost synonymous these days. Outside magazine has published an article and interview with the photographer giving some insights into the launch of his caree as well as why and how he does it, combined with some fantastic imagery.
Nauticam has finally officially released their housing for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3. The NA-GH3 was first spotted on the Nauticam China website, and was exhibited at the NAB show. Since then there have queries about the launch date on the forum. Nauticam USA has now confirmed that it will be shipping from 27 May at a US retail price of $2250.