Let’s continue Wetpixel’s trend of having its members win competitions!  The deadlines for two of the most prestigious wildlife photography competitions in the world are just around the corner.  The Nature’s Best Competition has a postmark deadline of April 29th, 2006, and the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year closes on March 31, 2006.  This year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year accepts entry uploads and payment through their website, but be sure to allow for plenty of time to upload entry images and RAW files (which are required).

Our friends at Light & Motion are running a video workshop aboard the Voyager, Kararu’s newest liveaboard dive boat.  Join underwater video experts Dan Baldocchi and Michael Topolovac on a trip to Komodo this August 24 - September 4th, 2006.  If you’re not already shooting HD, L&M will have a few Sony FX1 and HC1 HD cameras and housings on hand for you to try on board.

Our friend, Dr. James Wood, is teaching a course on scientific photography at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) this July 30 to August 19, 2006.  Why is the BBSR a good place to learn scientific photography?

As a mid-Atlantic island, Bermuda has many unique animals and plants. These include a critically endangered skink, an endemic species of killifish, a critically endangered endemic seabird as well as many introduced invasive species. Bermuda’s ecosystems include anchialine ponds, rocky shores with limestone formations, sea grass beds, mangrove forests, caves and coral reefs.  BBSR has been conducting field research for a hundred years. This course is taught in an environment where there is always a lot of interesting research going on.

Scuba Diving magazine has announced the winners of its 2006 photo contest.  Many Wetpixel members did great. Some that placed were Andy H (best in show!), John Gordon, Victor Zucker, Mary Lou Reid and more. The moderating team also did great, Luiz Rocha was first place on the macro category and Todd Mintz was second place on the people category, with his shot on the cover. Congratulations to all!  Winning images were not posted online yet, but are in the April issue of the ScubaDiving magazine.

Light & Motion has posted on their website part one of a video seminar by Steve Fish, which talks about wide angle lenses, depth of field, focus lock, filters, and white balance.  You can also sign up to be notified when part two of the seminar is posted.

The Boston Sea Rovers hosted their 52nd Clinic on the weekend of Mar 4-5, 2006, again held at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.  I stepped off of an airplane from Grand Cayman wearing far too little for Boston’s wind-chilled streets and waltzed into Friday evening’s invite-only party at Gamble Mansion, which is held annually for Sea Rover members and clinic speakers.  It’s a good thing I arrived late because I didn’t have a tie on and was afraid that I would violate dress code!  Even though I didn’t get to socialize for very long, I did stay long enough to see Berkley White (of Backscatter.com) wearing a suit and tie.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d see Berk in formal attire!  “But I’m wearing cut-offs underneath this,” he assured me…

Our friends at DivePhotoGuide.com have posted a captioned photo album for this year’s Our World Underwater in Chicago, IL.  Included in the album are photos of booth where we displayed prints of the winners of the Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide International Photo Competition.

Wetpixel member Jon Bertsch has posted a review of the Ikelite underwater housing for the Nikon D200 digital SLR, based on one of the first production housings.  There is an active discussion going on in the forums about the housing, and some very nice sample images.  Kudos to Ikelite for producing a housing so fast, and thanks to Jon Bertsch for the nice review.

Underwater photographers dream of creating powerful shark images.  But doing so is no easy task.  Contrary to what the media would have us believe, sharks are not ever-present predators lurking beneath the surface waiting to catch unsuspecting humans.  As experienced divers know, not only is it difficult to get close to sharks, many divers go for years without seeing one at all. 

If you are lucky enough to encounter sharks on your next diving adventure, here are some tips to help you capture stunning images.

The “Golden Dolphin” Moscow International Diving Festival has posted the winners of its international photo competition. There are some fantastic images and familiar names in the list of winners. (Thanks, Rand)