stewsmith

I wish I had friends like that. B & W for me Stew

The is good news if it is true Stew

Great subject and captured very well Stew

Cheers Alex and Steve. What the heck is man flu? You might need to have a read http://manflu.info/ Hope all is well Steve Regards Stew

Post it. The guys and girls on wetpixel love a good read over a nice beer. Stew

3,4 and 10 do it for me. Wheres my credit card. Stew

Chuffed as punch to have another shot published on the cover of Diver UK. The shot was taken at Jackson's Reef - Tiran, back in April. The trip didn't involve too many photos as I had a small leak the last time I dived in December. Luckily for me I was suffering from a bit of man flu at the time and couldn't equalise, so aborted the dive after 30 seconds and a depth of 2 metres. On returning to the salon of the day boat that we were diving from I noticed that my flood indicator light was on. Carefully looking inside of the housing I could see a small amount of water. Was this fresh water from the rinse tank or was it salt water from the salty Red Sea. After stripping the housing down and inspecting every o ring I could not see where the water was coming from. Luckily the lens and camera were dry. I didn't attempt any more dives on this holiday due to my ears ( and man flu ), and my swimming pool was too cold to get in to do any tests. So I returned a few months later to find out what the problem was. With the same port combination which I had set up when i aborted the dive I went on a dive. It felt really odd to be on a dive and not taking any photos, especially when DuncanS and I were blessed with a huge 4.5 metre manta and a Napoleon Wrasse the size of a dining room table. Inside of the housing there were drips of water entering, but very slowly. I could now clearly see where the drips were entering and hopefully would soon be able to eliminate everything else. On the next dive I swapped my ports over but still dived without a camera in the housing. No water entered on this dive so there was a problem with my NEW macro port. It wasn't a manufacturing fault but a fault of mine in that I did not screw on the new port 100% onto the new base adapter. Luckily for me there were no casualties, only my frustration of having to dive a few days without my camera and the annoyance of not setting my ports up correctly. What was the next days diving to bring. Bad viz and even colder water. For some reason the water was still at a really chilly 21c. Not too comfortable in a 3-5mm suit. I knew that I should not have donated all of my wetsuits to dive guides as I would one day need them. Still with the bad viz and cold waters come the swarms of jellyfish. Who needs to travel to Palau to get some great images of jellies. I managed to get a few nice shots and this one published on the cover of Diver in the UK. Stew

Totally agree with Steve. The first one is pleasing to the eyes. Nice colours and good lighting. I return to Komodo in September and seeing these makes me want to go now. Stew

If you do go down the DIY route for fibre optic snoots or ring flash try and get both ends of the cut cables polished by a fibre optic engineer. Polishing the ends should maximise the output from your strobe lighting. I am just starting to gather materials for a couple of fibre optic projects Regards Stew

Lovely shot. Well done

Now your just showing off. Stew

All nicely executed Mr T Regards Stew

I guess I better look for another boat to charter for september now. RIP Mandarin Siren Stew

Not my best, but one of my favourites from a really good first year with the new rig. Seasons greetings to all. Stew

MDX5DII These guys seem to have it in stock. Stew

Pure CLASS. Stew

Nicely done Eric. I love the cloud movement from the topside footage. Stew

Are you sure that you cant get hold of a S & S housing. Have you tried Japan.? Stew

iCNN This link might get you there Stew

Now that aint good. Stew

That's a pretty impressive collection of critters Tim. I lov Komodo and can't wait to get back out there next year. Is there a trip report anywhere to go with these lovely images. I don't think I have seen any report from this trip which is odd as there is usually loads of write ups after an Alex Mustard trip. Stew

Hi Steve. I am booked on the NE for the last trip of the season in 2013 then off to Socorro for ten days of fun. I notice that you were using the 15mm and the 17-40mm. Was the 15mm to wide at times or was there plenty of up close photo ops. Seeing these images just makes me wanna go next year as well. Stew

I have been informed by a very good friend of mine who is in the Maldives now that the person behind the Captive Dolphin Lagoon is Amir Mansoor. http://www.haveeru.com.mv/news/38459 He was the number one tennis player in the Maldives for a long time and now a businessman. he owns the safari boats 'Carpe Diem' & 'Carpe Vitae'. Has a fleet of fishing vessels as well and a few shops in male'. he opened up a branch of the fast food joint 'Marry Brown' in male' last month as well. His partners are the owners of Lily Beach Resort and Spa in Ari Atoll. I would advise all to avoid booking with any of the above companies. Stew

Best slide show I have seen for ages. Really nice abstract shots. Loving the saturation in these. Very cool Stew

As others have said the macro shots are stunning. Good work Stew