LAUPS: The Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society
Founded 1957 - Celebrating 50 years of underwater photography

The items below are our 2007 news archive.

For the latest LAUPS news, please follow this link.

Results from the first 2008 minicomp are posted here:

February 2008: "How to Eat Fried Worms"

Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks for everyone's patience during my first attempt at running the comps at the meeting - hey, I can only improve, right?

We've got our first regular meeting of the year this Wednesday, February 20th, at 7:30 PM at the Natural History Museum. We haven't been there in a while, so we're not sure if there's still construction in our normal lot. You may still have to park in the neighboring lot with the entrance on Menlo, just south of Exposition Blvd (Google Map image here).

This month's mini-comp theme is worms (Leslie Harris's favorite subject!). All the mini comps this year will have movie titles, this month's is "How to eat fried worms."

Prizes for the 2007 45th international Competition have now been posted at:

2007 - 45th International Underwater Photographic Competition Winners

Thanks very much to all of our wonderful sponsors who make this contest possible!

We again apologize for the delay in posting this year.

Over 1100 Whale Sharks Identified!

ECOCEAN is celebrating over 1100 identified whale shark thanks to global efforts by hundreds of ‘citizen scientists’ and eco-tourists. The 1000th shark was reported by a major contributor to the ECOCEAN Photo-ID Library, Simon Pierce, a marine biologist studying sharks and rays in Mozambique.

Can't get in the water this week? Maybe you should get a Wii and "Endless Ocean":

‘Endless Ocean’ may sink its hooks into you - Games - msnbc.com

From the LAUPS Banquet:

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR JIM LYLE
VIDEOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR DWIGHT CRUMB
_______________________________________________________________________________
2007 MINI CLUB COMPETITION
NOVICE CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
SCOTT GIETLER
SECOND PLACE
MARGARET WEBB
FIRST PLACE
JEFF LAITY
____________________________________________________________________________
2007 MINI CLUB COMPETITION
OPEN CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
BILL VAN ANTWERP
SECOND PLACE
TODD WINNER
FIRST PLACE
JIM LYLE
_____________________________________________________________________________
2007 MIN CLUB COMPETITION
VIDEO
THIRD PLACE THIRD PLACE
JANET CRUMB NANNETTE VAN ANTWERP
SECOND PLACE
WALTER MARTI
FIRST PLACE
DWIGHT CRUMB

2007 SLIDESHOW COMPETITION
NOVICE CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
CAROL YIN
SECOND PLACE SECOND PLACE
LINDA BLANCHARD MARGARET WEBB
FIRST PLACE
JEFF LAITY

2007SLIDESHOW COMPETITION
OPEN CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
KELLY BRACKEN
SECOND PLACE
SCOTT WEBB
FIRST PLACE
JIM LYLE
2007 CALIFORNIA SHOOTOUT
THIRD PLACE THIRD PLACE
SUELLEN HIATT JIM LYLE
SECOND PLACE
SCOTT WEBB
FIRST PLACE
CAROL YIN
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________





2007 CALIFORNIA SHOOTOUT
VIDEO
SECOND PLACE
ANASTASIA LAITY
FIRST PLACE
WALTER MARTI

2007 EDITED COMPETITION
VIDEO
THIRD PLACE
JANET AND DWIGHT CRUMB
SECOND PLACE SECOND PLACE
JUDY CARLSON NANNETTE VAN ANTWERP
FIRST PLACE
ANASTASIA LAITY

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION
CALIFORNIA
NOVICE CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
MARGARET WEBB
SECOND PLACE SECOND PLACE
FLETCHER FORBES CAROL YINN
FIRST PLACE
JEFF LAITY

______________________________________________________________________________
2006 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION CALIFORNIA
OPEN CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
DAVE NESHEIM
SECOND PLACE SECOND PLACE
MELISSA BOAG JON GONDOS
FIRST PLACE FIRST PLACE
KELLY BRACKEN JIM LYLE

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION COLOR
NOVICE CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
JEFF LAITY
SECOND PLACE
BONNIE ZALESKI
FIRST PLACE FIRST PLACE
MARGARET WEBB FLETCHER FORBES

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION COLOR
OPEN CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
MATT SEGAL
SECOND PLACE
KELLY BRACKEN
FIRST PLACE
TONY FRANK






2006 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION COLOR PRINTS
THIRD PLACE
MATT SEGAL
SECOND PLACE
BILL VAN ANTWERP
FIRST PLACE
JIM LYLE

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION CALIFORNIA PRINTS
THIRD PLACE
BILL VAN ANTWERP
SECOND PLACE
BONNIE ZALESKI
FIRST PLACE
JIM LYLE

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION MARINE RELATED
NOVICE CATEGORY

THIRD PLACE
BONNIE ZALESKI
SECOND PLACE
JOHN NOLAN
FIRST PLACE
MARGARET WEBB

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION MARINE RELATED
OPEN CATEGORY
THIRD PLACE
JIM LYLE
SECOND PLACE
KELLY BRACKEN
FIRST PLACE
DAVE NESHEIM

2007 INTRA CLUB COMPETITION
FREESTYLE
THIRD PLACE
JEFF LAITY
SECOND PLACE
JIM LYLE
FIRST PLACE
BONNIE ZALESKI
_________________________________________________________________________________
MEMBERS MOVING TO OPEN CATEGORY:
FLETCHER FORBES
MARGARET WEBB
JEFF LAITY
BONNIE ZALESKI

MEETINGS NEXT YEAR:
3 LOCAL DIVES
MAY 31, 2008
??????? DATE NOT KNOWN YET
SEPTEMBER 20, 2008
FEBRUARY MINI COMP WILL BE HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS (WORMS) (

It's time again for our wonderful awards banquet - Saturday January 19th

Location: Ports' O' Call Restaurant in San Pedro

Time: 6:30-7:30 Social Hour - no host bar

Dinner at 7:30

Please indicate whether you want filet, salmon or vegetarian dinner when you send in your reservations.

Price: $40.00 per person

Send your checks to LAUPS P.O. Box 2401 Culver City, CA. 90231

A reminder to all members. If you pay your 2008 dues by the banquet, you will receive $5.00 in bonus bucks which can be used for the raffle, international competition or t-shirts which we have for sale.

Thanks,

Bobbi

The results of the 2007 - 45th Annual LAUPS International Competition are now posted!

Link to Results

Congratulations to all the winners!
Thanks to our judges and sponsors, without whom the contest would not be possible.
And thanks to all out entrants. The judges had a tough time this year. We'll soon post comments from them on the competition, as we have in years past.

Our apologies for the delay in posting results, many of our members helping to run the competition had trips to make after the competition (and not all for diving!)

International Results will be posted this saturday. Sorry for the delay.

Our members have been traveling a lot lately, and here are two great trip reports.






First, from Jim Lyle, a report on his trip to Lembeh Straits and Wakatobi. Several LAUPS members were on this trip including Scott and Margaret Webb, John Nolan, and Roger and Judy Carlson.

Indonesia – Part I Lembeh

Indonesia – Part II Wakotobi


Next, from LAUPS and OCUPS member Kevin Lee, a report on his Malaysian Sea Slug expedition with Dave Behrens of Sea Challengers:

The 1st Malaysian Sea Slug Expedition, organized by David Behrens, included twelve enthusiastic nudiphiles, all in serious search of opisthobranchs. Larger, colorful and conspicuous slugs were easy to spot and photograph, in situ; however, the majority were mighty small, even as tiny as a grain of rice, well camouflaged, and hiding, making them very challenging to see, let alone photograph. The most favorable and productive hunting results came from keen concentration on food sources or recognizing tell-tale signs such as egg masses. Also, overturning rubble and rocks, and simply waiting for something to "move" yielded nice finds. Only uncommon or unrecognized specimens were gathered in collection bags and brought aboard. Of course, care was taken not to harm live coral or disturb other marine life, during the collection process.

Once on board, the slugs were gently placed in a shallow tub of ocean water and allowed to settle on some rocky substrate for more photographs, identification and recording. Known species were returned to the ocean, at the approximate depth they were found. The rarer or unknown specimens were preserved for further examination and analysis (electron microscopy, dissection, DNA) by the California Academy of Sciences. The expedition found 153 species, 8 previously unknown to science and 18 still un-described. The process of identifying, publishing and naming new species is arduous and can take years to complete. Studying sea slugs helps us understand evolutionary patterns, from which we can better understand our planet (and hopefully make it better, not worse).

We can expect to see some of the Malaysian opisthobranchs in print for the first time, next June, when a new book, with 1500 species, will be published by Dave Behrens and his associates. Many of the Malaysian Opisthobranchs, found during our expedition and photographed by me, have been uploaded, to the Photo Gallery of www.ocdiving.com. There's more to come, pending proper identification.

http://www.ocdiving.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=21354

Some topside pix of our Malaysia Sea Slug Expedition:

http://www.ocdiving.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=21758

DEMA 2007: Complete Coverage from DivePhotoGuide.

The guys from Wetpixel have posted some show coverage from DEMA, take a look!

If you emailed entries, you should have a confirmation email from us by now. Please contact us at webmaster@laups.org if you have not heard back from us.

thanks and good luck!

The email entries are coming in hot and fast right now. You will get a confirmation email from us letting you know we got payment, entry form, and entries, but due to the volume right now, it might not be immediate.

If you have any trouble using the comp entry address, please contact us at webmaster@laups.org without an attached photo and we'll work out the issue.

Thanks for your patience and good luck!

This is a reminder that the 45th Annual International Underwater Photographic Competition is well under way and accepting entries postmarked by Sept 21, 2007.

The 45th International Underwater Photographic Competition and our gracious sponsors offer both experienced and novice photographers, and videographers the opportunity to win valuable prizes including dive trips,
underwater photography and diving equipment!

So far this year includes trips with:
Bilikiki, Solomons
Nai'a, Fiji
Uncommon Adventures
Lagoon Resort, Fiji
Manta Ray Bay Hotel, Yap
Explorer Expeditions, Chuuk/Truk
Club Cantamar, La Paz
and more sponsoring daily.....


10 Categories include: “Macro” (print & digital), “Wide Angle”(print & digital), “Behavior” (digital only), “Cold/Green Water”(print & digital), “Marine Related Scenic” (digital only), "Video Raw" and “Video Edited”.

For complete details on eligibility, rules, and entry forms in .pdf files, please visit the official competition website at www.laups.org



If you have any questions, please contact competition@laups.org

Our monthly meeting is Wednesday September 19, It is our 2nd intra-club competition ENTER-ENTER-ENTER any one could win even if you did not entered the 1st competition of the year.

CATAGORIES:

Creative Freestyle-digital
(filename 0709_freestyle_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Novice Color-digital
(filename 0709_color_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Open Color-digital
(filename 0709_color_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Novice West Coast-digital
(filename 0709_west_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Open West Coast-digital
(filename 0709_west_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Novice Marine Related-digital
(filename 0709_marine_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Open Marine Related-digital
(filename 0709_marine_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg)

Novice & Open Judged Together Color Prints

Novice & Open Judged Together West Coast Prints

September 22nd is our final California dive trip for the year. Come and join the fun there are a couple spots left, call Cory Gray to sign up 310-568-0797

Bilikiki Cruises will once again be hosting photo professionals on board MV Bilikiki and MV Spirit of Solomons in 2007 and 2008.

Nov 13 - 27, 2007 Join Fred Dion of Underwater Photo-Tech. Receive equipment and photo instruction on a one to one basis at NO EXTRA CHARGE! Great way to improve your photography and have fun doing it! Check it out at http://www.uwphoto.com/travel.html#6

Aug 12 - 26, 2008 will be hosted by the Digital Duo Sue &Jack Drafahl. Enjoy evening slide shows, and instruction in digital photography and Photoshop at NO EXTRA CHARGE. For more information go to http://www.jackandsuedrafahl.com/tripssolomon1.html

Oct 14 - 28, 2008 will be hosted by Rod Klein. Take advantage of Rod's expertise in Digital photography. Join his Digital Workshop at NO EXTRA CHARGE! For more information on Rod and his clinic go to http://www.rhkuw.com/workshops.html

All of these departures are a full 14 nights with 13 days of diving!! And all of the workshops are being offered at NO EXTRA CHARGE over our regular charter rates.

Obviously demand will be high so book now to secure your space. Call or email us with any questions or to confirm a booking.

Send us your photos!

Many of you have uploaded your images to our guest photo gallery and there are really some great shots there. Check it out at http://bilikiki.com/gallery.php or to upload your images go direct to http://bilikiki.com/guestupload.php.

Let us know if you would also like to see them appear as our main images at the top of our web pages. These change on a random basis every time you reload a page.

All the best to all of you from all of us at Bilikiki Cruises!

Wetpixel launches Wetpixel Quarterly, a new quarterly print magazine
Magazine focuses on spectacular underwater imagery and the marine environment

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — September 7th, 2007 —

Wetpixel LLC announces the arrival of a new quarterly print magazine devoted to high-quality underwater photography. Wetpixel Quarterly brings fans of the underwater realm spectacular imagery in a landscape-oriented, high-resolution format. As well as celebrating the beauty of the deep, Wetpixel Quarterly provides a forum for a necessary dialog on marine conservation among photographers, researchers, conservationists, and the general public. To help foster this community, the magazine accepts and encourages contributions from professional and amateur photographers alike. Wetpixel.com is the most respected online destination for all things related to underwater imaging; Wetpixel Quarterly presents an exciting new venue for showcasing the work of this community in print.

The magazine’s founders, Eric Cheng and Elijah Woolery—both avid divers and underwater photographers—hope to foster environmental stewardship by highlighting conservation concerns in Wetpixel Quarterly‘s theme-based issues. “By drawing attention to the links between the beauty of the underwater world and the action required to sustain these environments,” says Woolery, “we’re hoping to increase interest in preserving threatened areas around the globe—and to help protect those areas that are still pristine.” Through interviews, articles, open contests, and, most importantly, the lenses of its contributors, Wetpixel Quarterly brings to the page a new sense of the fragility and splendor of underwater life.

About Wetpixel Quarterly:

Wetpixel Quarterly was founded in 2007 by Eric Cheng and Elijah Woolery to create a high-quality quarterly showcase of the best in underwater imagery in conjunction with news and information about marine research and conservation. Wetpixel Quarterly is printed in landscape orientation using 50% recycled materials.

For more information, visit http://www.wetpixelquarterly.com/

AMAZING REEFS ARE JUST THE BEGINNING

Situated in a small archipelago just Southeast of Sulawesi, a large Amoeba shaped island in the center of Indonesia, Wakatobi is truly a slice of paradise in the middle of nowhere.

Read more of Dive Photo Guide's trip report to Wakatobi here:

DivePhotoGuide Does Wakatobi

For only the third time ever, the Moneterey Bay Aquarium placed a young white shark in the Outer Bay exhibit on August 28. The shark—a male 4-foot, 9-inches and 67 ½ pounds—will remain in the exhibit as long as he's in good health and is small enough for us to return safely to the wild.

Tracking tags on the first two sharks recorded their movements back in the wild. Data from their tags, and those on other juveniles and adults, is expanding scientific understanding of white shark migrations. That’s information vital to efforts to protect these threatened predators.

You can meet the white shark in person when you visit, or try to spot him on our Outer Bay cam as he swims in the exhibit. The aquarium will be open until 8 p.m. this Saturday, September 1 and Sunday, September 2. We’ll post regular online updates on how he’s doing.

Learn more about our new white shark.

Read Dive Photo Guide's review of the exciting new Canon SLRs here:

New Canon DSLRs Offer Exciting UW potential

They might have a reputation as being fearsome killing machines but scientists have discovered that even the ocean's ultimate predator appreciates a decent tune.

A new study by German scientists has discovered that playing certain music to sharks gets them in the mood for mating.

The songs that make sharks frisky

Great ideas can pop open whole new vistas. And they can come in many forms. They can be as big and sweeping as a new business model or as focused as a single piece of equipment. What’s key is that they are leverage points that have the potential to turn tides. Saving the world’s oceans is going to take more than passionate declarations. Conservation Magazine asked a select group of innovative thinkers to go out on a limb. What string should we pull to give marine conservation a decided edge? Here are their answers.

10 Solutions to save the Oceans

This is a reminder that the 45th Annual International Underwater Photographic Competition is well under way and accepting entries postmarked by Sept 21, 2007.

The 45th International Underwater Photographic Competition and our gracious sponsors offer both experienced and novice photographers, and videographers the opportunity to win valuable prizes including dive trips, underwater photography and diving equipment!

So far this year includes trips with:
Bilikiki, Solomons
Nai'a, Fiji
Uncommon Adventures
Lagoon Resort, Fiji
Manta Ray Bay Hotel, Yap
Explorer Expeditions, Chuuk/Truk
Club Cantamar, La Paz
and more sponsoring daily.....

10 Categories include: “Macro” (print & digital), “Wide Angle”(print & digital), “Behavior” (digital only), “Cold/Green Water”(print & digital), “Marine Related Scenic” (digital only), "Video Raw" and “Video Edited”.

For complete details on eligibility, rules, and entry forms in .pdf files, please visit the official competition website at www.laups.org

If you have any questions, please contact competition@laups.org

Nikon announced its new cameras, one of which (D3) is full-frame. Both are 14 bit sensor, 12 megapixel cameras with live view. New lenses were also announced.


Details can be found here:

d3 review:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082312nikond3.asp
d300 review:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082313nikond300.asp
new zoom lenses:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082311nikonafs14-24-70lenses.asp
new VR telephoto lenses:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082310nikonsupertelelenses.asp

Jim Lyle reports on wreck diving in North Carolina. What did Jim find in NC? 3 hour boat trips, large swells, 100-115ft depths, 30% nitrox, spearguns, lots of fish, and lots of sharks.

Read the juicy details here, along with lots of great photos:
http://www.diver.net/bbs/posts002/72000.shtml

We had a good time at the August meeting. Tom Kendrick entertained us with stories of his career as an urchin diver, and a lot of us went home with his book, eager for more. Cory announced that there are still a few spot available for the september boat & shootout. Minicomp winners are posted (stills only so far), they were:

Novice:
1st place Fletcher Forbes
2nd place Scott Gietler
3rd place Scott Gietler

Open:
1st place Todd Winner
2nd place Todd Winner
3rd place Jim Lyle

Video:
1st Dwight Crumb
2nd Walter Marti
3rd Janet Crumb

We've got 3 big announcements on the web page right now.

The first is that at long last, the rules and entry form for our 45th annual International Competition are posted. Deadline is September 21st, friday night, at midnight PST. More detail and the forms are here.

The second is that our club is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. We'll have a celebration on August 25th at the Cabrillo Aquarium, all are welcome. More details on that are at this link.

Finally, we're looking forward to a great meeting this month, our speaker is Tom Kendrick, who has written a very exciting book on his years surfing, diving, and harvesting urchins in California. Scroll down one post for more info on the meeting.

This month's LAUPS meeting is on August 15th.

Our speaker will be Tom Kendrick, author of Blue Water Gold Rush.

A Sonoma county resident, Tom was a California sea urchin diver for 22 years. His diving career originated from his search for secret surf spots at the Channel Islands, and took him from Santa Barbara to Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, northern California, and the shark-infested Farallon Islands. His book, Blue Water Gold Rush, has been featured in California Diving News, The Surfer’s Journal, National Fisherman, and the pbs television show, Huell Howser’s California’s Gold. A screenplay is currently in production.



The theme for the minicomp this month is "Schools of fish"

Please name your files for entry as follows:
0708_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries.
0708_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries.

The Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society is celebrating our golden anniversary on Saturday, August 25th. Past and present members, and interested visitors, are invited to help us celebrate with dinner at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

Bring stories to share, old (and new!) camera rigs to show off, and any photos for show and tell.

6-10 PM
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
3720 Stephen M White Drive
San Pedro, CA

$40 includes Polynesian BBQ, beer, wine, and soft drinks
RSVP to Bobbi Flusser at 310-838-9745 or 213-629-5565

click here for flyer

Fifty years ago a collection of recreational and commercial divers with a mutual interest in underwater photography got together and formed a dive club. Rather than call it a “club,” they named it a “society.” And thus, on September 1, 1957, the Underwater Photographic Society was born in Los Angeles. With only a handful of charter members and the backing of Skin Diver Magazine and the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Underwater Section, the UPS put together its first underwater film festival by December of that year. The tradition was to continue for many years and was augmented by an international underwater photographic competition.

Most of the early underwater photographers used home-made housings for land still and movie cameras. Other than the Rolleimarin housing, there just wasn’t much commercially available, so it was out to the garage to fashion a housing from wood, plastic or metal. One member made his camera housing out of his mother’s pressure cooker. Another started a small business supplying assemble-yourself housing kits. The club logo, designed by early member Bob Figueroa, reflects the nuts and bolts approach. A lot of cameras got flooded in those days. Remember, this was before the Nikonos or even its predecessor the Calypso were available.

Among the founders and first directors of the UPS was Zale Parry. Some may remember her from the Sea Hunt television series. She was the perennial “damsel in distress” who was saved from innumerable underwater perils by Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson. Zale is still an active diver and looking forward to trying out her new dry suit while diving in Alaska.

Many affiliated and independent underwater photographic societies have been formed across the land and around the world during the last 50 years. The original organizing chapter is now known as the Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society, or LAUPS for short. Close to 1500 individuals have become LAUPS members since 1957. Among them were such notables as Mel Fisher, Ron Church, Stan Waterman and Al Giddings. Jacques Cousteau was an honorary member and Underwater Photographer of the Year in 1957.

Membership in the LAUPS is open to anyone with an interest in underwater photography. Monthly meetings provide a great learning environment with speakers, workshops, and competitions. Beginners can ask questions of the more experienced about equipment, techniques and locales for best results. Local boat charter dive trips are scheduled several times a year, and ad hoc trips to exotic sites are always being put together.

Annually, the master event is the distinguished International Underwater Photographic Competition. This is the oldest and one of the largest competitions of its kind with worldwide participation and fabulous prizes. In recent years, entries from as many as 19 countries and 26 states have been received. Details of this year’s (45th annual) competition can be found on the website www.LAUPS.org.

A grand 50th birthday party is in the works for Saturday, August 25, at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, and the club would like to see as many former members and interested guests attend as can make it. A sharing of experiences from long ago would provide great entertainment. Only a few early members have been located, most of whom say they’ll come to the party. So if you know any we haven’t found, ask them to contact us! And if you’re interested in attending yourself, please RSVP to Bobbi Flusser at 310-838-9745 or 213-629-5565

Tips from Light and Motion:

Taking Care of Your Video Equipment So It Takes Care of You

Here's a report from the Long Beach Scuba Show from our friends at Dive Photo Guide:

SCUBA Show 2007 Makes a Splash in Long Beach

Congrats to LAUPS members Bonnie Zaleski and Roger Carlson who placed in the Under the Blue photo competition sponsored by the Scuba Show, Wetpixel, and Dive Photo Guide!

Deadline August 15th!

The San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition (UFEX) had its debut in 2000 with a night of underwater digital films presented at the Otto Center of the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park.

Initiated in response to the need for a local venue to showcase some of the best of the underwater video creations of area divers, the first San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition was organized by a small group of people who had been meeting regularly to share information on shooting and editing underwater video.

That first year was a rousing success, and laid the groundwork for an approach to presenting underwater digital video in San Diego that emphasizes the enjoyment and appreciation of underwater images. That approach includes affordable tickets, no prizes except the fun of sharing one's film with a receptive audience, and an independent film selection process that has included judges who are among the top in the field of underwater imaging. It's a labor of love by all involved!

We're now in our eighth year of putting on the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, and looking forward to our best year yet. We hope you'll join us on Friday and Saturday, October 12th and 13th, 2007 for the 8th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition at Qualcomm Hall's beautiful state-of-the-art digital projection theater.

for more info:

The 8th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition

The Thorfinn, a Truk livaboard, ran aground on a reef while refueling in Pohnpei. After 37 days on the reef, it has been refloated.

Thorfinn refloated, moored in safe harbor at Pohnpei

The next generation of notebooks will have LED displays, rather than florescent. They'll offer more battery life, and are made with less toxic chemicals. But how do they look? here's a first review of an LED screen in a mac notebook, from Rob Galbraith:

Evaluating the MacBook Pro 15 inch LED-backlit display

Professional photographer has started a blog. Sor far his interesting posts include his experiences with insurance, and travelling with coolers as luggage. Check it out at:

http://norbertwu.blogspot.com/

Winners from July's minicomp ("Wrecks") have been added to the LAUPS Gallery:

July 2007 Minicomp: Wrecks

Our speaker this month is Scott Geitler. One of our club members, he's made many trips to Bali, and unlike the organized group trips most of us typically take, Scott plans his own trips and diving. He's spent a lot of time in this fantastic area. He'll be talking about Dive Operators, Critters, and Dive Sites

Scott has been enjoying diving and underwater photography for a little over 3 years now. He's squeezed in over 500 dives, mostly in southern California but also in Costa Rica, Fiji, Thailand, Turks & Caicos and Mexico. Bali remains his favorite place for diving, since its where he met his wife Penny, and its where they spent their honeymoon, diving of course. Scott used to shoot with a trusty old Fuji F10, but has recently upgraded to a Nikon D80 in a Sea-n-Sea housing.

Scott also beach dives a lot here in southern California, and has taken the best photos I've ever seen taken at Veteran's park in Redondo Beach, a fun local dive that Scott makes look like Lembeh Straight.


Also at this meeting: Minicomp theme is "Wrecks". Please name your files for entry as follows:

0707_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries
0707_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries

thanks!

The next club meeting is Wednesday, July 18th, 7:30PM, at the Natural History Museum.

The mini-comp is wrecks, which should bring in a great group of photos!

Hope to see everyone there!

We've got a great meeting this Wednesday, featuring several competitions. We'll have the images from our second California Shootout on the Sundiver from last weekend. We'll also have our first ever digital slideshow competition, and the video competition is "3 minutes edited".

To keep the meeting to a reasonable length, we'll have a short workshop but no speaker. Workshop will be by Roger Carlson on "Do It Yourself Housing Maintenance". See you there!

Please name your entries, as usual:

for the shootout:

0706_shoot_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries
0706_shoot_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg for novice entries

for the slideshow (if you are entering a file and not a DVD or tape):

0706_show_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries
0706_show_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg for novice entries

for the video comp (if you are entering a file and not a DVD or tape):

0706_video_open_your-title_your-name.jpeg for open entries
0706_video_novice_your-title_your-name.jpeg for novice entries

Head down to Long Beach this weekend to take in the Scuba Show! visit us at booth 749, right next to our friends from OCUPS!

Mexican regulation NOM-029-PESCA-2006 Took Effect May 16. This new regulation was promoted as a way to protect Shark and Ray populations from overfishing. Instead, it permits thousands of longline fishing boats inside parts of the Sea of Cortez that are now supposed to be protected from commercial take.

Several sections of the regulation will act as "Trojan Horses" to reverse the intended effects of this new regulation. These Trojan horses include a reduction in protected zones, permission to keep any bycatch caught while fishing for sharks, and no reduction in current permits.

Basically, longline boats can now fish for sharks in areas formerly closed to them, and keep any fish caught while fishing for sharks.

More information and an electronic sample letter opposing the regulation are available at:

http://www.seawatch.org/mail_campaign/alert.html

Rodale's Scuba Diving magazine has posted the winners from their annual contest. Congratulations to LAUPS member Jim Lyle for several winning photos!

ULCS has announced new buoyancy arms, now with even more floatiness!

Arm Length Amt. of buoyancy
8" 4.5 oz
10" 8 oz
12" 11 oz
14" 14.8 oz
16" 1 # 2 oz
AC-CSL

With two arm lengths, 1 AC-CSL, 2 AC-CSF, and 1 strobe and 1 base adapter:

Arm lengths Amt. of buoyancy
Two 8" neutral
8" & 10" 1.75 oz
Two 10" 7 oz.
10" & 12" 8.3 oz
Two 12" 11.2 oz
12" & 14" 15 oz
Two 14" 1 # 3 oz
14" & 16" 1 # 6 oz
Two 16" 1 # 9 oz

New albums have been posted on the LAUPS gallery:

May Shootout

May Intraclub

Better late than never - winners from the April minicomp, "A Face Only a Mother Could Love" have been posted in the gallery:

April 2007 Minicomp Winners

This year the Long Beach Scuba Show and Wetpixel are hosting an underwater photo competition.

Under the Blue Photo Competition

Come on, LAUPS members, get out your best images and enter! Winning images will be announced and exhibited at the show! Imagine how you'd feel if someone from the other side of the world (or worse, Orange County!) won a comp right here in our own backyard!

Deadline for entries is May 12.

From the website:

Next in the series of Underwater Competition.com underwater imagery events, and on the heels of the popular Our World Underwater & DEEP Indonesia competitions, Wetpixel, DivePhotoGuide and the 2007 SCUBA Show are proud to bring you “UNDER THE BLUE 2007”.

Photographers will compete in four still image categories, including a category for images that focus on California’s unique and beautiful underwater environment, and one video category. Winners will share in more than $20,000 in prizes, including premium dive travel, underwater photography and diving equipment! Travel prizes include trips to some of the top photo destinations in the world including Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Australia.

2007 CATEGORIES
1. Majesty of the Oceans
2. The Macro World
3. Man & the Sea
4. California Underwater
5. Video

15% of entry proceeds will be donated to marine conservation efforts.


What's your carbon impact? The Nature Conservancy has launched an online Carbon Calculator. The long flights we make for dive travel sure add up. My filghts - mostly business travel, unfortunately - push me from 18 tons of CO2 a year, below the national average of 27 tons, up to 72 tons a year. Time to think about offsetting this.

There is another carbon calculator, with a donation tool, The Conservancy Fund's Go Carbon Zero Page. They calculate the donation that will take you down to zero impact, and it's not much, the cost of a cocktail or coffee or so, per round trip.

Delta Airlines is offering customers the chance to offset the carbon emissions from their flights by donating to the Conservation Fund, they will kick it off with donations for passengers on Earth Day and all their employees.

No need to wait for your airline to do it, though, you can start doing it yourself with The Nature Conservancy, The Conservancy Fund, or many other organizations. Put $5 in a jar every time you fly, and send it in at the end of the year.

From the Delta Press Release:

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 18, 2007 – Delta Air Lines is partnering with The Conservation Fund, a leading environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting land and water resources, to become the first U.S. airline to help its customers give back to the environment by buying trees to help offset carbon emissions associated with air travel. To kick off the program, Delta is making a donation to The Conservation Fund for every customer taking a Delta mainline or Delta Shuttle flight on Earth Day, April 22, and is pledging a commitment to plant a tree for each of the airline’s 47,000 employees.

Beginning June 1, customers who purchase a ticket online at delta.com will have the option to contribute toward the offset of carbon emissions associated with air travel through a donation to The Conservation Fund. Contributions of $5.50 for a domestic roundtrip flight and $11 for an international roundtrip flight will be used by The Conservation Fund to plant trees throughout the U.S. and abroad. A small portion of the donation also supports the organization’s education and outreach efforts.

The turtles are well on their way, many are out past Cocos Island. Take a look at their progress at The Great Turtle Race.

PhotoRescue has been updated to version 3.0.

PhotoRescue is an advanced data-recovery solution for digital photography media. Whether you have erased your pictures or formatted your card by mistake, or you have experienced a crash, PhotoRescue may help.

PhotoRescue V3

The Online Photographer has nominated the logo at left for those who want to identify themselves as film shooters on their websites.

The I-Use-Film-Ribbon

We've got a club meeting this Wednesday!

Speaker is Chuck Berman, on Digital Workflow. His Bio is below.

Minicomp theme is "A Face Only a Mother Could Love". Send your entries in or bring them with you.

Filenames should be:

0704_open-or-novice_Title_Your-Name.jpg

Enjoy the meeting!



Chuck Behrman Bio

Chuck Behrman has spent more than 30 years in professional photography including more than 10 years utilizing digital imaging techniques. Chuck’s engineering background enables him to creatively blend highly technical as well as artistic attributes into his images.

C.H. Behrman Photography produces images for advertising and business purposes as well as fine art photographic prints for home and business décor.

Although he is currently exclusively using digital photography, many of Chuck’s fine art images were originally captured with film.

Chuck uses various processes for his images; including archival pigment giclée for color images and carbon pigment Piezography for grayscale images. All images are produced on 100% cotton fine art papers to insure an archival print lifespan of the maximum attainable with current technology.

In addition to principal photography, Chuck currently consults and coaches one-on-one and teaches very interactive workshops and classes for professional and serious amateur photographers. These address intermediate and advanced Photoshop techniques relating to fine art, commercial and portrait photography and have been presented in such venues in addition to his studio as San Luis Obispo Art Center, The MacGathering, Professional Photographers of Los Angeles, etc.

Chuck has authored several comprehensive tutorial CD’s, each containing up to 5 ½ hours of screen captured video to coincide with the topics of the workshops and classes.

www.chbphoto.com: Advertising Photography, Workshops, Tutorial CDs, Consulting & Coaching

www.fhoto-art.com: Fine Art Photography

X-RAY MAG is an international dive magazine. It is complimentary and published in pdf-format and distributed worldwide over the internet every other month.

Index of X-Ray 16:

PHILIPPINES - Diving the Visayas.
AMBON - the spice islands in Indonesia.
Protecting the Sharks: Wolfgang Leander + Rob Stewart/Sharkwater movie.
Divemedicine: Why antioxidants protects divers.
NEW Zealand - land of the Kiwis.
Rebreathers: Comfort and Efficiency.
WHY shoot video.
SPRING DIVE Fashion.
Science: The Black Sea.
New Equipment.
Report from Moscow.

X-Ray Mag

For the first time ever, researchers have electronically tagged sperm whales and jumbo squid swimming together off Mexico's Pacific Coast to learn more about how the giant creatures hunt and feed.

It's probably the only time tracking devices have been applied simultaneously in the same waters to deep-diving predators and their prey.

Nat Geo: Jumbo Squid, Sperm Whale Study Reveals How the Giant Creatures Feed, Hunt

The 31st annual Beneath the Sea show kicked off this weekend to another bustling and energetic crowd.

As always, DivePhotoGuide was there to cover the show from a photographers and videographers perspective. The DPG booth was the place to be for underwater imagery. One of the "cooler" elements of our booth was a converted old Nikonos V turned mystical fountain. Now that's art!

Tour of Beneath The Sea 2007

Since 2000, scientists at the PIER have been performing an involved study of the movements of the giant sea bass, Stereolepis gigas, in the California Channel Islands. This is the first intensive study of the behavior, movements and habitat usage of the giant sea bass.

Studying the Behavior and Habitat Preferences of Giant Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas)

RANONGGA, Solomon Islands (AFP) - The seismic jolt that unleashed the deadly Solomons tsunami this week lifted an entire island metres out of the sea, destroying some of the world's most pristine coral reefs.

In an instant, the grinding of the Earth's tectonic plates in the 8.0 magnitude earthquake Monday forced the island of Ranongga up three metres (10 foot).

Submerged reefs that once attracted scuba divers from around the globe lie exposed and dying after the quake raised the mountainous landmass, which is 32-kilometres (20-miles) long and 8-kilometres (5-miles) wide

Yahoo News: Quake lifts Solomons Islands out of the Sea

Map of the area from http://www.world-of-islands.com

Submit your films to the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, And Make a Difference!

This is a call for entries for the 8th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, scheduled for Friday and Saturday evenings,
October 12th & 13th, 2007 at the Qualcomm Hall located at 5775 Morehouse Dr, San Diego, Ca. 92121

Here is your chance to see your work projected in Standard or High Definition formats in a state of the art venue on a giant screen. There is no entry fee! Each evening will feature a different program consisting of 14 to 16 short underwater films from locations all over the world.

* Submission deadline is August 15, 2007.

* For further information on UFEX see our website, www.sdufex.com

The Luminous Landscape website and photographer Michael Reichmann recently led a photo trip to Antartica. See the gallery here, and take a look at an interesting essay on what worked and what didn't on a trip that was tough on a lot of cameras.

The Luminous Landscape: Antartica 2007 Portfolio

The Luminous Landscape: Antartica 2007: What worked, what didn't

For more than 100 million years, leatherback turtles have graced our oceans. At an astonishing eight feet long and up to 2,000 pounds, they journey between continents and dive to incredible depths. But in the last 10 years, 95% of the leatherbacks in the Pacific Ocean have vanished, victims of human pressures.

The Leatherback Trust, Tagging of Pacific Predators, Conservation International, Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy, and Yahoo! invite you to join the Great Turtle Race. Follow 11 leatherback turtles on a two-week journey as they swim from their nesting sites on Playa Grande beach in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands.

The Great Turtle Race

We'd like to welcome a new LAUPS sponsor, Weldon Color Lab.

See the Weldon Difference yourself!

LightJet prints from digital files on Fuji Crystal Archive or Ilfochrome paper.
Drum scans and flatbed scans.
Mounting, finishing, and custom backl