Article in Diver - Underwater Sculpture Park

I have an article in this month's (August) Diver magazine. The piece is called The Art of Diving and reviews a dive at Moliniere Bay in Grenada which is home to a unique underwater sculpture park containing works of art by Jason de Caires Taylor.



The sculpture park is a really unusual and interesting dive which you should try and do if you're in Grenada. For more information, including some video footage, check out the artist's website here.

Sea Hare

At St Abbs last weekend, I got some images of sea hares for the first time. Sea hares are slugs and probably get their name from their hare-like "ears", which are actually head tentacles. There were quite a few hares about, as well as a fair number of nudibranchs.

Images In BBC Wildlife

I have a couple of pictures in this month's BBC Wildlife magazine, which is out today. The first is a big spread of a dahlia anemone and the second is a half page lion's mane jellyfish.






The images illustrate a feature on summer seashore wildlife.

Local Support

My local newspaper, The Stirling Observer, has always been a great supporter of my photographic work and has done a number of features over the last few years. And for the exhibition, they have done another nice centrespread piece. You can read the text here.



The Observer comes out twice a week and has won various awards, including Scottish Local Newspaper of the Year.

Good Day At The Office

St Abbs was a delight today. The weather was fantastic, conditions calm and flat and visibility about 8m. The photo below shows Sea Gull Rock a few hours ago.



We dived Skellies and then Black Carr, two sites which rarely disappoint - and today was no different. We saw wolf fish on both dives and on our safety stop we were buzzed by guillemots, which was a first for us. They were really fast, though graceful, underwater and I managed a couple of action shots for the record.

Interviewed On Radio Scotland

I was interviewed live last Tuesday on BBC Radio Scotland's arts programme Radio Cafe. The interview was conducted by mobile phone from Krakow, where I was on a (non-diving) break. It lasted about 5 minutes and allowed me to talk about the exhibition.

If you're quick, you can catch it here on iPlayer. Presenter, Clare English, was very complimentary about the exhibition and said some nice things about the photos she had seen. While it was quite a nerve-wracking experience, it seemed to go down ok.

Video Short - Exhibition

For those of you across the seas (or over the border), here is a short video showing the exhibition space and some visitors mulling over the photos. For my relatives in Hull, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Devon, Exeter and Bournemouth .... this is not an excuse not to visit! See you all in the coming weeks and months.

Exhibition Opens

The exhibition finally opened this afternoon. Thanks to all those who came along - the response and interest were terrific. It is very gratifying to hear people's reactions to the photos and to be able to introduce people to the colour and diversity of the underwater world - and to dispel some myths about UK diving.

I rarely appear in front of the camera and even more rarely in front of the camera without a drysuit and mask on. However, I was forced to make an exception today!

The bottom pictures show a case which has a few dive accoutrements and some of my articles in it. Thanks to everyone at the Smith for setting it all up so well and also to PADI International for their support.

Gallery Looking Good

I got a sneak preview of the exhibition yesterday when it was being set up in the gallery before opening time. The layout is looking very good as you can see in these pics.







There are another 2 walls' worth of photos plus a cabinet with some underwater photography accoutrements which I haven't seen as yet. A report back will follow.

Wolf Fish

St Abbs is well known for its wolf fish and I have seen quite a few there in relatively shallow waters. Seeing them is one thing; getting a decent picture of them is quite another, however, since they choose excellent recesses to take up residence in and mostly you only see their faces peering out.

And today was no different. We spotted a wolf fish at around 22m at the Skellies dive site. It wasn't particularly timid and sat pretty still, on one occasion darting its head out to catch a brittle star (I wasn't focusing on it at this point - typical). However, I did manage a reasonable shot of it.



One of these days I'll get a shot of two wolf fish in the one hole or even a wolf fish out swimming free. That's what makes diving so fascinating - the potential.