Two years on the web

I paid an unexpected bill for web hosting this week, and realised that this post marks the second anniversary for this website. Given I was afraid to start until I had ten pre-written articles for fear I’d spend a lot of time setting up a site and then not be able to create enough content, I’ve come a long way! This post is my 118th article, each with a couple of photos and some thoughts on how they were taken. If anything my diving has become more regular and it’s rare that I’m not in the water at least once a week. Most Mondays I’m therefore well placed to write up the best shots from my last dive or two. Rather than not having enough to talk about, I’m afraid of getting behind and missing out on showcasing photos that deserve an explanation. It’s a good indicator that I’m still experimenting and learning with my underwater photography, and keen to share as I learn.

In the last year I’ve dived in some very special places, including exploration in Queensland’s Camooweal caves, a trip to Weebubbie for ABC’s Catalyst and a return trip just recently, as well as our ongoing project in Elk River cave. There’s also been more than a few trips over to Mount Gambier both to photograph the sinkholes and try out a few different techniques in Tank Cave. And not to forget some lovely local ocean diving and a very relaxing trip to Thailand for Christmas. All of these trips were with a bunch of truly excellent people without whom my underwater photography would not be possible – thank you! Some of the most popular posts of the last year weren’t about my photos at all but the series that showed off my Dad’s historical shots of the Cocklebiddy exploration. This year we also passed the second anniversary of Ag’s death, something that I feel is important to acknowledge and remember.

I’ve been lucky enough to pick up a brilliant new drysuit from the nice folks at Otter, and to have Damo’s support at DKG Drysuits locally for servicing, spares and repairs. This is my third Otter suit and it continues to do an excellent job of keeping me warm and dry. I’ve procured a couple more second hand Inon Z240s for use as off camera strobes in the caves. I also splashed out on a very shiny Canon 100mm f2.8 lens late last year which has been getting a good work out under Melbourne’s piers in preparation for my upcoming 2014 trip on the Arenui through Komodo and Flores. Contact me or Liquid Diving Adventures if you’d like to join me for some truly spectacular tropical ocean diving in August next year.

My photos have been published in a few more places, included the West Australian Sunday Times last week, the current issue of Scuba Diving Magazine, DAN’s Alert Diver and a profile in Women’s Fitness Magazine. I was very happy to place first in the cave diving category of the Oztek photo competition (check out the winning shot here), and recently as a finalist in the ANZANG Nature and Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

It looks like there’ll be more exciting diving in the next 12 months including continued trips to push the end of Elk River, my Oztek prize trip to the Phillipines with Diversion Dive Travel and a few more cave diving things in the works. If you’re looking for an easy way to keep up with my weekly posts, you can subscribe by email or RSS. For email simply put your email address in the box in the top right margin, and then click the link in the confirmation email that comes through. If you don’t receive a confirmation email, check your spam folder.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to another year of photography, underwater and underground.