Aquatica would like to congratulate our Gallery member, Marcelo Krause. Marcelo is accomplished photographer based in Brazil who is also a long-time user of Aquatica housing. He has been chosen, along with David Fleetham, as the opening acts to inaugurate the new full frame column of the well-known underwater photography web forum Wetpixel. This popular forum is also inaugurating a bold new look.

You can see the feature on Marcelo here: http://wetpixel.com/full_frame/marcelo-krause-pantanal, and visit Marcelo’s website here: http://www.marcelokrause.com/

Mauricio Handler, a long time National Geographic Stock photographer and Aquatica Field Adviser, has just completed his migration into Ultra High Def with the Red Scarlet and Amphibico Rouge housing. You can see some of his work here: https://vimeo.com/57959176. Mauricio is one of our long standing Aquatica gallery member, you are invited to visit our gallery and see more work from this top ranking pro.

SKY BLOGAZINE has a full story featuring Todd Mintz, a long time Aquatica user and Arctic specialist, to read the full article, please click here.

Underwater filming: by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen.
Surface filming: by Jarkko Virtanen & Iisakki Kennilä from Flatlight Films.
Divers and uw-lightning team: Phil Short, Antti Apunen, Jarmo Kuusinen, Harri Urho, Veli Elomaa & Zoltan Varga.
Camera housings: by Aquatica.

See the footage | Learn about Aquatica A5D Mk III »

Robert Lasalle, a well-known local photographer, just added an Aquatica Close up kit to his tool box. The opportunity for him to test them came up recently in Les Escoumins, a frigidly beautiful dive spot about 10 hours' drive from our head office in Montreal. This area, part of a submerged national park, is fed by a very cold current that creates conditions found normally associated with polar regions. On a dive, one could encounter Belugas, Greenland Sharks or all sort of critters that one would normally expect to see up in the Hudson Bay or even further North.

Robert will be putting his brand new D800 Aquatica housing through its pace in the same diving spots in early October.

The images where done with a Nikon D2x in its Aquatica housing, using the new 105mm f/2.8 VR and with an Aquatica
+5 close up lens on the macro port. Lighting was provided by a pair of Ikelite DS-161 strobes, which along with the camera exposure and focusing, were all in manual mode. To visit Robert’s website, click www.aqua-photo.com.

Click images to enlarge.

NEWS FROM TECHNICAL LIGHTING CONTROL
Just added online is the new Technical Lighting Control system charts. These self-explanatory charts help shed light on the often confusing aspect typical of many lighting systems.

The new format clearly shows attachment options available from TLC for the popular strobes on the market as well as for housing, both from Aquatica and other manufacturers as well.

Further information is available by contacting info@aquatica.ca.

FINDING THE FLAME
Just received from the UK  http://www.movingcontent.org.uk...

This incredible video was commissioned by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. I had the great pleasure to meet Sue Austin at the LIDS show in London this year, she was bubbling with enthusiast for this wonderful project as she took time to explain and show me the raw footage done so far, I fully understand why she would be, especially after seeing the final version of this wonderful film.

Although I did not personally meet Norman Lomax, the director of photography, I did have the opportunity to converse with him, in the early stage, on some technical aspects of this project. Aquatica is very proud to be part of the creative tools used by this visionary artist. More details are available at www.wearefreewheeling.org.uk.

To read more about the exhibition itself please click here for a PDF file on the subject.
To see Daniel’s website, visit http://thelu5.wix.com/dkphoto#!works-1

Production is moving along on the Aquatica AD800 and we added a fresh set of images of the housing showing it in details, the owner manual, system chart and updated Nikon Type 4 lens chart are also available for download. This housing is unique in that it is one of (if not) the  only housing on the market that allows access to the entire camera function and buttons, including the Fn and DOF button on the front of the camera, as is well known to Nikon users, these buttons original functions are highly modifiable in both video and still mode, add our extensive selection of strobe connectors, our comfortable fingertip ergonomics, rugged construction  and you have the most advanced housing available for the benchmark setting Nikon D800 and D800E camera.

To see actual pictures of the housing click here.

Aquatica has designed the ultimate housing for this new Nikon camera along with the usual comfortable ergonomics usually associated with our housings. The AD800 incorporates a multitude of refinements. Among them, the Aquatica AD800 housing is the first of its kind to offer access to the Fn and DOF preview buttons. This is done via a unique toggle lever that access the two buttons, while the depth of field feature in itself is, quite arguably, of little use underwater. The many Custom Functions roles that can be attributed to these two buttons sure is worthy of attention. To read the full press release, click here.

As can be seen by the accompanying picture the production of the A5D Mk III housing is in full swing and is within days of shipping. For those who would want to get a heads up on the housing, we have uploaded the instruction manual and system chart on our website: http://www.aquatica.ca/en/products_dslr_5ds_mark_iii.html

For the folks patiently waiting for the AD800 housing, please note that the lady in the background is actually holding the rear shell of a AD800 housing, your time is also coming up soon! 

Click image to enlarge
 

The front page of the June Edition of the California Diving News was courtesy of  Joseph C. Dovala. An Aquatica housing user for some time now and a long-time member of our Aquatica shooter gallery, Joe routinely graces the pages of magazine and books. One of which that does stand out, his eBook on the Ghost Fleet Of Bikini Atoll, a truly magnificent and exclusive tour of the submerged ships surrounding the famed nuclear test site which, unfortunately, is now closed to public access.

Joe not only has a sharp lens, his penmanship is also well recognized. He has an upcoming article in DAN’s Dive Alert magazine on the subject of diving after having being treated for cancer. This for the record, is a subject matter that he had to personally tackle not so long ago.

To see more of Joe’s work visit our Aquatica Gallery or visit his website at www.jcdovala.com

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge 
 

New book by Ethan Daniel

Ethan Daniel, one of our Aquatica Gallery members, has recently released a book encompassing a quarter of a century of images taken from his coexistence with the marine environment.

Coral Triangle Seascapes
By Ethan Daniels & Geoffrey M. Cook
The contents of Coral Triangle Seascapes reflects the culmination of over twenty-five years of collective experience living among, diving in, and actively studying tropical marine habitats around the world. It is a chronicle meant as a preamble—a starting point for those with an interest in, or proclivity for learning, the myriad intricacies of tropical Pacific marine ecology. It also serves as a memorable visual portrayal of the distinct beauty found in a corner of our world that is difficult, if not downright impossible, to aptly describe with words alone. The images and text strive to provide both historical and contemporary insights into Earth’s most biologically diverse marine region: The Coral Triangle. The content documents and shares journeys through space and time that aim to renew both a sense of childlike wonder about our planet’s many natural splendors and mysteries, as well as lure ardent students, divers, fishermen, politicians, and anybody else leafing through these pages to partake directly in the fascinating environment that exists in the recesses of the sea. Forewords are written by Dr. Sylvia Earle and Dr. Charlie Veron.

Matti, one of our Aquatica gallery members who hails from Australia, has shared some of the image he took while competing in the Sundive Photo Competition in the Famed Byron Bay area. Weather and cold water condition did not succeed to dampen Matti’s enthusiasm, he did some really beautiful work well worth checking out, noteworthy is that the macro shots where done using either the new Aquatica Close up lenses of +5 or +10.

Click images to enlarge

Jose A. Cañibano, (AKA Pepe) is a dive and underwater photography instructor located in Cuba, he recently participated successfully in an underwater photo contest in Maria La Gorda, one of the many famed diving spot in Cuba.

Aside from sharing the championship title, he got two first place prizes -- one in environment, and one in environment with model. Whoever is blessed to be able to dive Cuba knows this country offers a fascinating range of dive sites. Mari La Gorda is right there amongst the best ones.

To contact Pepe and know more about diving Cuba: mmiranda@infomed.sld.cu

Click images to enlarge

Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Malbin for his featured portfolio and front cover shot in the spring issue of the Asia-Pacific Alert Diver from DAN. Andy, a long time Aquatica user, took all photos with an Aquatica AD300s housing.

He has been shooting underwater since the early 80’s, and has been a member of the Aquatica gallery for quite some time now. He is currently recuperating well from a serious DCI accident and while most of us would call it quits, he on the other hand is looking forward to getting his fins wet at the first opportunity he gets.

Luis Javier Sandoval, based in Mexico is a photographer for Mexico Desconocido magazine, the largest travel magazine in his country. He has generously provided us with some spreads of his most recent underwater work, that he shot with his Aquatica housing.

The essay on the submerged sculptures of Jason deCaires Taylor in the Museo Escultórico Subacuático (musa), which is an underwater museum of human figures slowly being taken back by nature, features his images which have an evocative tranquil quality to them seldom seen in underwater photography. His Caribbean essay is loaded with excellent images and describes some of the large inhabitants of the Caribbean water surrounding Mexico.

Aside from winning the top honor in "Ramon Bravo" shootout, the most prestigious of its type in Mexico, for 3 years in a row he has placed 2th in the "Ocean art" wide angle category as well. His work is distributed worldwide by Getty images, the largest image bank in the world and he is the author of "beneath the surface, underwater portrait of the Mexican Caribbean" book. This book was awarded the silver medal in the art books category of the most prestigious design magazine in Mexico.

Luis Javier Sandoval runs UW photo workshops on board the Rocio del Mar liveaboard in Socorro island and the Sea of Cortez, he can be reached at javier_uyuyuy@yahoo.com

Our Intrepid Aquatica user, Tim Rock, a long-standing member of our gallery, has just returned from assignment with Outdoor Japan to the Island of Ishigaki in the southern Okinawan chain.

He used Aquatica housing and gears, including the new close-up kit, for many of the tight macro shots seen here. Modeling light for all of the macro was the new Aqua LED 800.

Check out the images here.