Photography

If you are interested in getting involved with the Underwater Photography Group at the 2023 Dive Expo, please email info@diveireland.ie and we will get in touch with you.

Underwater photography speaker profile – Barry McGill (Underwater Photography Room, Saturday, 10am)

Barry McGill is a deep wreck photographer and CCR instructor trainer with Indepth Technical. His main area of focus is exploration of deep water shipwrecks around the Irish coastline and he has been fortunate enough to discover and explore many significant virgin shipwrecks.

Exploring iconic shipwrecks such as the R.M.S. Justicia, H.M.S. Audacious and R.M.S. Lusitania left a significant impression on Barry, which helped develop his desire to discover and explore shipwrecks. Barry has organised and led many deep wreck expeditions exploring the deep wrecks off the north coast of Ireland, which included the S.S. Empress of Britain in 162m and S.S. Transylvania in 130m. Barry has also been part the teams that first discovered and explored the wrecks of HMS Curacoa in 125m (410ft), White Star Liner Carinthia in 116m (380ft), HMS Hurst Castle in 85m (279ft) and World War I German U-boats UB 124 and U45 in 65 m (213ft).

Barry aims to share his passion for shipwreck exploration by capturing and sharing his images of many previously unphotographed shipwrecks including R.M.S. Amazon, H.M.S. Viknor and H.M.S. D6. Barry has been part of a number of television documentaries and his images have appeared in a number of books and other publications, including the New York Times.

The presentation will take a practical view of the various techniques which Barry utilises while diving the wrecks of north Donegal. The presentation will detail the various challenges involved in capturing shipwreck images. The presentation will focus on use of ambient light and development of techniques to allow divers capture the unique landscape of these shipwrecks.

Barry’s presentation will also contain many underwater images and film, including the use of 3D photogrammetry, and will give an insight into the rewards and challenges of photographing these iconic wrecks.

Duxy has been a regular figure on the dive industry scene for the last 15 years. Upon returning from Egypt in the early noughties, where he worked as a guide, he quickly established himself as the ?go-to guy’ for newbies to give the best advice upon starting out in underwater photography. Being sales manager at the two biggest UW photo retailers in the UK, he also found time to write for the popular diving press and has conducted over 50 underwater photo workshops here and around the world.

Endlessly patient and full of infectious enthusiasm, he likes nothing more than helping people with their questions about underwater photography, from what camera to buy, and then on how to use it and the necessary accessories to go with it. His mantra has always been ?Best Advice?, even if that meant losing a sale occasionally, building up trust amongst the people he dealt with.

For this show he?s going back to basics, aiming to inspire and enthuse those curious about UW Photography, but maybe they?re a wee bit put off with the perceived costs of ?proper? equipment.?So his first talk will look at what is achievable at GoPro pricing, factoring in strobes, wideangle lenses, etc.

And his second talk will look at seeing how you can kickstart your underwater photo skill set with a dedicated trip, that?s not just for the experts, along with developing your skills out of the water too.

The Dive Show team are delighted to announce Nick Blake’s ‘Working with Natural Light’ talk as part of the Underwater Photography exhibition at Dive Ireland 2019.

You only have to look at Nick?s website – http://nickblakephotography.co.uk/ – to see that he loves working with natural light ? and has produced some stunning images using it. In this talk, he will cover how light behaves under water, when shooting with natural light works, the techniques he uses and how he has made successful use of locations he has dived.Nick?started diving as a teenager in the 1980s but his longstanding interest in photography only moved underwater in 2004. That was with an Olympus compact camera, after which he moved on to Nikon DSLRs and currently shoots with a Nikon D810 full frame camera. He credits one to one tuition and encouragement from Martin Edge as being instrumental to his development and success.

Diving since 1991, Damien McGuirk first took a camera underwater with him in 2004, and has been doing this (more or less) ever since.

A member of the CFT underwater photography Facebook group (and a member of the British Society of Underwater Photographers), he likes nothing more than to help, encourage, and inspire budding underwater photographers in whatever small way he can.

He has a keen interest in making underwater images using snorkel/breath hold techniques, and is very much looking forward to giving his thoughts on this subject at Dive Ireland 2019.

Nick Pfeiffer started diving in 1980. Having worked as a marine scientist, he established and ran Aran Islands Dive Centre between 2000-2008.

Nick now lives and works in the west of Ireland where he runs an aquatic environmental consultancy. Much of Nick’s work is in the area of marine conservation and involves recording and monitoring endangered, threatened and protected species and natural habitats.

Underwater photography and video are everyday tools for much of his work. He shoots stills using a Nikon D810 in a Seacam housing with twin Seacam 150 strobes, and uses various video configurations including a Panasonic GH5 in a Secam housing as well as different top-side operated towed and drop-down video systems. Latest endeavours include a 3D reef modelling project using underwater photogrammetry techniques in order to learn about west coast crayfish reef habitats in order to assist in conservation and restoration efforts.

Nick will talk about his recent roadtrip to northern Norway to photograph humpback whales and freedive and photograph Orcas.