CUPS U/W Photo Contest at COCO’s MAKING WAVES 2012 with CSRA support (please note that Firefox works best)

Your photo contest entries can be part of Making Waves!
News! - Jean Michele Cousteau is coming to Colorado in October. He will be the keynote speaker along with Dr Sylvia Earle at Making Waves in Boulder for the Colorado Ocean Coalition.  This event will behold many other ocean conservation luminaries stay tuned here!    

This photo contest will be in two stages. The first will be online (here on the CUPS Website). Photos will be uploaded and they will be voted on to determine the participants who will have their images displayed at Making Waves and to be judged for prizes. The concept includes different categories of ARTISTIC, BEHAVIOR and ENVIRONMENTAL.

Once you become registered member on CUPS website (it's free!) you will need to follow the instructions on this page and rules of the contest to upload your photographs in the Contest Gallery. Contestants may enter up to 3 photos entries for each category.

Deadlines:

• Upload your photo entries from now until midnight September 19th.
• Voting begins September 20th and will close at midnight September 27th.

Three steps to enter!
Step #1 How to enter the contest and Rules
Step #2 How to upload your contest entries
Step #3 Upload your entries (free) in ARTISTIC, BEHAVIOR or ENVIRONMENTAL Photo Galleries

Tuesday, August 21, 2012 CUPS Meeting -- 6:30pm socializing -- 7pm Presentation

An Introduction to the Identification and Ecology of Fish for Divers and Snorkelers.
Summary: Photos and videos of fish commonly seen on the reef outline with information about characters and lifestyles. People generally look at fish based on shape, but there is more you can do: What do they eat? How do they behave? Who are they related to? How do they fit with their environment? This relies more on visuals and less on biological theory. And yes, you ought to log your dives with flora and fauna you see and illustrate your computer photo book with fish, date, and location.

Jon Miller learned to dive first in the Caribbean in 1975 reading original PADI documents and was certified in Seattle, Washington in 1977 while studying physics at the University of Washington.  He is an attorney practicing transactional law in Boulder, CO but also involved in filmmaking and photography.  Over the last decade, he has become a PADI MSDT, a SSI Advanced Instructor (inactive) and shot underwater photos and videos in British Columbia, Florida, Cozumel, Bali, and Belize.  He is passionate about the study of biology and environmental policy.

NEWS!!! Jean Michele Cousteau is coming to Colorado in October 20^th & 21st.  He will be the keynote speaker along with Dr Sylvia Earle at Making Waves in Boulder for the Colorado Ocean Coalition.  This event will behold many other ocean conservation luminaries stay tuned here!  CUPS will have our photo display at this event! Watch for details.                 

SEE CUPS on Facebook! And The Colorado Scuba Meetup Group please RSVP

NEW BRING AND SHARE: Time permitting we will show your photos or items of interest during the meeting. Especially Fish ID photos this month

Help - please volunteer to present at a future meeting contact: info@cupsonline.net

• The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2012 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)
• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own MapQuest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS OF INTEREST:

 The Colorado Dive Show is coming back September 28^th and 29^th we will have a booth at the show. Get your photos ready! We will have our display at this event the first 38 framed entries will be displayed.

Mark your calendars for the Colorado Ocean Coalition’s  Making Waves 2012 and the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival Boulder October 20^th and 21^st 

UPCOMING TRIPS: News from Douglas Hofmann, I will be doing a photography workshop on the Siren in Fiji May 17-25, 2014.  Now is a good time to sign up here contact info at bottom of his web page.

The Team at CUPS

If you are no longer interested in receiving Colorado Underwater Photographic Society Newsletter; Please click unsubscribe (then type in unsubscribe in subject line).

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 CUPS Meeting 6:30pm socializing 7pm presentation

University of Colorado Professor Mel Cundiff will again be our featured speaker Thursday. His past talks have often drawn large crowds, so come join us. Mel had the opportunity to take a submersible really deep and his talk will be on his experience and what he saw. Come listen as Mel takes us “Beyond the Reef – Into the Twilight Zone”!! Who is MEL CUNDIFF? He is a guy who has managed to combine Scuba Diving with his Employment. As Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at CU in Boulder, he also doubles as a Scuba Instructor. He also has to his credit contributions or publication including some of his photos in Dive Training, Alert Diver, Colorado-Wyoming Scientist, Colorado-Views from CU-Boulder, Diving Into Darkness: The Elements of Safe Night Diving, Between the Reefs, Underwater Universe and Who's Who in Scuba Diving.
Mel teaches advanced college-credit courses in Tropical Marine Ecology and Coral Reef Ecology-the latter course being taught in Cozumel, Mexico, to SCUBA-certified, seňor-level biology students. Each year he presents about four all-day, well-illustrated "Coral Reef Ecology" seminars to SCUBA-certified divers in the Colorado area. These seminars have been well received and, along with the coral reef ecology course, have been the focal point of some of his articles published. Now I ask you - where will he go next? Come to the meeting and he will invite you along.

REVIEW: I have seen this presentation and it is very different and intriguing lots of creatures you may not see anywhere else, perhaps Mel’s best to date – John Gordon

NEWS!!! Jean Michele Cousteau is coming to Colorado in October. He will be the keynote speaker along with Dr Sylvia Earle at Making Waves in Boulder for the Colorado Ocean Coalition.  This event will behold many other ocean conservation luminaries stay tuned here!                   

 SEE CUPS on Facebook! And The Colorado Scuba Meetup Group please RSVP

NEW BRING AND SHARE: Time permitting we will show your photos or items of interest during the meeting.

Help - please volunteer to present at a future meeting contact: info@cupsonline.net

• The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2012 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)
• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own MapQuest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS OF INTEREST: Meet Peter Hammarstedt, second mate of Sea Shepherd, at Weaver's Dive Center in Boulder check it out here Meetup Event Page

Mark your calendars for the Colorado Ocean Coalition’s  Making Waves 2012 and the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival Boulder October 20^th and 21^st  

UPCOMING TRIPS: News from Douglas Hoffman, I will be doing a photography workshop on the Siren in Fiji May 17-25, 2014.  Now is a good time to sign up here contact info at bottom of his web page.

The Team at CUPS

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 CUPS Meeting

Nick Ferris discusses Sony NEX 5N camera and Beqa Lagoon in Fiji.

The meeting time is 6:30 for socializing and presentation at 7pm.

The first short presentation is on the new u/w rig featuring the Sony NEX 5N camera, Nauticam Housing, and YS-01 strobes, and the reasons for my using them.

The second presentation briefly covers the Beqa Lagoon Fiji trip in February, the resort and especially the diving with emphasis on images taken with the new rig.

 Retired professional geologist. Fifty year career after earning Ph.D., emphasizing silica sand, and exploration for uranium and gold. Also retired as Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Still a competitive rifle shooter. Bought a SCUBA outfit and took up diving in early 1957. Mostly dived alone as there were very few others interested in SCUBA, still considered an acronym for Some Come Up Barely Alive. It was simple back then -- no certifications, no gages, no neoprene, no counterweights and no B.C.s. The only rule was to come up when it got hard to breathe. That worked very well. Used to end the dives with free ascents, just for drill. That's not encouraged anymore. But it can still be useful.

Underwater photography can be addictive, ruining dives with frustration, but it challenging one to come back and try to get the sand grains in better focus. Film cameras were great, but I was getting too slow to change film under water. Digital cameras have lifted that burden. Eventually u/w photographers get old and feeble. The smart ones quit and take up golf or ironman competition. The others need smaller and lighter cameras, and a large liveaboard crew to get them geared up and pushed overboard. Tonight I'll talk about a smaller camera.

Nick

 SEE CUPS on Facebook! And The Colorado Scuba Meetup Group please RSVP

NEW BRING AND SHARE: Time permitting we will show your photos or items of interest during the meeting.

Help - please volunteer to present at a future meeting contact: info@cupsonline.net

• The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2011 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)
• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own Mapquest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS OF INTEREST:

Colorado Ocean Coalition Dairy Center Ocean Frontiers screening 7:00pm Tue, May 21 Planning for Making Waves 2012. Blue Drinks at 5:30pm to RSVP

Shark Bait Dive Club Meeting June 14^th CUPS member Michael Stallings Presents

The Dive Club Ocean First Meeting

Denver Photographic Society Web Site photographic equipment Swap meet coming soon.

UPCOMING TRIPS:

Whale Shark Adventure in Mexico with Colorado Ocean Coalition July 19^th For more information go to COCO   link above or http://reefstorockies.com/ or call 303-860-6045

The Team at CUPS

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 CUPS Meeting

 

Diving Playa del Carmen (and other treats) by Michael Stallings

The meeting time is 6:30 for socializing and presentation at 7pm.

The presentation encompasses three videos of Mike's trip to Playa del Carmen in August 2011. The videos are of 1. Local reef diving offshore at Playa del Carmen,  2. Diving the Kukulcan Cenote and 3. Snorkeling with whale sharks. The diversity and diving opportunities in this area provide for an adventurous vacation. The whale shark video combines sequences shot with a miniDV camcorder and a GoPro wide angle video.

In addition, if time permits and if people are interested in watching… Mike will have a screening of his 2006 trip to Sangalaki.

About Mike:
Since 2001, Mike Stallings has produced underwater videos under the name MASDIVE. Mike still shoots with his original underwater equipment: a Sony TRV900 miniDv camcorder, housed in a T-9 Undersea's Video Housing with dual florescent lights. Additional production lenses include a 0.6 wide angle, an internal 4x achromatic and an external 2x "Woody" CU lenses. He edits video using a dedicated standalone PC running Avid/Pinnacle Liquid 7.2.

 

SEE CUPS on Facebook! And The Colorado Scuba Meetup Group please RSVP

 

NEW BRING AND SHARE: Time permitting we will show your photos or items of interest during the meeting.

 

Help - please volunteer to present at a future meeting contact: info@cupsonline.net

• The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2011 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)
• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own Mapquest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS OF INTEREST:

Colorado Ocean Coalition Blue Drinks Tue, May 22 Planning for Making Waves 2012.

Sea Shepherd’s Paul Watson Event  Fri, May 11 Listen to the Man who brings you Whale Wars.

Shark Bait Dive Club Meeting Paddy Ryan’s BP oil spill enlightening exposé.

The Dive Club Ocean First Meeting Mel Cundiff Presents into the Twilight Zone deep submersible.

Denver Photographic Society Web Site photographic equipment Swap meet coming soon.

The Team at CUPS

If you are no longer interested in receiving Colorado Underwater Photographic Society Newsletter; Please click unsubscribe (then type in unsubscribe in subject line).

 Tues., April 17, 2012 CUPS Meeting

 Jim Durkee will present vignettes on Tigers, Sharks and Underwater Archeology.

The meeting time is 6:30 for socializing and presentation at 7pm
    About Jim Durkee: he is an Underwater Photographer who is now taking fantastic topside wildlife photos. He has traveled around the globe to capture the exotic wildlife in his images and has a collection of Underwater Photographs as well. 

NEW!!!SHARE: Anything you would like to share with fellow members please bring it with you, this would include digital images, camera gear, framed photos and books. This will be done before and after the presentation.

SEE CUPS on Facebook!

** March Meeting Thank you to Paddy Ryan for the enlightening exposé on BP oil spill - !
**May 15 Meeting – TBA

Help - please volunteer to present at a future meeting contact: info@cupsonline.net

• The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2011 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)
• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own Mapquest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

The Team at CUPS

Tues., March 20, 2012 CUPS Meeting
The BP Oil Spill

An Exclusive Inside-Look by Paddy Ryan

The meeting time is 6:30 for socializing and presentation at 7pm
About Paddy Ryan: he is an Underwater Photographer who takes fantastic photos above and below water. The Oil Spill opened an opportunity for Paddy to combine his environmental interests with his photographic talents. He spent several weeks on location with exclusive access.

About Paddy Ryan: Paddy was born In England and has lived in Jersey in the Channel Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Sarawak, Australia and the US. He has a doctorate in zoology and is currently employed at Johnson & Wales University in Denver where he is a full professor and interim Chair of the School of Arts and Sciences. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. He is a keen, widely published, nature photographer who has written a number of books including the Snorkeler’s Guide to the Coral Reef, Fiordland Underwater - New Zealand’s Hidden Wilderness, Fiji’s Natural Heritage and most recently Kri Eco - Raja Ampat. He has been diving for 30 years and taking underwater photographs for nearly all of that time. He’s a PADI dive master with well over 1000 dives to his credit.

NEW!!!SHARE: Anything you would like to share with fellow members please bring it with you, this would include digital images, camera gear, framed photos and books. This will be done before and after the presentation.

** February Meeting Thank you to Douglas J Hoffman - !
**April 17 Meeting – Jim Durkee has put together 2 or 3 short vignettes on Sharks, Tigers and undwater archeology.

Help - please volunteer to present at a future meeting contact: info@cupsonline.net

• The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2011 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)
• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
• Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium If you want to make your own Mapquest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

The Team at CUPS

If you are no longer interested in receiving Colorado Underwater Photographic Society Newsletter; Please click unsubscribe (then type in unsubscribe in subject line).

Fiji Trip Report - Beqa Lagoon Resort - February 2012

Story and Photography by Nick Ferris

The Beqa (pronounced Benga) Lagoon Resort is on a large island in Beqa Lagoon opposite Pacific Harbor on the southeast part of the main Island of Viti Levu, Fiji. It used to be the Marlin Bay Resort.


Slingjaw Wrasse

The bus ride from the airport at Nadi (pronounced Nandy) to Pacific Harbour near Suva takes about 3 hours, counting a long stop in Sigatoka where screaming loud shirts and war clubs could be purchased. A 40 minute boat ride takes you to the resort.

Guests stay in very nice cabins called bures. The restaurant and office are in a large thatched roof long house. Meals were all very good, with choices of main dishes that included vegetarian. All the personnel were friendly and helpful. There was usually some afternoon visit to a village or waterfall, and evening entertainment.

The typical program calls for 2 scuba dives in the morning, leaving the afternoon for entertainment, socializing, or sacking out. Typically, however, the dive boat doesn’t return for lunch until 2 PM. One reason is that the dive sites are 40 to 50 minutes running time away. Another is that there is no dock, which creates a logistics delay that affects everything. The native land owners won’t allow it, and the cyclonic storms would ruin it. So air tanks and divers are taken in separate boats with outboard motors across hundreds of yards of shallows to where the dive boats are tied to mooring buoys. This takes place coming and going, for 3 boats, every day. Fuel and other provisions are additional problems.

The diving was problematic. There had been several cyclones which resulted in floods that washed a lot of debris and silt into the ocean and reduced visibility to 30 or 40 feet. Still, the water temperature was 83 F and a lot of coral and fish were entirely visible. The more serious problems were that the three dive boats are not is the best condition. One broke down and had to be towed back. One is used to take/get guests to or from Pacific Harbor so is not used for diving then. This results in various dive groups being combined, with 20 or more on the cattle boat. One day the tank refill equipment was down and only one dive was made. The most noticeable problem was that several of the native divemasters did not look back at the divers or respond to their signals concerning air pressure. Some divemasters were quite good, of course. Nonetheless, there was insufficient communication and understanding both in and above water as to what the dive was all about and what the divers wanted to do or see. Each week a night dive near the resort and a shark dive far from the resort are available at extra cost. The shark dive was deep and attended by (too) many divers from the Pacific Harbour area.


Fiji Anemonefish

Other than diving with part of my family, my purpose was to try out a new camera-strobe-housing system. I saw a species of butterflyfish and of anthias that were new to me. Large families of the red Fiji anemonefish in bulb-tipped anemone nests atop coral bommies made endless photo opportunities. Colorful slingjaw wrasses were cooperative targets.


Hexabranchus sp. (Giant Nudibranch)

The main event, however, was the giant nudibranch (Hexabranchus), discovered by Mark Stephenson of Rock Mountain Diving Center, my wife, and myself in 71 feet of water on a sandy bottom. It was mostly red with large poorly defined spots, and measured 11 inches. In summary, the Beqa Lagoon Resort is good if you stay ashore, with good to problematic scuba diving. The new camera needs more testing, of course.

FEBRUARY MEETING:
We had a large turnout for Douglas Hoffman's presentation on Diving with the Humpback Whales of Tonga. He gave us details on the techniques for having a highly successful photographic encounter with the whales. It was a great privilege to have Doug and his wife Meiko join us here in Colorado.

JANUARY meeting was an organization discussion group to cover CUPS priorities for the future. The CUPS website did get an overview and the NEW CUPS FaceBook Page was also discussed. The face book page will allow us to use it like a forum at the same time attract new members, also increase our presence in the world of diving and photography on the web. We did have an unveiling of a CUPS T-shirt. Several good ideas were discussed, including members wanted more interactive presentations ie. Equipment and Photoshop techniques.

FEBRUARY MEETING:

Our friend Douglas Hoffman from Maui (formally Colorado) will be in town for a short visit and will only be available on February 6^th for his presentation on The Humpbacks of Tonga and The Sharks of Fiji. We now know the location; it will be at El Senor Sol right across the street from the Downtown Aquarium. The restaurant will serve dinner at 6pm and the presentation will begin at 7pm. You may to choose to attend the presentation without having dinner. This is a not to be missed event of some truly majestic images of Humpback Whales. Mark your calendars.

The Team at CUPS

From Douglas:

Originally from Colorado but now based in Maui Hawaii, Douglas is a professional photographer. Douglas and wife Mieko operate Maui Photography specializing in family portraiture. The couple also runs Maui Photo tours which takes visitors to Maui to scenic locations and helps them create beautiful landscape photographs along the way. Two or three times a year Douglas leads small groups of photographers, divers, or snorkelers on adventures and workshops to destinations throughout the Pacific-Rim, including Fiji, Indonesia, and Tonga. Douglas has well over 10,000 dives and still has incredible passion for diving and all forms of marine life, and especially Humpback whales.

All that has changed really is that I received the PPA Master of Photography Degree. Started Maui Photo Tours and Workshops

Travel schedule- people are welcome to join.

July 30 - Aug 9, 2012 I will go to Raja Ampat, Manakwari, and Chandrawasih Bay Indonesia on The Damai I. On Aug 10, I will go to the Lembeh strait fro a week.

I have been hired to be the special host and inwater guide for a few special adventures in 2012 and 2013.

2012 schedule.

Sept 12-19th 8 day live-aboard trip dedicated to whales in Ha'apai Tonga. Limited to 6 people to maximize the fun for everyone on the boat.

Sept 21-29th 9 day live-abaord trip dedicated to whales. Adventure starts in Ha'apai and ends in Vava'u Tonga. Limited to 6 people to maximize the fun for everyone on the boat.

2013 schedule.

Sept 20-30th, Ha;apai to Vava'u

Oct 2-11th, vava'u to Ha'apai

The boat is 20 meter sailing catamaran and it is owned by Tris and Dave Sheen of Whale Discoveries. The couple has over 180,000 miles of sailing and 28 years experience working with whales.

Small groups = big encounters.

This years program will begin with some fun images of sharks that were all created during a week of diving in Fiji in mid October 2011. Then it will get into Humpback whales. I will talk a bit more about how the whale swim industry works in an effort to educate people so if they decide to go to Tonga they know what to expect. I will talk about, regulations, types of boats, type of whale behavior, importance of adopting an all about we not all about the shot attitude, and how to photograph whales.

Mahalo

Douglas

Douglas J Hoffman
www.douglasjhoffman.com
dhoffmanphoto.wordpress.com
www.mauiphotography.net
www.mauiphototours.net
808 879 0260
"Like" on my FACEBOOK page

 

The Team at CUPS

The screening of THE COVE was a big success and enlightening for all those who attended. The insight provided by Cove cameraman Eric Abramson gave viewers a very unique experience. He was able to present members with information from his personal experience on making of the movie; it was truly a privilege to have him join us.

The other JANUARY meeting is an organization discussion group to cover CUPS priorities for the future. The meeting will be at our regular time January 17^th 6:30pm at the Downtown Aquarium. The CUPS website we get an overview and the NEW CUPS FaceBook Page will also be discussed. The face book page will allow us to use it like a forum at the same time attract new members, also increase our presence in the world of diving and photography on the web. We may have an unveiling of a beta version of a CUPS T-shirt. If you would like to have a voice in the future of CUPS please attend. You might want to bring laptop or pad.

FEBURARY MEETING:

Our friend Douglas Hoffman from Maui (formally Colorado) will be in town for a short visit and will only be available on February 6^th for his presentation on The Humpbacks of Tonga and The Sharks of Fiji. We now know the location; it will be at El Senor Sol right across the street from the Downtown Aquarium. The restaurant will serve dinner at 6pm and the presentation will begin at 7pm. You may to choose to attend the presentation without having dinner. This is a not to be missed event of some truly majestic images of Humpback Whales. There will be more info coming soon, so mark your calendars.

The Team at CUPS

REMINDER: The regularly scheduled December meeting was moved to the 8th and no meeting for Tuesday Dec 20th

We would like to thank Walt and Karen Sterns for their extraordinary Presentations of UNDERWATER JOURNAL and Wakatobi Resort it was great fun to share the Holiday spirit with the members of CUPS and Shark Bait Dive Club.

 
Join us at White Fence Farm for a Special joint Christmas Meeting December 8th 6-6:30: pm dinner 7:15-7:30 Presentation optional gift exchange white elephant or $15-20 gift. MAP

If you plan to attend and have dinner choose chicken or shrimp and RSVP to  info@sharkbaitdiveclub.com

22.45 Fried Chicken   

23.75 Fried Shrimp

 

Colorado Underwater Photographic

Society & Shark Bait Dive Club

Behind the Lens

A Presentation with Walt Stearns

Renowned photojournalist and publisher of UNDERWATER JOURNAL

December 8, 2011

Featuring a slide show of imagery, a review of wide-angle

techniques including composition and lighting, followed by Q&A

 BONUS – a brief presentation on

Wakatobi Dive Resort with Karen Stearns

About Walt Stearns

For over 20 years, Walt Stearns’ writing and extraordinary imagery have graced a wide range of broadcast, print and online media, earning him the reputation as one of the world’s most credible and frequently published photojournalists. Walt’s work targets the many facets of the outdoors, local lifestyles and the marine environment.

Among watersport enthusiasts, he is best known for his stunning cover shots for Salt Water Sportsman and Sport Fishing, Boating Life and Power Cruising and scuba diving publications such as Sport Diver, Scuba Diving, Skin Diver, Discover Diving, Ocean Realm and Scuba Times magazines, as well as many catalogues and guidebooks for numerous tourist boards, retail brands and travel related operations such as the Cayman Islands Tourism Board, Henderson Aquatics, Matangi Island Resort, Aggressor Fleet and Dancer Fleet, Ltd.

As an editor, contributing editor and freelancer, Walt’s work has appeared in Boating, Boating Life, Motor Boating, Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing, Field & Stream, Marlin, Saltwater Fly Fishing, Fishing World, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Outdoor Photographer, Caribbean Travel & Life, Florida Travel & Life, Islands Magazines, as well as numerous others. The online publication, The Underwater Journal, is a collaboration of Walt’s years of experience in the marine industry.

Walt has been a key participant in documentary film projects such as “Wild Horizons” with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “Perfect Predators”, “African Shark Safari” and “Mystery of the Whale Cave” for Discovery Channel and many productions on national and cable networks.

THIS WAS AN EVENT CHANGING THE FACE OF COLORADO IN OCEAN CONSERVATION

Making Waves in Colorado was quite the success, very well attended and inspirational event with a number of CUPS members participating. You can see photos and read about the event at the Colorado Ocean Coalition Face Book site linked here.

EXTRAORDINARY SPECIAL EVENT NOVEMBER 13^th:

Will replace regular November CUPS meeting

Making Waves in Colorado is happening November 13^th in Boulder. This event will feature an afternoon of symposiums and an evening with the legendary Sylvia Earle.

The Colorado Ocean Coalition is celebrating its one year anniversary this November 13 in Boulder, Colorado. Dr Sylvia Earle has offered to join us in a celebration. In addition, we will be honoring the Sylvia Earle Foundation and Teens4Oceans. The free to the public event will be from 1-5pm at the Boulder Public Library; which Dr Earle, Louie Psihoyos and Shawn Heinrichs will participate along with other notables see flyer below.

 

The oceans need our help and we can’t just let the coastal states be our voice. The Colorado Ocean Coalition emerged as a way to engage people living in-land to connect with our ocean planet. Until now, there has never been a unified voice for ocean protection in the Mountain States. We are creating that voice by developing a strong network made up of ocean enthusiasts.

The Boulder Public Library is co-hosting the afternoon event where hundreds of people will learn about a variety of climate/ocean topics including marine sanctuaries, plastics and environmental impacts, marine protected areas, and agricultural and watershed connections. More importantly, they will learn what they can do and how to get involved. We are partnering with NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program, CIRES, David Helvarg, Blue Frontiers, The Oceanic Preservation Society "The Cove", local dive shops, Jim Toomey cartoonist of Sherman's Lagoon, educators, CU and many others.

 

The evening portion is a fundraising cocktail party from 7-10 at the Rembrant Yard in Boulder where Dr. Sylvia Earle will give a presentation, as well as an opportunity for people to meet other ocean supporters.

This event is growing and promises to be a unique opportunity. CUPS members can join this event by going to these pages for more detailed information and registration at these links. Register for Colorado Ocean Coalition Newsletter on Program Flyer page upper left corner.

New Additions to program!!!!

Program Flyer Updated!

Evening with Dr Sylvia Earle ($75) with link for registration

Schedule of free afternoon Symposiums

Boulder Public Library  

Questions: John Gordon

jgdiver51@hotmail.com

720-690-5463

Jack Kirk will present on a seven day shark expedition in West Palm
Beach -  October 18
 
Summary:
The presentation focuses on a seven day shark expedition that begins in West Palm Beach and takes place between Tiger Beach, a shallow sand bar about fifty miles north of West End, Grand Bahama Island, Little Issacs lighthouse and Bimini. Although the main characters are the fifteen to seventeen foot tiger sharks, we were blessed with many large lemon sharks in the ten to twelve foot range, plus giant hammerheads, bulls and greys, not to mention the usual entourage of fish the tigers seem to attract. The shark encounters on this
expedition are completely random and are nothing like the Stuart Cove or UNEXO shark dives.The boat we used, the Shearwater, is a sixty five foot twin diesel that sleeps fifteen in bunks comfortably, a crew of five, a decent galley, two heads, decent compressor and Nitrox, and some of the most interesting characters you will ever dive with. The trip is recommended for advanced divers only due to interaction and attracts primarily photographers and shark aficionados. I only wish that this presentation could be the adrenaline pumping, heart stopper that the expedition was!
 
Jack's background
Certified in 1966 through SCIP (it was merged with NAUI in 1970) my diving began in Texas lakes and eastern Florida. In 1973 I was transferred to Hawaii to build and manage a chain of full service dive shops, receiving my instructor's rating in 1976 and was able to dive many areas in the western Pacific. I purchased my first camera, a Nikonos III with a bulb flash and Sekonic light meter in 1973. Still a film guy, I use a Nikon F100 in a Sea & Sea NX 100 Pro with two Ikelight Substrobes and variety of lenses and ports from 12 mm to 105 mm.

The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place.

Tues. Aug 16, 2011 CUPS Meeting

Come Drive and Dive with Paddy - A Central American Dream Adventure

    Dr Paddy Ryan has been threatening to give a talk about the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill since last summer. But while it still remains on the agenda it has been over-taken by a more exciting story - at least to Paddy. He is just back from a 9 week, 10,059 mile odyssey that took him through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This talk is a quick over-view of the highlights. And yes - there are underwater photos - including a tailless whip scorpion underwater in a cave - but it's mostly topside stuff. Paddy reckons this is a three beer talk so be prepared.
    About Paddy Ryan: Paddy was born In England and has lived in Jersey in the Channel Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Sarawak, Australia and the US. He has a doctorate in zoology and is currently employed at Johnson & Wales University in Denver where he is a full professor and interim Chair of the School of Arts and Sciences. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. He is a keen, widely published, nature photographer who has written a number of books including the Snorkeller’s Guide to the Coral Reef, Fiordland Underwater - New Zealand’s Hidden Wilderness, Fiji’s Natural Heritage and most recently Kri Eco - Raja Ampat.  He has been diving for 30 years and taking underwater photographs for nearly all of that time. He’s a PADI dive master with well over 1000 dives to his credit.

**.July Meeting - Thank you to CUPS Members who presented us with their best shots in preparation for THE COLORADO DIVE SHOW (CDS). coming September 23-24 of 2011. To prepare you entries, please see the guidelines sent to you last month or go to the following link on the Forum: http://www.cupsonline.net/CUPSForums/CUPSOnlineForumsEntryPage/tabid/125/forumid/8/postid/717/view/topic/Default.aspx 
**Coming for Sep 20, 2011 Snorkel with the Whale Sharks by John Pierce!!!

• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
  
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level. Doors open 6:30 PM Talk at 7:00 PM.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own Mapquest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

The Downtown Aquarium is the CUPS meeting place. Please mark your calendar for 2011 - the Third Tuesday of each month! (See link below for map.)

Tues., 21, 2011 CUPS Meeting
Whales, Eagles, Swans and Monkeys by Jim Durkee

The meeting time is 6:30 for socializing and presentation at 7pm
The presentation encompasses two videos of Mike's trip to the Philippines in November 2009. The videos are Program, Part One: California grey whales, Magdelena Bay, Mexico
    Exciting shots of Grey Whales on their migration to their favorite vacation spot
Program Part Two: Northern Japan in winter. Come visit the Hokkaido Island Stellar Sea Eagles, red
crowned cranes, whooping swans (cough, cough).
Honshu Island snow monkeys of Nagano. Left over from the Olympics, no doubt.
 
 About Jim:
Jim is an avid scuba diver but also leads groups on travels in search of marine mammals, birds and other wildlife.His travels have taken him from 80 degrees N to 65 degrees S. As a Nature {hotographer, he photographs in the animal's natural habitat where they are free.

**.May  Meeting - Thank you to Paddy Ryan for Stop and Smell the Roses. The photography was fantastic. His eye for patterns is amazing. Paddy is currently on his drive to Belize and Costra Rica - yes DRIVE!!! He is currently on his drive through the Yucatan of Mexico - 5 more weeks to go!
 **Coming for July 19, 2011 Let's have everyone bring 10 of their best photos to prepare for the September Scuba Show and everyone can help them select. Dust off your computers!!!
**The Colorado Scuba Show is Sep 23 and 24 please prepare your photos as CUPS will have a booth to display members photos. We will also be looking for volunteers to work the booth.

• Note: There is usually free parking in the lot just south and in the adjacent Children's Museum parking lot. You can enter this free parking area by taking the first driveway entrance on the right just south of the aquarium main building. We have received reports of car break-ins at this lot as it is unattended. Otherwise there is parking directly across the street from the Aquarium at a flat $7 in the evening.
• Entrance: Go through the double doors on the Water Street side (across from Senor Sol Restaurant) and the classroom is directly to your right on the first level.
•  Map: Denver Downtown Aquarium  If you want to make your own Mapquest Direction map, here is the official address: 700 Water St, Denver, CO 80211
• Thanks to the hospitality of Landry's Restaurants, Inc., CUPS will be able to return to our regular third-Tuesday meeting schedule at the beautiful Downtown Aquarium in their spacious classroom.

Be sure to register! Just click the "Register" link at the top right corner of this page to be able to post replies in the Forums.

About CUPS - The Colorado Underwater Photographic Society (CUPS), was formed to promote the art and practice of underwater photography as our members travel the globe in search of the best images (still and video). Read our mission statement here. 

About the CUPS Website - John Daigle is our host and webmaster our site is administered by him and several other officers of CUPS. Please Contact Us with any questions.

Archives of past meetings now available
To access the Archive of past meetings, hover over the CUPS Home tab and click on Archives - Past Member Meetings.