Diving Gozo and Comino
52 Assignments : Underwater Photography
Coral Triangle Cameos
BOOKREVIEWS
Diving Gozo and Comino
by Richard Salter COST : £ 20 PURCHASE FROM : Divedup . com ISBN : 978-1-909455-58-0
52 Assignments : Underwater Photography
by Alex Mustard COST : £ 12.99 PURCHASE FROM : Ammonite Press ISBN : 9781781454893
This book provides the one thing Peter Lemon ’ s book eschews – a compact format , which will endear it to the travelling diver . Again , there ’ s no shortage of detail , but it covers just Gozo and Comino , the author ’ s home range .
Richard Salter is an experienced dive guide and clearly knows his stuff ; the site descriptions are authoritative and full of useful information . Again , they provided me with invaluable knowledge before and after my dives in Gozo . The format is concise and easy to follow – it speaks of a great love of Gozo , a relaxed island community that just happens to have some of the best scenic diving in the Med , including the famous Blue Hole and Inland Sea dive sites .
If you buy this book you will not be disappointed , but do bear in mind that there ’ s no Malta coverage . As with Peter Lemon ’ s book , there are handy site maps , but printing them smaller makes them a bit less enjoyable on the page . Equally , some of the smaller photographs are wanting in clarity .
All the same , I ’ d commend this guide to any dive traveller focussing purely on Gozo and Comino . It ’ ll serve you well , both with dive planning and making the most of your time above water . SR
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As the poster boy of British underwater photography , no-one would question Alex Mustard ’ s credentials to author a book offering practical lessons in underwater photography . The number in the title is far from arbitrary ; the publisher has an extensive series of 52 Assignments books covering a range of topics , including a dozen on different photography sub-genres .
This isn ’ t a big coffee table book , nor a detailed explainer on the author ’ s techniques . Instead we get self-contained sections , each setting out specific exercises devised to expand the reader ’ s expertise . The idea is to take on assignments in their numbered order . Broadly , this allows a progression from the basic rules of underwater photography to some of the more advanced techniques . For instance , Assignment 01 has advice for shooting in natural light ( without using artificial flash ), a smart way for new photographers to learn the important lesson of aligning their position with the sun . By contrast , Assignment 44 is all about capturing
Coral Triangle Cameos
Biodiversity and the small majority By Alan J Powderham and others COST : £ 45 PURCHASE FROM : Divedup . com ISBN : 978-19094-55573
This glorious coffee-table book invites you to understand more about the ecology and dynamics of tropical reefs through the prism of the Coral Triangle , an area of unrivalled biodiversity in South East Asia . It ’ s good to see publisher Dived Up flexing its print quality muscles and producing a book to rival big beasts such as Phaidon or Taschen . Powderham ’ s photography is conventional rather than heavily stylised , lacking voguish tricks such as motion blur or obviously snooted light , but they are classically beautiful underwater photographs .
While it gives good art , the book offers more than pretty pictures . The segments of text serve as the vignettes of the title , unlocking the reef ’ s secrets with insights gleaned from more than 40 years of diving and the advice of notoriously tricky split shots incorporating the contrasting light of sunset . Without going into detail , it ’ s not easy . Some of the assignments tend to the abstract , but they are all worthwhile and I have absolutely no doubt that any diver attempting to follow these lessons will improve their photography significantly .
You can carry out many of these exercises in most overseas dive destinations , but some of them depend on good visibility . From a cursory look , I ’ d say at least 40 of the assignments are do-able in UK water , but some of those will be quite a bit more difficult . Well , if it was easy it wouldn ’ t be fun ! SR
Scientific Consultant , Dr Sancia van det Meij .
As mentioned in the foreword , the marriage of text and images illustrates the inter-dependency of reef organisms . So we get magnificent scenic photos of coral seascapes , but the story is continued with the reef ’ s minutiae , the hidden inhabitants revealed by Powderham ’ s macro lens .
While this may be an expensive book , it is an absolute joy to hold and read . While marvelling at the sheer beauty of the reefs , you will learn of the complex dynamics at play in the magical world of the Coral Triangle . Coral reef publication of the year . SR