UKDIVING
Above : The main attraction on the muddy seabed of Loch Duich is the fireworks anemone , found at about 30 metres . While searching for one , I spotted a length of plastic drainpipe partially buried in the mud . It provided an ideal home for a variety of creatures : a long clawed squat lobster , brittle stars and sea loch anemones made an attractive scene which won UWPY 2019 British Macro .
Arthur Kingdon is one of the most underrated marine photographers of the past two decades , flying somewhat under the radar as a result of his modest nature . With his natural predilection for cold water and a desire to showcase British seas to the public , he has amassed a wonderful range of images .
Originally from Northumberland , Arthur joined the RAF in 1964 as an apprentice photographer . His first posting was to RAF Leuchars in Scotland where he carried out tasks such as loading film into aircraft gun cameras or snapping VIP visits . He was once admonished for taking ' too many photographs '. Can there be such a thing ? After Leuchars , it was a short tour in
Cyprus where he became an avid snorkeller . Arthur ' s RAF career fed into his diving when he was selected for aircrew training in 1968 . He started work as an Air Loadmaster and was posted to RAF Brize Norton , where he immediately joined the station sub aqua club . As an Air Loadmaster he was responsible for the assessing the cargoes of the Belfast aircraft and later the C130 Hercules at RAF Lyneham . This put him in the enviable position of including certain items of special equipment on manifests to support his overseas expeditions . Such items may have included Land Rovers , RIBs and other ‘ essentials ’. Among his many expeditions was a series of 12 trips to Newfoundland , from 1988 to 2000 .
Below : While photographing a nudibranch at Loch Carron , my buddy diver became very excited and dragged me away from the nudibranch to show me what he had spotted . It was an enormous flapper skate , at least two metres across the wings . My camera had a 60mm macro lens attached , so not much use for such a big subject . My solution was to take three photos and stitch them together in Photoshop . Subsequent research suggests that this area is a likely breeding ground for the flapper skate .
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