Mark Tipple's "Underwater Project" released on App Store

World renowned and award winning photographer Mark Tipple brings his Underwater Project to iOS devices. Just in time for the holidays and 2012 a new season of underwater magic.

Check it out here

“The underwater portraits of Mark Tipple have an otherworldly look and lighting that no studio could match.” ~ VisualNews.com

As featured in

✎ The Telegraph (UK)
✎ Australian BodyBoarder
✎ The Dive Photo Guide
✎ The Australian (AUS)

"The most powerful images in documentary photography projects are rarely the ones on the surface of the issue, they’re the ones that go deeper. Australian documentary photographer, Mark Tipple, has taken this concept quite literally in a new series called “The Underwater Project”.” ~ ChaseJarvis.com

ABOUT THE PROJECT

A haze of smashed blues and whites, the bright sting of sunlight and a briny hit. The wave rolls onwards, lurching forwards with a power that seems so benign from afar. It throws itself in a powerful lunge, crashes down and topples everything in its path – but for the ocean swimmers who know that to survive a wave is to dive deep.

Visionary photographer Mark Tipple brings his world renowned and ongoing photographic series to the iPhone, iPod and iPad. With regular new releases and weekly visual updates you'll always have new experiences and images to discover.

Try the app with full functionality for free and be amazed by the imagery. You may also unlock dozens more images from the series with a one time in app purchase of just $1.99.

APP FEATURES

✔ 20+ Images from each released series
✔ Browse, zoom & explore the shots
✔ Landscape and Portrait image view
✔ Slideshow viewer w/ custom effects
✔ Create your own custom slideshow
✔ Slideshow never goes dark
✔ Music player in slideshow
✔ Read the UWP Blog
✔ HD iPhone 4.0 Retina Display
✔ Supports iPad native resolution

Official Site: http://www.theunderwaterproject.com

Visionary Shark Shooting - Trying Something New

Why do we love our Shark Divers?

This is why. Got an email from a diver who'll be out at the island with us in a few weeks with a "plan" to shoot white sharks in a way never tried before.

Yes this is the mock up, and yes, Michael has spent the last month planning, refining, and playing with this set up in his back yard.

Now all we gotta do is deliver two white sharks in perfect harmony, both equidistant from the port and starboard cages and from the looks of things Michael wants each animal to be about 20 feet long.

No problems we can do that, let's go shark diving!

Cool rig Michael.

Underwater Photography - Setting the Bar

For those who know him they know the underwater work he does is transformative.

We know him as freediver Fred Buyle and enjoyed his company at Isla Guadalupe back in 2009 for a stunning week with our white sharks. 

We're pretty sure the work he did with our whites will be featured in his new boook soon to hit store shelves on October 24th called  "Les 100 plus belles photos."

We're also pretty sure that this book will become the bar by which all underwater books featuring big charismatic megafauna will be set.

If you're lucky enough to meet Fred you'll also know him as one of the nicest guys in the industry, truly "wɪziwɪɡ," what you see is what you get.


Congratulations Fred on the new book we'll look forward to taking an adventure with you and your team through the pages in the coming weeks.

Michael Aw - Some Kind of Awesome

Photo by Michael Aw

It's 2011 and the more cynical among us might imagine a world that has been picked over, where true adventures and underwater discoveries are relics of the past.

Not so if you happen to be Michael Aw and we happen to be big fans of his work.

Michael's expose in this months National Geographic tells the tale of regional fishermen in New Guinea who interact with Whale Sharks in surprising ways.

Run, don't walk, to the nearest Barns and Noble if you are not fortunate enough to get Nat Geo delivered to your doorstep and pick up this months magazine.

This is about as good as it gets and kudos to Michael for the great work.

Marc Montocchio - Underwater Photography Greats!

Not being a underwater photographer has allowed me to enjoy those who have taken the craft in new directions.

I am a fan of innovation.

One of these trail blazers is Marc Montocchio, thanks to Da Shark for the blog introduction this week.

"Born in Durban, South Africa, Marc developed an early love for the sea, swimming in the warm, blue waters of the Indian Ocean. He inherited a passion for fishing from his grandfather, Edouard Montocchio, an avid big game fisherman born in 1906 to a French colonial family on the island of Mauritius."

Marcs work is innovative to say the least and almost impossible to get watch this video. Kudos!

David Doubilet and Hal Silverman - Top of their game

You have to click on this image to for fully appreciate it and all we can say is wow, just wow.

We're talking about a recent underwater expose featuring images from U-352 resting in the Atlantic at 110 feet and shot by two of the industries consummate watermen and genuinely nice guys, David Doubilet and Hal Silverman.

When it comes to underwater photography there's a reason why these two lead the pack, their work stands alone and remains some of the seminal underwater images of our time.

Kudos to both.

About U-352:

The U-352’s story starts in May 1941 when the German military built the first of the Type VIIC U-boats with more fuel capacity and torpedoes than its predecessor. Commanded by Capt. Kellmut Rathke, the U-352’s 45 man crew prepared in October 1941 to set sail for the waters of the Atlantic.

After several months of drills, testing, and exercises, the U-352 was deemed action ready and set sail. Almost immediately the crew spotted a convoy and prepared to take action when it was realized they had been spotted. The U-352 barely survived the barrage of depth charges and continued on towards American waters. Less than 5 months later, the U-352 would be sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic.


More images here.

Behold Parasite Hyperia galba!

Alexander Semenov spends a lot of his time with the creepier things in life, such as this Hyperia galba here.

Commonly known as a jellyfish parasite (who knew) these critters are found hitching a ride on and sucking the life's juices from jellies.

You can read all about them here a favorite parasite with the research community (again who knew).

Alexanders website deserves a special look and keep your eye out for a stunning face to face encounter with Nereis virens - the clam worm.

The next time you look at any ocean critter and think that life in the ocean is better than, say, life in a aquarium? Make sure you spend some time with the parasites that infest said critters before you make that distinction, at least in the aquarium they don't suffer the wrath of Sacculina!

Let's hope no one you know does.

White Shark Photography - Just the Best Please

As a commercial shark diving company we have been very fortunate to work with some of the most gracious underwater photographers in the business.

Some of them are not "industry names" but the work they do is nothing short of stunning.

One of these is Juanmi Alemany from Spain and you may have seen his work with white sharks here on this blog and on our website.

Juanmi went from shark photographer to shark conservationists with a public gallery exhibit in Spain of his work attempting to demystify the white shark for the general public by taking them several thousand miles away to a small island off the coast of Mexico for some quality time with Carcharodon carcharias.

For more on his work please visit him here.

Shark Picture of the Year?

There's some pretty good images of sharks out there, but for the money we're fans of images that capture what it's actually like to be in the water with these magnificent critters.

Face to face.

Underwater photographer Daniel Selmeczi came back with this image (click for larger size) after a trip to the Red Sea and we would like to offer it up as Shark Picture of the Year.

It's hard not to like an image that captures "a day in the life" - shot from the plankton's eye view.

See this is full size and spend a minute taking it all in. If this shot was a meal it would be something straight out of California's famed French Laundry.

Kudos to Daniel.

Nice work.

Daniel Botelho - Hunting Blues

Da Shark had some fine praise for underwater photog Daniel Botelho last week via Marty Wolff.

When I read his post I had to agree. I met Daniel a few years back at Isla Guadalupe when he came to shoot our whites.

What struck me about Daniel was his quiet grace. Here is an underwater photog that takes his time, chooses his moment, and get's the shot. He's also a first class guy to hang around with and our crew came to respect and love the guy during the week we spent with him at 'Lupe.

Yesterday another series of Daniels was revealed on Facebook, this time Daniel tackled Blue whales.

Hard to find, even harder to capture on film and yet, Daniel, swimming in a cloud of Krill, manged to capture these magnificent animals.

Well some of them. In a way part of the majesty of these critters is their elusiveness and their wraith like ability to hide their impressive bulk in the mysterious deep blue of the oceans.

Howard Hall - Defining The Underwater Experience

Da Shark over at the BAD Blog found this gem, shot by Howard Hall and company (calls the guy his friend, lucky) these are the underwater moments that define the industry and reset the bar.

Kudos.

Sit back, take a long sip of coffee and enjoy:

Photographer captures amazing images of waves breaking underwater the "Tipple Clan"

The Tipple Clan, who are they?

We all know Luke Tipple, consummate waterman, marine biologist, show host and shark conservationist, but what about his brother?

Today's Telegraph U.K featured the other half of the creative family behind the Tipple brand. Kudos!

Telegraph U.K

Mark Tipple took the stunning shots of swimmers and surfers emerging underwater engulfed in clouds of whitewater while being frequently rocked by the waves himself.

The 29-year-old captures the split second moments off the Australian coast and regularly gets beaten in the head by his 5kg, specially adapted camera for his troubles.

Mr Tipple, from Sydney, Australia, came up with the idea of photographing waves underwater after becoming frustrated with "normal" surf photography, and wanted to capture the moments from a different perspective.

He said: "During a flat spell in Sydney I shot a few small waves with people swimming off to the side.

"The results were pretty graphic and led to people swimming becoming the focus of the series, which was against my initial intention but looked great.

Mark Tipple took the stunning shots of swimmers and surfers emerging underwater engulfed in clouds of whitewater while being frequently rocked by the waves himself.

The 29-year-old captures the split second moments off the Australian coast and regularly gets beaten in the head by his 5kg, specially adapted camera for his troubles.

"Most of the people I photograph are just enjoying themselves at the beach and I ask them if they'd mind being in a picture.

"I tell them what I'm doing and show them a few photos and mostly they're amazed.

"Most of the time I come off worse than the people I'm shooting, generally I'm looking sidewards to track where they are in relation to where the wave is, and tend to pay more attention to them than the wave; which can rock me pretty hard.

"I'm pretty comfortable underwater from years of surfing, and can ride out the waves breaking overhead.

"Most of the credit has to be paid to the camera though, I'd be lying if I didn't say that most of the time I hold the shutter down and point in the general direction of the people.

Complete Story.

Daniel Botelho Captures India

Underwater photographer and shark diver Daniel Botelho recently came back from India with a new set of images to behold.

We have been following Daniel for a while and are fans of his work, especially when it involves big charismatic terrestrials swimming in the ocean.

Last month Daniel unveiled his work in Mexico with sailfish. The sailfish site has been covered by a legion of underwater photographers his work is on par with some of the best out there.

Nice job Daniel on your latest adventures, here's his link.

Daniel Botelho - Capturing Underwater Grace

So they're not sharks, but they are beautiful, and they were recently shot by shark diver Daniel Botelho who joined us at Isla Guadalupe a few years ago.

Daniel Botelho is well known as a first class underwater photographer in Brazil and Europe.

We have come to know him as a first class guy as well.

Enjoy his series on Salifish Run off Isla Mujeres,México.

Nicely done Daniel!

Dive Photo Guide Offers Free Online Tutorials

New York (Jan 27, 2010) – In response to the global demand from photographers, scuba divers, surfers and snorkelers around the world, leading underwater photography website DivePhotoGuide.com has launched a highly anticipated free series of comprehensive underwater photography tutorials.

The underwater photography guides offer easy-to-read tutorials for photographers all levels to learn how to take great underwater photos. The tutorials are written by professional underwater photographer Jason Heller and DivePhotoGuide.com editor Matt Weiss, along with contributions from several world renowned professional and award winning underwater photographers, such as National Geographic photographer David Doubilet, Martin Edge, and Alex Mustard. Each tutorial includes beautiful underwater photos and equipment set-up shots that illustrate each technique.

Underwater photography can be incredibly rewarding, but it does pose unique challenges and requires an understanding of basic principles and techniques. Beginners will find the Getting Started Guide very intuitive, including the top ten basic principles of underwater photography and how to select your first underwater camera system. Other tutorials include macro, wide angle, super-macro, composition, lighting, surf photography and a number of creative techniques. New and advanced techniques and tutorials will be added on a regular basis.

Popular underwater photography website DivePhotoGuide.com has been a valuable resource to a community of over 50,000 underwater photographers around the world since 2005. In addition to the new free techniques guides, the website features underwater photo galleries from the top pros and amateurs in the world, daily underwater photography and ocean related news, in-depth articles, a comprehensive underwater photography equipment guide, travel guide, event calendars and a monthly photo contest with prizes.

NEPTUNE Canada - Deep Water Geek Cool

If you want to know how we spend our time online look no further than NEPTUNE Canada and a series of deep water observatories that the public (that's us) can drop into any time of day or night. We have spent the last few days completely "geeking out" on this project.

The NEPTUNE project also has a sister program VENUS.

"This week, scientists in Canada's British Columbia began collecting data from hundreds of scientific instruments on the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean using the largest and most advanced cabled ocean observatory in the world."

The observatory links are here, good hunting!

Amanda Cotton Gets a Blog-Kudos

It is refreshing to see the up and coming faces of underwater photography. Those shooters who, for the pure joy of the image, end up taking shots that have the potential to change the way we see things.

One of these people is Amanda Cotton whose black and white imagery of large predatory sharks strikes the right note about these animals in ways color photography cannot. As we blogged about her a few months back, "when shooting in black and white you are forced to tell a story to make the shot work, Amanda's work is just plain organic".

We discovered this week she launched a new blog (and the shark crowd goes crazy).

Kudos Amanda, while your images give voice to the sharks now it's time for you to give voice to your images...oh and we'll be here to help as well.

Gunther Deichmann.One Camera.One Expose.

Kudo's to photographer Gunther Deichmann for his unflinching expose into the industrial scale of shark fining in Bali.

The story of how he got these images is not as important as what he did with these images. Media is a powerful conservation tool it is not a private club. Nor do you have to have a special talent to acquire main stream media attention. Gunther attracted the attention of the U.K's Daily Mail with a global reach of 18.0 million unique visitors with his images.

All you need are images and a compelling story:

Renowned freelance photographer, Gunther Deichmann, 58, who photographed the shark fin haul, is adamant the world should confront the growing issue of shark fin trading.

'The volume of fins they were unloading was incredible, compared with the loads that the other tuna fishermen were working on,' said Manila-based Gunther. Working freelance on a commercial project, Gunther caught the every day fishing scene just by chance.

'I was doing a shoot for a Balinese restaurant and we were shooting the fresh produce aspect. It was at the harbour that I noticed this fishing haul so I started shooting'.

'This kind of fishing is totally legal in Indonesia so I was not in danger or in anybody's face'.

'The scale of the trawlers that catch the fish, the number of fishermen on site and the number of loads they unpacked from the ships was simply industrial in scale,' Gunther added.

Celebrating Underwater Images-Tom Spiegle

Going back to our post this week about "Thrill seeking" and changing peoples perception of sharks. No where is this more aptly demonstrated then with underwater photographers who mission it is to "capture the moment".

Today we would like to introduce you to another photographer who's life was changed after joining us at Isla Guadalupe-Tom Speigle:

"In my 18 years of diving, to be face to face with the Great White Sharks of Isla Guadalupe, was an adventure of a lifetime. The White Shark is one of the most misunderstood animals on Earth. To witness first hand how graceful and majestic these animals are will be a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life."

Toms work can be seen at TFSPhotography.com

What's With Piedmont California?

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We have been very pleased at the growth of Underwater Thrills: Swimming With Sharks over the past 8 months. When this blog was first proposed we thought "Eh, another blog, who needs it?"

Turns out about 10,000 of you need it, each and every month. For that we are grateful, thanks sharkies. But there's one fan from Piedmont, California who's spending more time with us than might be considered "healthy". Our Google stats reveal this one person spent on average 706% longer on our blog site than any other person who visited this month.

Now we're pretty sure this person is not sitting by his computer with a big novelty #1 finger that says "Go Shark Diver!". If this is the case we want to meet you.

Just wanted to point out that summer is still here and Piedmont has loads of parks and trails to explore. Get out have some fun, enjoy the wilderness, and come back to us when your site visit average dips down about 650%.

We'll be here when you have had a chance to smell the roses. Go on, you can do it...