South-East Asia

BALI: THE ART OF UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY II

Extraordinary image making with Shannon Conway and Graham Abbott

Shrimp portrait (Shannon Conway)

With the help of an experienced and acclaimed photographer at your shoulder, who can teach the secrets of producing stunning images, you will soon find that the ‘Art of Underwater Photography’ suddenly gets much easier. Shannon believes that there is no substitute for having your own workshop right on your doorstep so that you have the time to practice what you have learned and the opportunity to go back again and again to work towards achieving that perfect image. He will help you evaluate the range of underwater photography and computer equipment and programmes available and explain the many techniques, methods and styles of contemporary underwater photography. Shannon will be available to critique your work and suggest ideas for improving your images. He will present optional talks and workshops relating to the Art of Underwater Photography, sharing his approach and experiences with you.

Shannon Conway is a professional underwater photographer creating images for the advertising, editorial and fine art market. He has an energetic passion for his photography and the patience to capture the peak of the action. You’ll quickly understand how Shannon obtains such remarkable images time and again – he puts a great deal of effort, energy and research into every shot and he does not give up! Shannon is a popular leader and his enthusiasm is infectious.

Originating from Poole, on the Dorset coast of England, Shannon has always been fascinated by the ocean, spending most of his childhood summer holidays in Bournemouth with his grandparents, searching rock pools for marine creatures. Shannon and his wife Amanda moved to Fremantle, Western Australia, in 2006 in the search for crystal blue waters and sunny skies. After changing from a previous working life in IT, Shannon now focuses on his new career, sharing his passion by teaching underwater photography.

Shannon is a very successful underwater photographer, and has won a variety of awards from the Western Australian Underwater Photographic Society and the British Society of Underwater Photographers. He has also been awarded the top slot on many Photoquests and was the winner in the underwater category of the prestigious Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea Nature and Landscape Photographer of the Year award in 2007 and 2008.

An Art of Underwater Photography trip is not about how much you know, how much equipment you use or even how much experience you have. The trip is about making wonderful images, about achieving your potential and, ultimately, having a huge amount of fun. Being amongst a group of like-minded friends who are also keen and eager to improve their photography is a huge advantage over taking a trip with the general diving public.

Joining Shannon for part of the time will be Graham Abbott, dive guide extraordinaire. Divequest has worked with Graham before and we are very pleased to be able to offer our clients his first class services once more. You could not ask for two more passionate leaders! Graham has run many charters for National Geographic, Conservation International and the BBC Natural History Unit in these waters. Graham has guided photographers from National Geographic, including David Doubilet, works with IMAX film crew Howard & Michelle Hall, and takes BBC film maker Peter Scoones on shoots for the BBC. He will be able to ensure that photographers and marine life enthusiasts alike will get the best from the dive sites for marine life photography.

You will not be diving in large groups, following a timetable of events or attending formal talks or lectures. You dive when you want and with whom you choose. You don’t have to follow the dive guide unless you choose to but they are available to spot for you should you wish. Do things at your own pace. While as much photo dive time as possible will be provided, it will be up to you to decide how best to spend your time. Regimentation is avoided at all costs.

Why travel with Shannon when you could go it alone? Shannon knows so much about underwater photography, having his know how and ability on hand will be of great value. Shannon will dive and take pictures with you, side by side: dive together, shoot together. Shannon will point out both macro and wide-angle opportunities, but most of all he will teach you to think outside of the box and to open your eyes to envision an image that is a little bit different – one that people will stop to look at. You’ll not only learn how to take the image, but how to find it and how to make it.

For full details of the welcoming Scuba Seraya Resort, where the trip will be based, please see our general Bali holiday information.

This will be Shannon’s fourth visit to Scuba Seraya. He found the photographic opportunities so immense, the comfort of the resort so conducive to some serious relaxation and the attitude of the staff so welcoming and helpful, that he is keen to return. The relative ease with which Denpasar in Bali can be reached by air and the relatively short road transfer time between the resort and the airport make this is a perfect choice for both underwater photographers.

The Liberty Wreck, a 120 metre-long Liberty class ship, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Lombok strait in January 1942. She made it back to shore, but not to port, with the captain running the vessel aground on the beach at Tulamben. However, in 1963, Mount Gunung Agung  erupted and lava flows from the volcano pushed the wreck to its current resting place, around 30 metres off-shore.

The wreck has retained much of its superstructure, but is now completely clothed in corals and inhabited by an extraordinary concentration of marine life. The holes and structures of the ship create interesting shapes and patterns. With the depth of the wreck being between 3 and 28 metres, much of it is quite brightly illuminated and very suitable for underwater photography. Marine life is stunning and you can expect to see some lovely soft corals along with featherstars and crinoids, as well as some interesting hydroids, fastened to the boat. Colourful invertebrates can often be overlooked as potential ‘stars’ for underwater photographs, but you will have ample time to study these for yourself. There are a number of anemones complete with their anemone fish inhabitants throughout the wreck.

The reef fish population is also very good with surgeonfish, angelfish and the colourful Coral Trout (or Coral Groupers) being common residents. If you are very luck you may even be visited by the mysterious Mola mola or Ocean Sunfish – now that really is a photograph with a difference! Scrawled Filefish and Great Barracudas make good subjects for fish portraits. Spotted Garden Eels and goatfish are to be found in the sandy areas shorewards of the wreck. The resident barracuda, George, will be on the prowl. He is very photogenic and a particularly good poser as he lingers in front of your port, showing off his sharp white teeth.

Night dives on the wreck are truly magnificent and you will find ‘flowering’ cup corals and the shiny eyes of shrimps everywhere. There are at least a couple of species of lionfish that lurk in the shadows. Look out for the not-often-seen free-swimming crinoids that use the cover of darkness to find a new location for their next holdfast.

The Liberty Wreck can be done as a shore dives, but if staying at Scuba Seraya it is much easier to make boat dives, as we will. Shannon will carefully choose his moments for diving the wreck. He knows how the light will fall through the wreck at different times of day, creating patterns and shapes from the boat’s infrastructure and the amazing marine life that inhabits the wreck. The ‘pillar room’ is a great location to shoot from if you think you might enjoy experimenting with the light falling through the diagonal struts of the ship’s structure.

Of course there will also be opportunity to shoot other dive sites as well, including the famous house reef at Scuba Seraya, known as Seraya Secrets. It is a photographer’s delight to have such a dive on your doorstep. At first glimpse you may not find the beach at Seraya the most beautiful, but for photographers the dark sand offers a foil for the incredibly colourful marine life that lives here. Search the patches of hard coral and small sponges for invertebrates. Frogfish and seahorses can be located hiding amongst the sponges at slightly deeper depths, but even in the shallows there are boxer crabs with their anemone ‘fists’ and some resident harlequin shrimps. They can make fascinating, but perhaps gruesome, subjects for photographs if you can locate them eating their way through a starfish! Late afternoon is the perfect time to shoot the local batfish with the dappled light behind them.

The trip will include a day visit to Bali’s north coast to Pura Jati, or ‘PJ’s’ as it is more affectionately named by local divers and visiting underwater photographers in the know. Along with Seraya Secrets, this is one of Bali’s top muck diving sites. Subjects that you may find among the dark volcanic sand and seaweed include Pipe Seahorse, ‘Indian Walkman Devilfish’, numerous scorpionfish, and some fabulous frogfish. It is particularly noted for its octopus as here you could find the beguiling Mimic Octopus, the striking Blue-ringed Octopus or perhaps a Coconut Octopus.

Furthermore, we’ll be exploring the Amed region, a little further afield from Tulamben. The topography is varied here with vertical drop-offs and walls covered in soft and hard corals, as well as the wreck of a small Japanese tug boat. Graham will show you his favourite spots and act as your guide, finding and pointing out various beautiful and intriguing critters that make great photographic subjects. Amed lends itself well to both macro and wide angle shooting. Ambon Scorpionfish make their home on the rich walls of Amed and sometimes reef sharks cruise over the coral bommies, huge gorgonians and stag-horns, amongst which a variety of nudibranchs await you, including Chromodoris and Phyllidia species. Above you the lionfish spread their ‘wings’ under the watchful eye (and teeth!) of barracuda. Look amongst the corals and turn your attention to the crabs and shrimps on the rim of the barrel sponges, while on the ocean floor you may see a Blue-spotted Stingray.

There will also be the chance to visit both Jemeluk Bay and Lipah Bay, slightly east of Tulamben, which are two sites well known to Graham for their wide-angle photographic opportunities. The shallow black sandy Lipah Bay buzzes with fish swarming around a stunning hard coral reefscape dotted with huge seafans, sponges and tunicates. The reefscapes and walls of Jemeluk Bay offers the wide-angle photographer dramatic giant sponge structures, between which fully grown anemones waft their tendrils. Lionfish wheel over the reef, occasionally joined by Black-tip Reef Sharks patrolling the walls.

With his inside knowledge of the diving and conditions in this area, Shannon and Graham can guide you towards achieving fabulous results. Shannon and Graham know how make the very best of a dive site to achieve the shot that you want. Shannon is used to teaching beginners and experienced photographers alike, whether you have a compact digital camera or expensive DSLR kit.

Outline Itinerary

Saturday 14th May: Singapore Airlines midday flight from London Heathrow bound for Denpasar via Singapore.
Sunday 15th May: Afternoon arrival in Denpasar. Transfer to Scuba Seraya for 10 nights stay.
Monday 16th May – Tuesday 24th May: Nine days of diving in the Tulamben region, and the Amed region, plus a day trip to each of  Pura Jati, Lipah Bay and Jemeluk Bay.
Wednesday 25th May: Morning at leisure to dry and pack your gear before an early lunch. In the afternoon you will be transferred back to Denpasar airport for an early evening flight to London via Singapore.
Thursday 26th May: Early morning arrival at London Heathrow

£1189 Denpasar/Denpasar (provisional price, to be confirmed)

Includes:
• Airport transfers.
• 10 nights on a room and breakfast, twin/share basis in a Maisonette Room at Scuba Seraya.
• 9 days of diving Tulamben, Amed, Pura Jati, Jemeluk Bay and Lipah Bay (including unlimited, unguided shore diving on the house reef ‘Seraya Secrets’).
• Services of Shannon Conway and Graham Abbott as leaders.

Nitrox Supplement: US$3.50 per fill, payable locally.

Upgrade to Ocean View Villa: £272 (provisional price, to be confirmed).

Single Occupancy Supplement: £252 in a Maisonette Room or £524 in an Ocean View Villa (provisional prices, to be confirmed). Please note that, while we will endeavour to find a room-mate for those on the tour who are single travellers and would prefer to share accommodation, in the event of a room-mate not being available the single occupancy supplement will apply. Room-mates will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

Deposit: Initial deposit of £200, followed by a further deposit of £200 at 12 months before departure, for Denpasar/Denpasar arrangements.

Note: Should two people travelling together apply for the last place on the tour, we may, at our discretion, increase the group size by one.

For more details of the diving and the accommodation, please see our general Bali holiday description.

Flights: From about £626 to Denpasar.

HOLIDAY COMBINATIONS, STOP-OVERS AND ADDITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS: Why not combine a stay at Scuba Seraya with a the very different diving at Menjangan Island by staying some nights at Mimpi Resort? If you are able to take a really long holiday, a visit to Komodo or Wakatobi are possibilities. Stop-over packages in Singapore are easily arranged, so why not take a few days and nights to explore this metropolitan delight? Depending on flight routing, stop-overs in Kuala Lumpur are also an option. Talk to us about the possibilities.

Abstract gill detail (Shannon Conway)