Shot at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan, the video features the main tank of the marine park – “Kuroshio Sea”, which holds a staggering 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world’s second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters.

The tank contains a large selection of fish, manta rays and three massive whale sharks which can be seen gliding by the viewing area throughout the video. To get a sense of size and perspective, keep an eye out for the scuba diver who appears on the tank floor towards the bottom left of the screen.

In a time filled with man-made disasters which are threatening the lives and environments of our ocean species, it’s good to take a moment and reflect on the beauty and wonder that can be found below the surfaces of the world’s oceans. So with that, please enjoy the following video which is presented under the track “Please Don’t Go” by the band Barcelona.

An hour or so ago, Pictory’s latest showcase, “Portrait of a Place: London” was released and I’m stoked to say that my first submission to the website was chosen as one of the images featured!

*Places feather in cap*

Some of the images submitted by other photographers this time around are truly fantastic. I’ve included a couple of my favourites below, but I encourage you to visit the Pictory website to check out the full compliment of shots and the interesting stories behind them.

I’ve recently submitted a second image to the site – this time for the “Portrait of a Place: New York” showcase. Submissions close on May 26th, so we’ll wait and see what happens after that date!

Captured by CTV Cameraman David Newcomb over eight months ago and edited together with his twin brother Dan, the video titled “Vancouver City” was paired up with a beautiful soundtrack by Serge Chubinsky-Orlov featuring vocals by Linda Ganzini.

You can view the video yourself below. I can highly recommend you selecting the 1080p resolution setting and hitting the full-screen button to get the best viewing experience.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the video for yourself, you can pick up a 1280×720 MP4 for USD$2.99 from the Innerlife Project website.

I just purchased a copy myself and it’s worth every last cent!

Developed by Laura Brunow Miner, an editor, blogger, designer, photography lover and, given the popularity and uniqueness of the Pictory site, a bit of a visionary.

In her own words, the Pictory website was born out of the desire to create a, “showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures.”

Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. I’m editor, designer, and founder Laura Brunow Miner, and I will select a few dozen of the best items from each theme to appear in each showcase.

Why just one photo? I want you to pick your best image — and, it’s really interesting to compare work from different contributors on the same topic. Other sites offer photo essays and bodies of work from one photographer, but I want to help a diverse group of people put together collaborative photo essays.

As well as featuring a number of completed ‘essays’ such as:

• San Francisco – 29 Portraits, 1 City
• Life Before Your Eyes
• Overseas and Overwhelmed – 25 Stories of Culture Shock

there are currently a number of showcases open for submissions including “The One Who Got Away”, “Local Delicacy” and the one that peaked my interest “Portrait of a Place: London”.

Diving into my own personal collection of images, I looked for one that I could throw a solid couple of sentences behind, and one where my words would really shine through in the photo itself. Rather than simply post the image I finally settled on, I thought I’d walk you through the process I took to submit my photo and story – my ‘Pictory’.

STEP ONE: Register

Registering was pretty simple. Select a username and password, and provide a few simple details.

STEP TWO: Submit your image and story

Sounds easy enough. And it is. Upload an image that’s 1,000 pixels wide and less than 10MB in size, give your image a title, and write 2 or more sentences about the topic that is supported by your submitted image. Add a few more details about yourself (that’s where you get to give your website etc a bit of a plug), and you’re all set to go.

STEP THREE: Preview your submission

Like all good submission engines of this nature, you get the opportunity to have a gander at the final product before you commit to hitting the “Submit” button. That way, you can go back and make changes if necessary.

STEP FOUR: Submit your submission

Once you’re happy with your image and story, there’s only one thing left to do. Hit the “Submit” button. In doing so, you’re presented with both a “successful submission” message and an email notifying you of the receipt of your material.

STEP FIVE: Cross your fingers and sit tight

The email you receive suggests that it may be a couple of weeks before you hear if your “Pictory” has been chosen to appear in the relevant showcase. My fingers are crossed in the hope that my submitted image gets a run in the upcoming “London” showcase. In the meantime, I’m going to soak in with interest, all that my fellow photographers have to offer on this great site that I’m really glad to have found!

Laura, who clearly has a real gift when it comes to clean, attractive online design and layout, has created a beautiful creative environment for any photographer out there looking for something different from the likes of Flickr and the hoards of online photographic communities available nowadays.

If you’re interested in getting involved on ‘Pictory’, here’s the list of upcoming submission deadlines:

• Local Delicacy (JAN. 27TH, 2010)
• The One Who Got Away (FEB. 10TH, 2010)
• Portrait of a Place: London (FEB. 24TH, 2010)
• Learning from Our Elders (MARCH 10TH, 2010)
• Spring Break Stories (MARCH 10TH, 2010)

To give you a decent example of what I’m talking about, check out the awesome ‘100 Days in Glacier National Park‘ website which documents 100 days of wildlife and nature photography in the beautiful Glacier National Park in Montana, USA.

While I know this distinctly North American tradition barely raises an eyebrow Down Under, but here in Canada it’s definitely a big deal and something that everyone gets involved with in their own special ways.

To get everyone in the mood, I thought it apt to introduce everyone to a uniquely talented photographer by the name of Joshua Hoffine. While most photographers have a specialty genre which usually falls into the portrait, landscape, wildlife, beauty or fashion categories, Joshua’s images are unmistakeably straight from the deepest, darkest depths of “Horror”. I’m talking images that take you back and remind you of all the things that scared the hell out of you as a small kid – the monster in the basement, big hairy spiders, the freaky creature in the closet, the murderous clown… Joshua has them all covered.

So if you need that little kick start to get the chills traveling down your spine before the parties kick off tonight, check out some of Joshua Hoffine’s unique images above, and check out the “Portfolio” and Blog sections on his website at: www.joshuahoffine.com.

Oh yeah… and good luck sleeping tonight… muah ha ha ha ha ha!

In the first of what will become a series of posts for me, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the inspirational talent of globe-trotting British photographer, David Hobcote.

In mid-November 2008, I was invited to join an online community of gifted photographers called “Digitally Devoted”. Upon joining, I was instantly drawn to David’s images which display all the qualities of photos I strive to shoot myself – intelligent and creative composition, clever use of light to maximise color depth and above all the capture of the “wow factor”.

Check out a few of these images and you’ll see what I mean.

A Short Biography

After spending many years directing commercial photography all over the world, David Hobcote now shoots from his purpose built studios on his farm in Yorkshire. He has combined his photography with his love of travel and subsequently travels extensively photographing landscapes, buildings, people and wildlife all over the globe.

The results are sold to newspapers, magazines and books. Last year, David had sales in over 20 countries across publications ranging from “Hello Magazine” to the center spread of the UK’s “Guardian Newspaper”.

In addition to this, David’s collections of limited edition prints have become much sought after amongst his admirers.

The Burj Dubai

There’s every chance that you may have already been exposed to some of David’s work. Last year, an email did the rounds internationally that contained some breathtaking images of the construction of the “Burj Dubai” – the world’s tallest building.

Sure enough, this great image (left) was one that David shot from a bell helicopter while on a trip to Dubai with his son. Talk about impressive!

Moni Malawi

These days, David Hobcote has turned his considerable talents to assisting a more than worthy cause – a Scottish charity organisation known as “Moni Malawai“. “Moni” means “hello” in Chichewa, the principle language of Malawi. Therefore the name of the charity translates to “Hello Malawi”.

The admirable goal of the Moni Malawi charity is both to raise awareness of the poverty induced hardships that the warm and friendly people of Malawi face, and also to directly assist the Malawi people by raising funds to advance educational opportunities, improve health conditions and attempt to reduce the levels of poverty in the country.

In November 2008, David randomly met Scott McMillan (Charity Director) on the shores of Lake Malawi. After spending some time with Scott and learning more about the poverty situation in Malawi first-hand, David generously offered to donate all sales of his “Malawi Collection” of signed and limited edition prints to the charity to help raise funds for projects in Kaponda, a district in central Malawi comprising of 36 villages. The first project Moni Malawi have become involved with in Kaponda, is the construction of a school.

The first major charity event at which David’s “Malawi Collection” prints were made available for purchase was at The Moni Malawi 2009 Dinner and Dance this weekend just gone. Communicating with David during this week, he suggested to me that the evening was a tremendous success. He sold five prints on the night with the promise that more would be snapped up from Internet sales following.

If you are interested in purchasing any of David’s stunning prints, including my favourite “Heading Home”, visit the Moni Malawi website for pricing details and information on how to order.

In the meantime, here’s a few more inspirational shots from David’s collection. If you like what you see and you’d love to see more (as I am ALWAYS keen to do), I highly recommend checking out his profile album on “Digitally Devoted”.

That long-winded introduction brings me to the whole point of this Blog entry which is to introduce you to one such inspirational photographer and someone who’s images I spend hours looking at on a regular basis. His name is Scott Stulberg – an American digital photography specialist who has traveled extensively throughout South East Asia and Africa taking a swag of truly stunning images which can be viewed on his showcase flash website at: www.asa100.com.

Check it out for yourself and make sure you look over his numerous galleries – especially the “Africa 2007″ and “The Natural World” collections.

That website again: www.asa100.com.

Now there’s no doubt that it’s a spectacular image by anyone’s standards. A single frame encapsulating fireworks, impressive bolts of lightning from a menacing storm and, of course a special guest appearance by Comet McNaught (look closely in the sky around the middle of the shot).

I have no proof in what I am about to say, but I think even the most untrained photographic eye can pick it as a really nicely Photoshopped fake.

What gives it away?

Well I could probably go on forever with a bunch of technical babble but here’s a couple of things to chew on:

1. The clear presence of Comet McNaught in the shot. Even with a more powerful telephoto lens it would be almost impossible to capture the comet with that sort of clarity with the same sort of exposure settings that have allowed for the fireworks and lightning strikes to feature.
2. The biggest giveaway is the distinct lack of water based reflection of the left and brightest lightning bolt. How can the fireworks give off such an intense reflection (proximity aside) when virtually nothing shines for the lightning strike that has equally glaring highlights in the shot. Even the lesser of the two lightning bolts to the right gives off a more powerful reflection.

Don’t get me wrong, be it a unbelievable multi frame composition or a neat Photoshop job, the image is an absolute cracker and does a nice job in showcasing Perth as the beautiful Aussie gem that it is!

I recall as a youngster sitting at the base of a large pine bookcase we had positioned in our “rumpus room” at home that housed Dad’s collection of National Geographic magazines. Oblivious to the fact that I would later develop a deep passion for the art, I remember fondly sitting and flicking through the collection marveling at the beautiful and colourful images communicating what life was like in far off countries and for people from other cultures.

As time has passed, my healthy interest in the Nat Geo mags has well and truly evolved into an insatiable hunger to travel to and photograph these far off lands, their people and the abundance of wildlife within, for myself.

As I touched on a couple of weeks ago, I consider myself VERY fortunate to have taken part earlier today in a Travel Photography Seminar presented by “National Geographic Traveler” magazine. My friend Melissa and I made the early morning trip out to Vancouver’s Science Center where, with roughly 80 other enthusiastic people seated in the theater, we were introduced to legendary National Geographic photographer “Jim Richardson”, and current “Traveler” senior photo editor, “Dan Westergren”.

Jim, who’s images are truly inspiring, has been specialising in “Celtic Realm” culture with assignments over the past decade throughout Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Brittany. His work thus far has been beautifully collated into a narrated flash presentation that can be viewed in the multimedia section of NationalGeographic.com if you are interested.

Over roughly 6 hours these two incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining speakers captivated all of us with their stories of photographic adventures and experiences around the globe. As can be expected, both Jim and Dan’s presentations were supported by some truly amazing images from both their own archives as well as the lenses of a number of other notable National Geographic assignment photographers like Amy Toensing (see image below).

I found it really interesting that from the get-go Jim had pretty much the entire room full of budding photographers sorted into three categories:

1. Hobby Photographers – those who take pics for the sheer love and joy for the art form.
2. Amateur Photographers – those of us (like me) who aren’t necessarily wanting to make photography our full-time profession, but are interested in continually furthering our skills and potentially making some money out of our results.
3. Budding Professionals – those who dream about one day being sent on regular assignments for National Geographic

With that in mind, it was pretty obvious that a day full of technical babble (f-stops, white balancing and shutter speeds) simply wasn’t going to work across such a diversely skilled audience. It wasn’t surprising then, that the entire day focused more on practical aspects of travel photography and how to ensure you are in the right place at the right time to “make” a great shot, not just “take” one.

Interspersed with an array of entertaining anecdotes, Jim and Dan covered the following topics:

• The photos National Geographic love and why (Jim and Dan)
• Rules of the Photo Road 101: Photo Basics for All (Jim)
• What’s in the bag? Travel photography gear (Jim)
• Opportunities of the Digital Revolution (Dan)
• Great travel destinations (Jim)
• Photo research: How and why? (Jim)
• Anatomy of a travel photo story (Dan)
• Making yourself welcome with your camera (Jim)
• How to pitch your stories (Dan)

In summary, I can tell you that my whole outlook on what makes a good photo and how to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time to capture that image have changed dramatically after today. I’m the first to admit that most of my better shots can be put down to pure luck. I’ve never been a huge fan of including people in any of my shots unless they are specifically portrait shoots, and I’ve never really put all that much thought into composition of shots BEFORE arriving at locations.

After today’s seminar I know now that things are going to change stylistically for me in 2007 and beyond. Hopefully you’ll see more shots of people reflecting their cultural values (particularly if I do get down to South America this Summer as planned), and I’m going to do my best to research like crazy before doing specific shoots to help ensure that I “make” better shots from now on. Oh, and I can’t tell you how reassuring it was to hear from Jim that he constantly finds himself camped in the one spot for 2 hours or more snapping off 2,000 frames in the quest to get that one perfect shot – you gotta love the digital age!

Finally, to those individuals (you know who you are) who have remarked on various occasions that I should be knocking on National Geographic’s door with some of my photos, this last little account from today is for you. Dan, in his coverage of the topic “How to pitch your stories”, reassured us that unless we have had a serious collection of published photo stories for local or other respected publications already under our belts, 99% of approaches made to the magazine would pretty much be ignored. Even Jim said he was shooting for local publications in Kansas for something like 15 years before he even got a shot at Nat Geo. So please… no more silly talk of that nature!

I feel like I can’t sign off on this post without sharing at least a couple of priceless tips I picked up on today. So here they are. Take note and happy snapping!

• The best shots taken are those when you find a great scene and then find interesting elements to add. And remember – if an element (person, vehicle etc) isn’t “contributing” to a shot then it is “distracting”.
• Don’t get discouraged when the weather turns bad. Bad weather usually equals more even light – the best conditions for settings such as waterfalls and streams.

PS. Another big shout out to Mum and Dad for taking care of the registration fee for me as a belated Xmas present! Love you guys! X