Oceans Below has just been commissioned by BSAC Thailand to do a photo shoot for their new advertising campaign. On Tuesday we got started using our own Elisabeth and BSAC Professional HD Underwater Video trainee 'Rudey' to model some typical predive and postdive shots. We were asked to provide a handful of photos depicting scuba dive students and BSAC Instructors learning and teaching.

Postdive shot from the BSAC shoot

Elisabeth has a bit of experience in modeling, but controlling Rudey was a bit more of a challenge! That said, the results were great and Kieron, head of BSAC Thailand was more than happy. We used the opportunity to take a few shots for our website, as well. If you have a look around the site you'll see some of them. The following day we headed out to sea on the Simple Life Divers boat to shoot some underwater stuff. We started strong, but after a short time, the clouds rolled in and we had to call off the shoot. Now all that remains is to get out a few more times with some typical Koh Tao sunny weather and we'll be able to finish the project.

Shiny new equipment!

We'll definitely find the time over the next few weeks though it will be hard as we have many new people coming for the Pro Video Internship. They may be surprised to find that they'll be starring in our latest version of Koh Tao's Next Top Model!

Predive...

I'm just back on Koh Tao after a nice break on the other side of Thailand. My girlfriend, Delphine, and I took a short holiday over to Ao Nang on Thailand's west coast. We decided to get a break before the start of the coming season which kicks off in December, and we also got a chance to visit our underwater videographer friends at Pirate Videos, Hilton and Anja.


Mantis Peacock Shrimp...

We took one of the Aquatica HD Wave underwater video housings with us to get some shots. It was nice to get a change of scenery and dive in a different area. Unfortunately, the visibility wasn't at its best on the one day we went out. But it was still great to see some of the interesting little critters which we don't get to see on Koh Tao. I managed to bag some lovely macro shots of some porcelain crabs, and a mantis shrimp was kind enough to make an appearance before my lens. There was plenty more to be seen on the dives we did. But these were my favourite shots of the day. I do love diving in different places, but it's always nice to get back to Koh Tao and the  Oceans Below office. Now it's time to update the computers and get them running their best, get the office ready, service the housings and prepare for the next batch of HD underwater video internship trainees that are arriving soon!

We got a call a few weeks ago about a job for The Travel Channel.

So we naturally thought it was going to be the usual stock footage sale and some commissioned shots for who knows what?

When the producer came into the office for a meeting, I found out that we would be shooting underwater video for a TV show involving the guys from Miami Ink on the Discovery Channel! http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/miami-ink/miami-ink.html

Image: Us and Miami Ink on the Simple Life boat

They are in the process of filming a new show about tattoos from around the world. So they are travelling from country to country filming local artists along their way. As they were coming to Koh Tao, they thought they should write diving into the episode, as it's what this island is all about. So that's where we came in.

We got them set up in Simple Life Divers with our friend Nicki to instruct them. It was a great day out on the boat.

Image: The Miami Ink guys head out diving

Image: Filming aboard the dive boat in Koh Tao

The guys were all really cool and easy to work with. We also had our mate Rex out with his speed boat to serve as chase boat.

Image: Rex's Chase boat with film crew

The whole thing was a great experience, and it was nice to be doing something a bit different.

Image: Funky Mantis Peacock Shrimp

Results from the prestigious 19th Belgian NELOS underwater photo- & film festival in Antwerp which in 2008 had a huge number of submissions from around the world have recently been announced.

My movie 'From Dawn 'til Dusk' was awarded 8th place! The short compilation movie highlights a day in the underwater world around Koh Tao from early morning until the shark’s come out to play around sunset!

The original music was provided by a fantastic composer named Kevin McLeod. The movie can be seen on our facebook group Oceans Below and is also featured on all the Sea Tran ferries coming to Koh Tao from the neighboring islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and the mainland.

Some time ago we were asked to film some specific underwater video shots for the guys at Studio pro design, in conjunction with a project they were working on for the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand).

They also bought some of our stock footage for the film. It's been a long time since we heard anything from them and had almost forgotten all about it.

Then we got a call today to let us know that they have put the finished piece on You Tube. It will be officially released at a later date to be used for promoting tourism in Thailand. But for now, anyone wanting to check out the You Tube version the link is here. http://www.youtube.com/user/Studioprodesign

If you look closely, near the end of the piece, the snorkeller swimming up to the anemone is our very own Elisabeth. Ha ha. Fame at last.