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Capturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop 2024: Event Roundup
The 11th annual Capturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop has just wrapped at Lembeh Resort in North Sulawesi, Indonesia! What an incredible workshop it was – following the usual format of not just one host Photo Pro but four! Lembeh Resort’s three visiting Photo Pros, Saeed Rashid, Alex Tattersall & Nicolas Remy (plus Lembeh Resort’s in house pro) did an incredible job of keeping participants inspired and striving for their best shots throughout the week.
As usual the Capturing Critters workshop was packed with daily presentations, one-on-one sessions with the pros, incredible dives and critters in the Lembeh Strait.
Photo: Michael Wanke
Lembeh Resort’s inhouse team, including our marine biologist and dive guides also spent time with participants, sharing their wealth of knowledge about the unique marine life and critter behaviour to be found in the Lembeh Strait. Dive Center Manager, Brigitte Gassner, delivered slick organization and coordination of a busy schedule, while the resort team ensured that guests were well looked after and enjoyed phenomenal dining in between dives and presentations.
Critter sightings this year were above and beyond with some of Lembeh’s most iconic critters putting on phenomenal behavioral displays for participants. Some of the most notable stars of the week included blue ring octopus, sargassum frogfish, pygmy seahorses, tiger shrimp, rhinopias, hairy frogfish, hairy octopus, mimic octopus, wunderpus, beautiful soft coral cowries and a host of different nudibranch species.
Photo: Jeffrey Sankoff
During presentations, participants learned from the pros about a number of topics from basic image composition, focus and lighting through to techniques to reduce backscatter and post dive editing in Lightroom.
Capturing Critters in Lembeh 2025
The Capturing Critters Workshop goes from strength to strength each year and the images produced in each annual workshop continue to portray why the Lembeh Strait is a world famous destination for muck divers and underwater photographers. In 2025 Lembeh Resort will be hosting three more world-class Photo Pros: Ron Watkins (USA), Paul Duxfield (UK), and Renee Capozzola (USA). The week-long workshop will once again be packed with incredible diving, Pro presentations, and one-on-one instruction and feedback.
Photo: Patrick Sheehan
The Capturing Critters 2025 workshop will be Lembeh Resort’s 12th annual workshop and takes place from January 11th – 17th 2025. Take a look at what’s in store and contact Lembeh Resort for more information or to make a reservation: reservations@LembehResort.com
A word from the Pros….
QUOTE FROM SAEED RASHID:
The workshop went really well. This is my second time hosting the capturing quitters event – I was here in 2020. I was amazed by how slickly this this really busy workshop is put together and yet again this year. We look at the schedule and it seems really busy but then everything just slots into place. As pros, we host two presentations a day, make three dives and everyone at the end of it has improved their pictures no end.
Lembeh Resort is the most perfect resort to host this type of event. It has enough room not only to accommodate all the all the guests but there is also a vast camera room and fantastic AV facilities for the pro presentations. Lembeh Resort is the ideal place to host the Capturing Critters Workshop.
I really think the participants got a lot out of this. Not only did they have constant access to the three imported pros, that’s myself, Nicholas and Alex, but they also had the in house photo pro here with a fantastic Backscatter Authorised Photo Centre where they had the ability to hire kit ,to try out kit and just get really hands on with not only the diving, but all of the equipment combined with all of our expert knowledge.
Read more about Saeed and view his portfolio here: https://www.focusvisuals.com/
Photo: Saeed Rashid
QUOTE FROM NICOLAS REMY:
During the workshop we had quite a big group with different skill sets. Some participants were beginners and there were some very experienced photographers, but I think everyone got something out of it. Feedback from participants was that having three different photographers, Saeed, Alex and myself, teaching and sharing the way we do things really helped them and it was interesting observing the different ways of working underwater. I have seen the participant photographers steadily improve during the week, meaning that their photos got better and better. I’ve seen a number of their photos that I wish I would have taken myself!
Lembeh Resort is always a great place for hosting this sort of workshop because we have dive guides who have an exposure to photography – most of them are photographers themselves, so they know how to help us find subjects that are well positioned. There’s also a Backscatter Authorised Photo Centre with equipment to rent and I’ve seen quite a few participants taking advantage of this and renting snoots and accessories. The Photo Center does a great job in supporting everyone’s creativity and ability to try new techniques.
Read more about Nicolas and view his portfolio here: https://www.nicolaslenaremy.com/
Photo: Nicolas Remy
QUOTE FROM ALEX TATTERSALL:
The workshop has been brilliant. We’ve had so much fun, so many amazing images and it couldn’t have gone better. Lembeh Resort is ideal for this kind of workshop – it’s a very warm place to be. The schedule was very well put together and we had enough time in the water and enough time in between dives to spend time with the participants. We’ve had amazing experiences with the dive guides who found all the critters you could ever ask for.
One of the other things that I think is very special about this workshop is the fact that there were three of us (pros) teaching me all sides of underwater photography and the complementary angles and approaches that all of us have to underwater photography and each of the participants were able to benefit from different things. We had various different levels from very beginners up to very accomplished photographers. And every I would say that every single one of them took away an awful lot of learning and experience.
It was great to see how participants also benefit from looking at how other people photograph particular subjects and how that inspires them to go down and try that kind of technique. I would say that these are just some of the key things which make this a very special experience for everyone involved, including us.
Read more about Alex and view his portfolio here: https://www.uwvisions.com/
Photo: Alex Tattersall
Fire on Monroe Bravo is the latest book in the Jack Collier series by Fred Lockwood. Our story begins with our lead characters, Jack and Sandro, owners of Marine Salvage & Investigation Company, arriving on the Monroe Bravo Oil & Gas Platform in the North Sea. Having secured a contract for their vessel the MV Stavanger to act as support ship to the platform for TransGlobal Oil, our protagonists are on a celebratory visit.
However almost as soon as they arrive a series of explosions rock the platform, causing huge damage, loss of life and the very real danger of a massive human, ecological and financial disaster.
As the danger mounts for both our heroes and the surviving workers, Jack and Sandro will have to escape the inferno, all while trying to save the platform and the men still trapped unable to help themselves.
The disaster sets the scene for the unfolding story lines following the fate of the platform and our main characters, the police investigation into a suspected terrorist act and the actions of TransGlobal Oil as they attempt to navigate the pubic outcry and financial repercussions.
In his eighth book, Fire on Monroe Bravo, Fred Lockwood delivers an explosive thriller, with plenty of above and in-water drama, and our heroes fighting for survival, what more can you ask for?
We thoroughly recommend this read and look forward to the next in the series. For more information about his book series, you can check out the reviews of his previous books here on Scubaverse.
- Title: Fire On Monroe Bravo
- Author: Fred Lockwood
- ISBN: 979-8325324536
Available in a paperback version and for Kindle from Amazon and book stores.
In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea. While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!
The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October. Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze. After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center. Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.
Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe. The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal. They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!
In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience. Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site. The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.
Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos. This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see. We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life. As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here. We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total. The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home. We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.
Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality. This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.
The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better! These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous. The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands. The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went. Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.
The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography. The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue. Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins.
Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!
Thanks to:
Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/
Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/
Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/
Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/
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