Alex Mustard is a hugely talented and prizewinning, underwater photographer. What makes him special though is the fact that he has invented the Magic Filter, which enables any one to take stunning underwater photographs using only available light instead of a battery of strobes . All you need is a digital camera with a white balance, a magic Filter, and water. The results are truly astonishing. In this ‘How to’ DVD, beautifully shot on location by Peter Rowlands in the Red Sea, Alex personally guides you through the techniques of filter photography demonstrating both the technical and artistic considerations that go to producing amazing available light photographs. I have to say that I usually drop off when viewing these sorts of instructional DVD’s because they tend to drone on about the complexities and make it all seem far too complicated. Alex isn’t like that. He has a genuine passion for his craft and is able to communicate it clearly and concisely. Tips on composition, reading the light, and using the white balance are combined with a one to one review of the shots he has taken and a discussion of why some have worked better than others. This chaptered DVD is packed with extra features, such as fitting filters, FAQ’s, example compact camera videos and Alex discussing some of his favorite filter images The format is ideal as a refresher before a trip, or, why not take it with you as a handy reference. Running Time 90 mins. This DVD is temporarily unavailable

Blue Water

Green Water

Compact Camera

www.magic-filters.com
Here is a short bio of Alex. Dr Alexander Mustard trained and worked as a marine biologist, but since 2004 has worked full time as a professional underwater photographer and author. His photographs have won many awards including in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year. His most recent book Reefs Revealed (2007) won the International Grand Prize for the best book of underwater photographs at the World Festival of Underwater Photography in Antibes, France.

Alex Mustard

Alex is the PhotoPro Columnist for BSAC’s DIVE Magazine (UK), a Senior Contributor to Underwater Photography Magazine (UK), a Contributing Editor to Wetpixel Quarterly (USA), and an honorary editor of Ocean Geographic Magazine (Australia). He has written more than 300 published articles about marine life, diving and underwater photography. He is a committee member of the British Society of Underwater Photographers, Associate Editor for Wetpixel.com and a member of the Ocean Artists Society. He has personally presented his work to Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Alex Mustard and Queen Elizabeth.

The Silent Menace DVD

This video revisits some historic submarines like the A7, the M2, under the sea, and the Holland, the U995 and the William Bauer on land.

Whilst putting these submarines in their historical context, it also shows the first operational German submarine U1, and describes Otto Weddinghams famous attack in U9 which by its success virtually invented modern submarine warfare. The film also records a moving visit to the Submariners Memorial at La Boe.

Running Time 37 mins.

This DVD is temporarily unavailable

Four million tons of rock and thirty years in the making, Plymouth free standing Breakwater, the first of its kind, was one of the greatest engineering feats of the age, and was vital in maintaining Britain’s sea power at a time when Napoleon’s army rampaged all over Europe.

Without its shelter the great anchorage of Plymouth Sound could never have supported the Royal Navy in its blockade against the French ports, without which the final victory at sea would have been impossible.

Throughout the two World Wars, Plymouth forged a long and successful partnership with the Royal Navy which still exists today and is the bedrock of the prosperity that the city now enjoys. None of this could have happened without the Plymouth Breakwater.

The struggle to build it in the teeth of fierce storms and the ever present threat of a French invasion, the ships that were wrecked because of it, and the underwater life that now depends upon it. All these tales and more are interwoven in this fascinating video to tell what came to be known as “The Great National Undertaking”. Running Time 45 mins.

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This video was made by Peter Rowlands, who is the only civilian diver that has been allowed to film on this tragic war grave.

On the night of Friday 13th Oct 1939 the German U boat Commander Gunter Prien penetrated the British Navy’s main anchorage at Scapa Flow and sank H.M.S. Royal Oak. 833 men lost their lives in one of the worst tragedies in British Naval History.

The wreck of the Royal Oak is a designated war grave and all diving is prohibited. But a special permission was granted by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy for the wreck to be filmed as a moving tribute to all those who lost their lives.

The video includes underwater images of the wreck which have never been seen before and there are interviews with survivors, and Orcadian Sandy Robertson, who was the first diver to go on the wreck the day after she sank.

Also included is coverage of another unique event when the ashes of Dorothy Golding ,wife of Bandsman Arthur Golding, who went down with the ship, were taken by her grandson and placed in the wreck to at last reunite the couple.

The finale is the unfurling of a battle ensign by a Royal navy diver on the upturned hull on the anniversary of her sinking.

You can buy this DVD online at the official HMS Royal Oak website

This is an extract from The Silent Menace DVD

A companion video to the two Wrecker’s Guide books, Devon Shipwrecks offers a wealth of specially shot footage. You can venture underwater and see wrecks like the Nepaul, wrecked on the Shagstone in 1890 which lies only yards from the Glen Strath Allen, deliberately sunk to make an underwater classroom.

Near Salcombe you can swim through the ghostly tunnels of the four masted clippership the Herzogin Cecillie, then delve deep into the holds of the James Egan Layne, a Liberty ship torpedoed in Whitsands Bay. Running Time 36 mins
 

Front Cover

On March 27th 1943 HMS Dasher, a hastily converted aircraft carrier, mysteriously exploded and sank within eight minutes in the Clyde. Of the 528 men on board, only 149 survived. 379 lives were lost. Of the 379 who perished, only 23 were given an official burial. However many more bodies – either brought ashore or washed up on local beaches and possibly burned beyond recognition, lie in unmarked plots. To this day, no acknowledgement has been made of the number or the whereabouts of these unmarked graves. The lasting and callous secrecy has left hundreds of families not knowing what happened to their sons, brothers, relatives or loved ones and most went to their graves still not knowing.

An official Board of Enquiry was hastily convened and within just two days they concluded that the Dasher had sunk due to an internal petrol explosion. However, several key witnesses were not called to give evidence. The official cause of her sinking is still doubtful. It could have been a mine or even possibly sabotage but it could also have been one of the first cases of friendly fire. The findings of the Board of Enquiry were never released until 1972 and even now information is being witheld. This is just part of a veil of secrecy which has surrounded HMS Dasher ever since. Rescuers, survivors and witnesses – everyone with any knowledge of what befell the Dasher in these waters – all were sworn to secrecy.

An important new piece of information may explain the Governments reticence to release all of their records. There is a strong possibility that one of the bodies from the Dasher was used in Operation Mincemeat to dupe the Germans about a possible invasion of Greece at a crucial time of the war in 1943. The loss of HMS Dasher and 379 young lives is still not fully understood by those affected. Mystery still surrounds the sinking, the burial graves and the true identity of the Operation Mincemeat body. Perhaps when all the facts have been revealed, they can be finally laid to rest.

Running time 54 minutes Narrated by Sean Barrett Produced by PR Productions Directed by Peter Rowlands ‘

This DVD is temporarily unavailable

Cover photo supplied by Dave Peake

The scenery along the West Country coast can be stunning, but its real beauty lies concealed beneath the waters of its shallow sparkling bays.

Come with us underwater and visit a facinating variety of sea creatures as they go about their busy and sometimes bizarre lives.The cuttle fish for instance is 400 million years old. See them stalk and capture their prey whilst rapidly changing colour. Then marvel at the blonde ray as it flies over the sand and rock inches from the seabed like a low flying cruise missile.

Shot entirely on location in the waters around the Westcountry, this DVD will give you an introduction to the vast array of intriguing and colourful marine animals that live just out of site, a few feet underwater in the shallow bays around our coast.

This DVD is temporarily unavailable

Extract from BayWatch-life in the shallow bay DVD