Rubbing Shoulders with the Underwater Elite

Meeting a group of new people is always a slightly nervous occasion and Wed 21st Feb was no exception for me.

It is said that “you only get out of something what you are prepared to put in”, so I put on some warm clothes and gritted my teeth, as I braved the cold train journey from Eastbourne to the big city lights of London, and specifically the Holland Club within the campus of Imperial College, near to the South Kensington tube station on the District and Circle line.

It’s here, on the first Wednesday of every month, that some of the World’s best underwater photographers meet to share ideas, anecdotes, and socialise in a well-suited subterranean meeting room…

You see, it’s here that the British Society of Underwater Photographers (a.k.a. BSoUP) meets, and in whose esteemed ranks this budding enthusiastic but inexperienced underwater snapper found himself; uncertain whether it would be a roomful of cliquey technical egos, or a group of passionate and friendly divers fascinated in underwater marine flora and fauna, and in capturing their adventures to be enjoyed by those not fortunate enough to be in the water with them.

I’m extremely happy to report it was the latter group, and despite my nerves and inexperience I was welcomed with open arms.

The format of most monthly meetings is for a first half consisting of a guest presentation following by a themed photo competition. The competition topic is known in advance and members can submit their entries. These are shown and the members in attendence vote for their top 3.

After a break to refresh any empty glasses, and for the votes to be counted, the second half starts with the results of the competition and then a second guest speaker.

I’ll write about the speakers in a later post, but the evening finishes around 11pm and I left buzzing about the possibilities.

The only downside to the evening was having to catch the 00:05 train home, which thanks to some midweek overnight engineering works included a bus service from Lewes, which meant my head didn’t hit my pillow until around 2:30am.

Though it didn’t take me long to drift into a dreamy world of colourful fish and photogenic sharks ;-)

Let me know what you think,

Wishing you health, success and happiness in everything you do,

Jon