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Shark Week Underwater Video Course

Published 12 years agoon August 5, 2013

We are back from the Shark Week underwater video course in S.Africa in association with Scubaaddicts and Hidden Depths Dive Tours. Graig the owner at Scubaaddicts guaranteed us sharks and I have to say that he certainly did not disappoint us.

The weather was against us for the first day with strong winds and a large sea swell which meant we couldn’t launch the boats from the river launch site. Disappointing but certainly not time wasted as this gave us change to check all of our equipment thoroughly and go through some video production theory. The following day let us out into the ocean and the shark experience began.

At this time of year it was the Black Tip Oceanic sharks that were most visible with the occasional Tiger shark cruising by for good measure. The two dives a day, with sharks on every dive, gave the course students ample time to secure good video footage for their sequences. The cameras used ranged from small compacts in housings to Hanycams to SLRs like the 7D. All producing great results.

There were a few sharks decorated with fishing hooks and lines which was sad to see but all in all they were very healthy and are doing well in the marine protection area.

Visibility wasn’t fantastic after the bad weather but it was good enough. Our hosts, Graig and Shona were very welcoming and made our stay extremely pleasant. We will be holding future courses there so keep an eye open for dates or contact me if you would like to register a preference.

Our next Red Sea course is at the end of September with Red Sea Diving Safaris and OonasDivers.

Good diving.

Photos are video frames taken from the course

You can watch a video clip from the course at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doh_IkCqdAs&list=UUKfpZWTCn_SdaILHrx5HRvg&index=1

Jeff Goodman

Jeff is a multiple award winning, freelance TV cameraman/film maker and author. Having made both terrestrial and marine films, it is the world's oceans and their conservation that hold his passion with over 10.000 dives in his career. Having filmed for international television companies around the world and author of two books on underwater filming, Jeff is Author/Programme Specialist for the 'Underwater Action Camera' course for the RAID training agency. Jeff has experienced the rapid advances in technology for diving as well as camera equipment and has also experienced much of our planet’s marine life, witnessing, first hand, many of the changes that have occurred to the wildlife and environment during that time. Jeff runs bespoke underwater video and editing workshops for the complete beginner up to the budding professional.