>Ian Wallace is a successful Tasmanian landscape photographer usually found at the celebrated Salamanca Markets. In summer he conducts photographic workshops with his friend Loic Le Guilly at Cradle Mountain. As well as producing a range of cards, posters and a calendar, he has self published two books. Ian was featured as a Tasmanian Living Artist in 2005. He is a member of the AIPP.
>2008 Epson Tasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year
>Runner Up 2007 Epson Tasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year
>2007 Instinctive Desires New Photographer of the Year
>Internet site: www.ianwallace.com.au
>This photograph was taken by Loic LeGuilly, you can see more of his images here
I have had a couple of dives on the Tasman Peninsula , still trying to get my new housing and strobes under control. The conditions for diving last week were great. I was lucky enough to share time with some other divers on the boat, one of whom fascinated me with a couple of stories regarding his own diving experiences with a couple of great white sharks!
Another pair of divers were about to experience their first temperate water dives - how exciting and very different to tropical water diving. I am happier with my efforts under the water although the strobes are proving a little harder to master than I had hoped!
Swimming through the kelp forest with a nice wide angle lens on my camera was something I had been hoping to do for a while, there is an eerie stillness to the forest and if you are patient enough to wait, the kelp leaves reveal the sea life they protect. The best views of the kelp are always from the bottom of the forest - looking up. It's a tough position to be in whilst scuba diving and taking photographs but the results are well worth the struggle!
On to the second dive site - Studio 2! The previous week (and without a camera) I came across five weedy sea dragons in a single dive and I had my fingers crossed that I could do the same this week (and that my camera would work!). Once again I bumped into a couple of dragons who were only too happy to pose for my camera. These images could be better, as I mentioned previously, I am having a little trouble adjusting to using flash under the water - practice makes perfect. Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, a beautiful, almost white ray came into view and (as if for the camera) did a perfect fly by!
The only unfortunate thing about the day was that I had just had a haircut (first for 14 months!) and although it was an overcast day, the UV was still high and I managed to burn my face and neck quite badly. Still, I think it worked for me at the market as people were coming into my stall just to see what was up with the 'guy with the bright red head'!.
thanks for looking.