The judges with organiser Oliver

I’ve just been led into a whole new world within the diving photography scene – this so called “muck diving”.  Having just spent the last week following these macro weirdo’s around in the Philippines, I now fully understand what these critter geeks get out of it all.  If like me you really only shoot with a wide angle lens, then you may not have come across this special breed of macro folks that seem to know the name of every type of spiny, hairy, porcelain, crabby, goby, nudi thingy lurking on or under every whip, soft and hard coral (or even litter) you’re ever likely to come across during a dive.

My role in the trip was to follow and photograph these macro and SUPER macro photographers around while they performed their art, competing in the 2017 Anilao photo shoot-out competition (www.anilaoshootout.ph).  David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes were just a couple of prestigious names on the judging panel and over all 173 contestants joined in – competing for some seriously hefty prizes.  The full feature will appear in DIVER magazine next year with a behind the scenes look at the comp.  Keep your eyes peeled for it.