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Boston Sea Rovers 2009 Coverage

By Jason Heller, March 10, 2009 @ 02:00 AM (EST)

This year marked the 55th for the Boston Sea Rovers Clinic. The "oldest continuously running dive show in the world" is known for packing in daily presentations and film screenings from accomplished underwater photographers and videographers. This year's Sea Rovers clinic was no different.

The emcee for the film festival was none other than Ernie Brooks, and presenters included Howard & Michele Hall, Mike deGruy, Steve Drogin, Jo Ruxton and Terry Maas (on top of Terry's other accomplishments, he also just took first place in the General Video category in the 2009 Wetpixel & DivePhotoGuide Competition at Our World Underwater). Daytime sessions included familiar names like Stan Waterman, Ethan Gordon, Berkley White, Doug Sloss, Danielle Alary, Michel Gilbert, Jim & Pat Stayer and many others. It was obviously a well organized event, as always. I had a blast presenting at Sea Rovers last year, but unfortunately was unable to attend and present this year due to a schedule conflict. Thankfully, Keri Wilk was there representing DPG. He caught up with National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry to ask a few questions about his now infamous image of a southern right whale that won BBC's Wildlife Photographer of The Year Competition last year:

Coverage by Keri Wilk

Held again in the ritzy Fairmont Copely Plaza Hotel, I found myself feeling a little out of place wearing an undershirt and jogging pants during the 5-9am setup period on the first day of the show. But then I realized I wasn’t alone. Other hopelessly tired exhibitors were sweating away in quasi-pajamas, trying to get their booths ready in time for the morning crowd.

With only 47 exhibitors, this show is technically one of the smallest that comes to mind, but its small stature is certainly outweighed by its strong tradition and big names that it brings out. Stan Waterman, Howard/Michelle Hall, Brian Skerry, and the legendary Ernie Brooks all graced us with their presence (to name a few). And as Jason mentioned, the daytime presenters included top notch photographer/videographers, historians, and environmentalists.

I’m not sure if it was the industry icons in attendance, the outstanding day-time seminars, or just the Boston Sea Rovers’ general appeal that drew the crowd that it did, but as an exhibitor, It really didn’t matter! The crowd was constant throughout the entire show (with exception to a few lulls which corresponded with Stan Waterman’s/Ernie Brooks’ seminars…), so I didn’t have much time to wander around the hall…but I did what I could. Thankfully, there were only 5 underwater photography related booths (Olympus, Backscatter, Gates, Epoque, and ReefNet)…here’s what they had to show off:

East meets West - Berkley White and Fred Dion together at the Backscatter booth.

Jim Decker (Backscatter) showed me the new Light & Motion Bluefin Pro video housing, which has both a flip-up red filter and flip-up +4 diopter close-up lens. This is the same housing that Jason reported at its unveilng at Our World Underwater last mionth.

The Bluefin Pro housing can be optionally fitted with a high resolution + super high contrast ratio organic LED (OLED) display for optimal viewing underwater. Also, white balance control and a manual focus gear are two features that most videographers would call ‘essential’, and this housing has both.

Possibly the most impressive feature of this housing is its electronic thumb controls. All main functions can be accessed without moving your hands from the handles. Very very convenient.

John Ellerbrock (Gates) talks to Ernie Brooks (the man) about the Gates Deep Red housing. All of the bugs have just about been worked out now, and John tells me production has already begun.

Andrew Bausk (Olympus) showed me their two new compact camera housings which have just been released. The Olympus PT-045 and PT-047 house the 12MP Stylus Tough 8000 and 10MP Stylus Tough 6000 respectively. While these housings allow photography to typical recreational diving depths, the cameras themselves are even waterproof to 33ft/10ft (ST8000/6000)! If that’s not enough, these cameras are shock-proof from a 6ft drop, and crush-proof under a 220lb weight…I wonder why they named them the Stylus TOUGH…

Frank Fennall (Epoque) showed me some impressive new housings that they’re producing. Shown here is “the worlds smallest full HD (1902-1080) video camera”, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-1000. The housing they’ve designed, the EHS-1000, is injection molded ABS plastic. Because of this, it is has an incredible strength to weight ratio, and cost is minimized…at $449, this housing is a steal.

Epoque has also begun production of the ERX-C1010/C1010x2 housing for the Canon Rebel XS and XSi. Features include controls over all camera controls, pop-up flash capability, a double o-ring back-plate seal, and an optional 5-pin Nikonos or 6-pin Canon bulkhead.

Ernie Brooks’ iconic shot of a sea lion was blown up, printed, framed, and entered into the silent auction at the Sea Rovers Clinic. Starting bid? $3000. Killer shot Ernie!

Packed like sardines, people flocked out of the exhibition hall to attend one of the many great
daytime seminars held throughout the weekend.

Keri Wilk (ReefNet) and Brian Skerry (National Geographic) pose for a shot next to Brian’s
incredible shot of a southern right whale next to his assistant, Mauricio Handler, which won
the BBC wildlife photographer of the year competition in 2008.

Keri and Kris Wilk (ReefNet) with Jenny from Reef & Rainforest.

This was the third year that I’ve been a part of this show, and surely won’t be the last. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re less than a 6 hour drive from Boston, you’ve got no excuse to miss this one…you won’t be disappointed by the seminars, exhibitors, or just the general vibe that ‘Boahhstin’ gives off. Hope to see you there next year!

Keri

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