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Editor's Note-

Here is Rick's last episode for our video coverage of Beneath The Sea. For the rest of the coverage, visit our Beneath The Sea 2009 homepage here. First we see the HD Wave, the first HD video housing from Aquatica which will be released in June. At the Sea & Sea booth, we hear about the MBX D-700 limited edition housing for the Nikon D700. Watershot housings was highlighting their very economic WDS-450D for the Canon Xsi. You may have seen it covered in previous shows, but this is the first time in video. The Olympus booth is one booth I always love to visit because I think they are making really exciting new products. Their point and shoots on display included the Stylus Tough 8000 with it's underwater housing. Also, the brand new DSLR, the Olympus E-620, which is built digitally from the ground up. Keri Wilk of ReefNet shows us his Subsee adaptor, again for the first time in video on DPG. Lastly, we see some new lights from at the Ikelite booths. Without further ado...DPG editor, Rick Morris.

Words and video by Rick Morris

For those who have been following this series and those that are just tuning in for the first time this is the final installment in our coverage of the 2009 Beneath the Sea Convention. In the first two installments we covered a range of subjects mixed with personal comments, insights and profiles. In this final element you will find nothing but gear. Housings, cameras, lights and all that expensive stuff that makes the world of underwater imaging such a challenge and so, so rewarding. As an imaging web site we have featured some great products from some of the top manufacturers so you can begin to find what works for you the viewer/photographer…

I never expected to find myself working as an underwater film maker. In fact I had completely disassociated myself with television and films for many years but in 2001 I found myself working on a scientific expedition, to Lizard Island in Australia, where we were searching for new fluorescent proteins never discovered yet sorely needed for scientific research. Until that time the only colors of fluorescent proteins that had been found were blue and green and though very valuable the frequencies of the colors were detrimental to human tissues. The scientist I was working with, Dr Vincent Pieribone, from Yale University Medical School, hypothesized other colors, like orange and yellow would be less harmful. Over a period of months we made all the arrangements and through the Earthwatch Institute organized a month long expedition to Australia where divers would collect specimens to be DNA typed for future cloning. We also employed special lighting devices that would illuminate the corals and other reef creatures in a way that would make unseen proteins glow in the dark.

To make a long story short we found several colors of proteins and in the process I convinced PBS to run a story on the expedition for their genetics series, “Secrets of The Sequence”. I was back in television and had found a new passion for a career and life I had cast aside many years before.

Now, I spend every dollar I have and make on travel, gear and producing the films that brought me to this moment in my life. That’s my story so what’s yours??? We at DPG love to hear from you and find out how we are doing as well as what all our viewers are up to. Drop a line, respond to the articles and films and, please, let us know what you think of the coverage.