News

2019 was the year that changed the world—the world of macro photography, that is. Yes, friends, that was year Backscatter officially lifted the curtain on the Mini Flash (and accompanying Optical Snoot) at the DEMA Show in Orlando. And the rest, as they say, is history. A couple of iterations later and the Mini Flash has established itself as the indispensible tool for shooting macro critters and a ubiquitous sighting on dive boats around the globe.

But 2019 was significant for another reason: On the other side of the world, in Indonesia, our friends at Lembeh Resort had just taken on a new in-house photo pro called James Emery, a talented underwater photographer and videographer who already had years of experience helping people across Asia improve their underwater imaging skills. Before long, James was managing the resort’s Authorized Backscatter Photo Center (the world’s first) and co-hosting their renowned Capturing Critters in Lembeh workshop. (By the way, James is returning for Capturing Critters 2027.) And I think we can be pretty certain that James spent plenty of time mucking around with Backscatter’s brand-new little strobe, as well!

Fast-forward to the present and, well, there surely can’t be anyone more qualified than James Emery to be joining Nicolas Remy for The Underwater Club’s next webinar—on muck-diving photography. This, of course, is the type of macro photography that has made the Lembeh Strait famous and that James has been passionate about for many, many years. Over the course of the two-hour session, expect James to be enthusing about the joys of shooting blue-ring octopuses, flamboyant cuttlefish, hairy frogfish, Lembeh seadragons, “Shaun the Sheep” nudibranchs, and the like; helping you set up the ideal camera system for your budget; and, of course, explaining the different ways to light and compose your critter shots. And yes, James might occasionally mention some Backscatter gear (he is the Marketing & Media Manager for Backscatter these days, after all), but fair enough, what can we say? The Mini Flash is just the best macro strobe on the planet!

As always, TUC members join for free, while non-members will need to purchase tickets to the event at AU$49 (approx. US$35). Note that this is also the price of monthly membership, so this is the perfect opportunity to join the club and take advantage of all of the membership benefits.

Here are the event times:

• Oct 16th, 4pm Los Angeles (PDT)
• Oct 16th, 6pm Dallas (CDT)
• Oct 16th, 7pm Miami (EDT)
• Oct 17th, 12am London (BST)
• Oct 17th, 1am Paris/Rome/Berlin (CEST)
• Oct 17th, 3am Dubai (GST)
• Oct 17th, 7am Singapore (SGT)
• Oct 17th, 12pm Auckland (NZDT)