Shooting The Reef

Introduction

Cover of Reef, produced by Scubazoo, Published by Dorling Kindersley. (Scubazoo)

In early September, Simon Christopher, Jason Isley and Matt Oldfield travelled to the UK to launch Scubazoo's latest book, 'Reef', published by Dorling Kindersley. A hectic week of TV, press and radio interviews, a lecture at the Royal Geographic Society and a launch party attended by family, friends and plenty of press, was a fitting finale to months of hard work, not only by the three that attended the launch but by the entire Scubazoo team.

'Reef' was commissioned by DK in late 2006, bringing to life a project Scubazoo had long had in mind - an opportunity to share with the world their growing library of incredible images, as well as highlight the many threats now faced by the marine environment. And with their reputation and huge global reach, DK represented the perfect partners for Scubazoo. The project began with brain-storming different ideas for the structure of the book and how to use the wealth of different images in Scubazoo's existing library. However, it was quickly decided that the book represented an opportunity for Scubazoo to explore environments other than those around their home in Sabah, northern Borneo - with plenty of tropical images to choose from, it was time for the photographers from the company to venture into cooler waters. To allow this, the scope of the book was expanded to include different habitats such as kelp forests, temperate shores and mangroves, and the concept of 'reef' given a novel twist - not just the tropical coral reefs that first spring to mind, but any marine environment that offers the chance of exploration and discovery. For Scubazoo, with their passion for anything wet, this covered pretty much any location!

Simon Christopher being interviewed about the launch of the Reef book. (Scubazoo)

With the structure of the book and the range of subjects decided, it was time to start shooting. Photographers from the company set out in all directions, armed with both stills cameras and hi-def video. Jason Isley first headed to Kungkungan Bay Resort in the Lembeh Straits, Sulawesi, to concentrate on the incredible macro-life found in the area, as well as capture some unique behavioral shots of Lembeh's weird and wonderful predators. Matt Oldfield and Roger Munns headed further east to some of the world's most biodiverse reefs - those of the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua, where they spent two weeks shooting everything from stunning reefs and mangroves, to giant mantas and pygmy seahorses. Jason and Roger then traveled to South Africa, to capture images of big tiger, blacktip and grey nurse sharks, as well as huge potato cod and stingrays, whilst Matt went south to Australia's Kangaroo Island to shoot seadragon's and sea lions. The hectic shooting schedule finally reached its conclusion when Matt joined Simon Enderby, on the diving leg of his honeymoon, in the Poor Knight Islands of New Zealand to capture the inhabitants of the kelp and caves around these remarkable islands.

Early March saw Jason and Matt back in the office editing thousands of images from the various shoots, as well as from Scubazoo's newest photographers, Seok Wun Au Yong and Adam Broadbent. With plenty of guidance from the editors at DK, the book slowly began to take shape and with Matt finally completing the writing in June, the book was ready for printing. However, the work was by no means complete. Scubazoo has made its name not from photography, but from filming, and to accompany the book DK commissioned a 30 minute DVD showcasing the animals and environments featured in the book itself. The editing team of Simon Enderby, Roger Munns and Jonni Isaacs spent many long nights designing the DVD so that it closely matched the structure and style of the book, giving the viewer the chance to watch footage of the very animals they had just read about in the book. The finished product - book and DVD combined - is unique in the world of natural history publishing and perfectly illustrates Scubazoo's, and partners the Coral Reef Alliance, Marine Conservation Society and Dive Rite, passion for both the exploration and conservation of the marine world.

Report from Jason Isley

Right: Jason Isley (ScubaZoo)

From the moment we confirmed the contract for 'Reef' with Dorling Kindersley, the clock started ticking down. Existing library images were quickly sorted and slotted into the relevant chapters and then it was on to working out which locations needed to be visited to fill in the missing gaps. I planned on heading to the Lembeh Straits in North Suluwasi and the Aliwal Shoals and Sodwana Bay in South Africa, and made detailed lists of the exact shots I wanted to capture and even sketched some of them out knowing what I was likely to encounter. The Lembeh trip was very memorable. Its one of those places where trying to capture unique behavior opportunities actually seems pretty easy - I was lucky enough to encounter mating wonderpus, feeding frogfish, cannibalistic devil scorpionfish and hungry snakefish. However, one shot I really had to work for was a shot of a yawning weedy scorpionfish - it took 5 long dives over a period of 2 weeks just to catch the shot exactly how I wanted it. From South Africa, my most memorable shot was of a tiger staring right into the dome of my housing. This particular female would swim up to the surface before coming straight down on top of the camera - I didn't even shoot a frame the first time she did it as I was so nervous, but I soon got used to her immense size bearing down on me and eventually got the shot I was after for the book.

Managing this project has been an incredible journey and without a doubt, has provided some memorable moments - sitting on the BBC Breakfast Show couch talking about the book and Scubazoo certainly ranks up there alongside the sharks!

Report from Adam Broadbent

Right: Adam Broadbent (ScubaZoo)

Whilst shooting for the book, I'll never forget the time I spent with a juvenile ghost pipefish on a wreck at Kapalai, Malaysia. It was incredibly shy and never strayed more than a couple of centimeters from the wooden hull of the wreck. I had to spend long periods of time, hanging upside down at the base of the hull in all the muck and debris, trying to get a shot against a black background . After numerous dives and attempts however, I finally managed to coax the ghost pipefish away from the wreck and shoot him facing directly at the camera, as if he was curious rather than incredibly shy.

Report from Seok Wun Au Yong

Right: Seok Wun Au Yong (ScubaZoo)

The most memorable experience I've had taking pictures for 'Reef' was whilst shooting a moray eel being cleaned by a banded cleaning shrimp in Kapalai, Malaysia. I was taking pictures of the moray eel when the shrimp suddenly popped out from it's hole and climbed over onto the moray's head. It started cleaning with it's claws, going around the moray's face like giving a gentle yet thorough massage. I'd only seen cleaning behavior like this with the moray's wide mouth open, never smiling as it appeared now and having its face cleaned over and over again. It was a very funny sight to watch and made me wish I had a video camera with me too at the same time.

Report from Simon Enderby

Right: Simon Enderby (Scubazoo)

I have many fantastic memories related to 'Reef' - from crazy filming alongside Roger and a Mola Mola in Indonesia, to being wrapped up in the arms of a giant Pacific Octopus with Jason off Vancouver Island in Canada. However my all-consuming memory of 'Reef' is not from a filming trip but from actually putting the DVD project together - it was one of the toughest, most time-consuming and exhausting jobs we have worked on as a team. Suffice to say it consumed us but when we staggered out of the edit suite for the final time, hollow eyed, drained and even physically sick - it was with an incredible feeling of pride, and just a little relief! The 'Reef' DVD is the culmination of hundreds, if not thousands, of hours spent both above and below the waves and brings the book alive.

Report from Roger Munns

Right: Roger Munns (Scubazoo)

Probably my most memorable shot in 'Reef' sticks in my mind for all the wrong reasons - it is the shot of several thresher sharks lying finned on the floor of a fish market in SE Asia. The market had been the subject of bad press from previous environmental programs and the workers were pretty suspicious of anyone looking like a professional cameraman. So, in order to get the pictures I wanted, I had to do my usual trick of putting on my best smile and pretending to be a cheerful, naive tourist. Threshers are renowned for their large Boeing-like pectoral fins and their long graceful tails, and as I watched the fishermen slicing these off, shark-by-shark, it was tough to keep smiling, calm and objective - and get the shots I wanted. Hopefully these pictures will be useful in helping to save other thresher sharks from the same fate.

Report from Simon Christopher

Right: Simon Christopher (ScubaZoo)

"Reef' is Scubazoo's largest ever project, and in my view, our greatest achievement thus far - both in terms of the enormous collective effort of the team, and also, the numbers of readers and viewers around the world. It's the culmination of more than 11 years of hard work in one stunning book, complete with a breathtaking 30 minute DVD production. It's the quintessential product that shows what's possible when a group of passionate and committed individuals team up together, as they have with Scubazoo.

Scubazoo's primary goal is to tell 'The Whole Story' of the underwater world with our images and so for me, the fact that we've been able to do this specifically with the 'Conserving Reefs' chapter is what makes this project such a triumph. The messages within these few pages are by far the most important of them all and it's my greatest hope that these are the ones which stick in people's minds long after reading the book and watching the DVD. Everyone at Scubazoo should be extremely proud of the successful completion of this incredible 'Reef' project, and many many thanks to all our various sponsors who've had the belief, faith and so helped us towards making it possible.

Report from Matt Oldfield

Right: Matt Oldfield (Scubazoo)

Like Simon I have many remarkable memories of shooting for 'Reef' - spending an entire day swimming with sea lions on Kangaroo Island, surrounded by huge manta rays in Raja Ampat and exploring the incredible caves and arches of the Poor Knights all spring quickly to mind. However, my personal highlight was without a doubt, the sense of personal satisfaction from managing to write the book in its entirety. Prior to 'Reef' I had never attempted such a huge project and at the beginning, I was more than a little daunted by its sheer scale. But the hard work was more than worth it - to have someone approach me and tell me how much they enjoyed the writing as well as the images, or to read a glowing review in a magazine makes it very easy to forget the long days and sleepless nights spent fretting about captions! And ultimately, I hope that the readers of 'Reef' will take away a better understanding and appreciation of the marine environment. Without the incredible diversity of fish and corals, shrimps and seaweeds that we attempt to showcase in the book, the world will become a much poorer and less interesting place.

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