I've shot using Nikon cameras for more years than I care to mention and they've never let me down. My first Nikon digital camera was a D300 which served me well both topside and underwater for a number of years and in recent years I switched to a D850 which has been superb. Time and technology wait for no man, of course, and these days it's all about mirrorless so it was only a matter of time before I finally got with the programme. With my bank balance still recovering from the trauma, I've now added a Nikon Z8 to my camera bag.

Whilst the Z8 has a familar feel about it - the camera's menu system, for example, is very similar to previous DSLR cameras - there's a lot that is new and unique to mirrorless. As a stills camera, there's not alot to separate the Z8 from the D850 but where the Z8 (and indeed mirrorless cameras in general) really excels is for video capture. This thing is an absolute beast for video and I'm really looking forward to expanding the range of content that I'll be able to create with it. I've already invested in a camera cage for it so that I can mount accessories like grips, microphones, a field monitor and so on. Bring on Youtube stardom!

Whilst I'm confident that the Z8 would be a real game changer underwater, sadly I don't think I'll be taking mine with me on dives for quite some time. With underwater camera housings costing almost £5k, a new housing will have to wait. In the meantime, though, the Z8 is going to see a lot of topside action! Watch this space for video content...

Since the very first Go Diving Show back in 2019, I'm proud to have been the event's official show photographer. Despite cutting my teeth shooting events like the EUROTEK Advanced Diving Conference, the inaugural TEKDiveUSA and Baltictech 2017, an event like the Go Diving Show is a very different beast. For one, it's far bigger. And when I say big, I really mean it - spending two days running around a 10,000+ sqm exhibition centre split into two halls is exhausting! At any one time, there could be four speakers on stage, not to mention various activities like the 360 degree VR dive, NAS survey skills and try dives all needing to be captured.

Despite the stress and exhaustion, the Go Diving Show is still my favourite gig of the year. It's a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and network with the 'movers and shakers' in the dive industry. And then, of course, there's the presentations and this year's event did not disappoint. Headlining were Steve Backshall, Liz Parkinson, Lizzie Daly, Andy Torbet and Chris Lemmons - the man behind the jaw-dropping story that inspired the movie 'Last Breath'.

The real work, of course, starts post-show with over 2000+ raw image files to filter and process before the next Scuba Diver magazine print deadline. Time to grab a coffee and get stuck in...

GO DIVING SHOW

Like many labours of love, this new site is still very much 'work in progress' as I fine tune and tweak, add new content and, of course, iron out those little bugs that are an inevitable result of any new launch. Built entirely from scratch using PHP and CSS, it's been a fun project to get my teeth into over the Winter months. I've got big plans to expand it with new sections and even more new content moving forward to watch this space.

The new site also serves as a convenient portal through to my photo library hosted by Zenfolio Inc. I've used Zenfolio for a few years now and whilst it works just fine for quick and easy access to the 22,000+ images I have hosted on there, I've never been very happy with the front end theyr provide. My new site fixes that with something far more tailored to the sort of content I offer. You can still search my photo library from anywhere within the site and I'll be linking to photo galleries which compliment specific content.