GO SCUBA DIVE - by Monty Halls

In June 2006, cameraman Roger Munns and photographer Matt Oldfield headed to Egypt to shoot the first of two huge projects for publishers Dorling Kindersley. Following the success of 'Go Sail', 'Go Climb', 'Go Ski' and 'Go Snowboard', DK commissioned Scubazoo to produce two more titles in the series, 'Go Dive' and 'Go Surf'. The entire 'Go' series are instructional books and DVDs that rely on strong visuals and inspirational images to get people out of their living rooms and into a new sport. Scubazoo's expertise in filming and photographing both above and below the surface of the water meant these titles would hopefully be a piece of cake!

The first shoot, for 'Go Dive', was scheduled for the Red Sea with author and presenter Monty Halls of recent Great Ocean Adventures fame. Traveling from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, Cairo and Sharm El Sheik set the tone for the rest of the trip - a total of 8 'lug 120kg of equipment, unpack it, shoot, repack it, lug it again and on to next location' slogs! Starting in Dahab, Rog and Matt met up with the DK staff, Lee Griffith and Stephanie Farrow, as well as models Mark, Charlie and Michelle at Poseidon Divers. Poseidon is located right next to the beach and has a great variety of equipment and instructors, from open water to advanced technical, making it a perfect base for filming a wide range of techniques and much of this rather equipment-orientated subject. Along with plenty of shore dives, Matt and Roger also managed to shoot a couple of dives at Canyons, close to Dahab's famous Blue Hole, to cover cavern diving as well as get some general shots in the clear, blue water found in this area.

The next stop was Sharm El Sheik for a few days onboard the MV Tempest, a great liveaboard boat chartered through Tony Backhurst in the UK. As well as filming some more advanced open water techniques such as drift, wreck and night diving, the aim was to try and capture some of the incredible marine life that has made the Red Sea so famous. Unfortunately the crew only managed a single morning at Ras Mohammed - along with another 24 day boats and liveaboards - but did manage to cover all the subjects during the rather limited time spent shooting. All in all the 'Go Dive' shoot went remarkably smooth, much as a result of the patience and effort of the three models. Take a look at a gallery of images from Egypt here.

GO SURF - by Tim Baker

The fast track to great surfing Read it, watch it, do it with this innovative book and 30-minute DVD for anyone itching to get up off the sofa and go! Clear step-by-step coaching and inspirational photography in the book will get you started or improve your skills. Master techniques with your own virtual coach – from the take-off to the barrel, the 30-minute DVD uses 360-degree live-action freeze-frame graphics and slow-motion sequences guaranteed to get you ready for the waves in no time. Have a look inside the book here.

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Late September 2006 saw Roger, Matt and cameraman Russ Campbell traveling again, this time to the Maldives to shoot 'Go Surf'. Based out of the Four Seasons Resort at Kuda Huraa meant short boat rides to some of the best breaks in the Maldives - Sultans, Ninja's, Chickens, Tombstones, Honkeys, Himmafushi and Lohis are all within a 30 minute dhoni ride from the resort. Also, the presence of Tropic Surf and their instructors at the Four Seasons meant the Scubazoo crew had some excellent support and access to models - many thanks to Ross Phillips and to professional coach Chris Prewitt for his incredible amount of help throughout.

Australian author Tim Baker, DK staff Lee Griffith, Stephanie Farrow and Katie Eke, and Cameron Craig from Pearson Australia completed the line up for the Maldives surf shoot. On the first day, the weather closed in but with some great swell, Roger, Matt and Russ proceeded to arm themselves with long lenses and shoot from the beaches. Unfortunately as the weather improved over the week-long shoot, the swell decided to drop meaning no barrels, no aerials and very little dramatic shooting. The lack of a jetski didn't help matters either.

However, with the aid of helmet cams, housings strapped to longboards, plenty of time in the water and on the beaches and a great deal of repetitive work from the models, the crew managed to film and photograph the entire range of subjects, from pre-surf fitness to cross-stepping and hang 10's. A successful shoot despite the conditions. Take a look at a gallery of images taken during the 'Go Surf' shoothere.

On returning to Kota Kinabalu, the real work began for Roger and Matt. Roger, assisted by Scubazoo editors KB Lai and Jonni Isaacs, managed the entire production of both DVDs, an incredibly complicated task given the nature of the project. Long nights spent editing, directing voice-over recordings in Australia over the telephone, running NTSC conversions in Singapore - all essential for the production of an internationally distributed DVD. For Matt, the process was a little simpler - edit, then process 6,000 RAW images before sending them off to the UK for selection by Dorling Kindersley and waiting for the high-resolution selection for the final print.

By mid-November, Roger and the team had completed both edits with PAL and NTSC masters being sent off to the UK for printing. Time to catch up on some well-earned sleep! Keep an eye out in your local book shop for the release of these two titles in December 2006.