I used to fantasize about proposing to my wife this way, but it wasn't really my style so I went another way, but this guy pulls off the whole thing very nicely eh?
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May 23, 2013
Episode 154: Opera rehearsal marriage proposal
Proposal at the end of a dress rehearsal proves to be a brave and touching moment.
I used to fantasize about proposing to my wife this way, but it wasn't really my style so I went another way, but this guy pulls off the whole thing very nicely eh?
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I used to fantasize about proposing to my wife this way, but it wasn't really my style so I went another way, but this guy pulls off the whole thing very nicely eh?
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Apr 30, 2013
Episode 153: How to become a Scuba Instructor
"As we huddled together, arms linked on the bottom of the ocean, shivering uncontrollably, I thought about the tropics and how much easier this could have been".
An international group of strangers had assembled in Sydney to undertake the Instructor Development Course, some of us just having just reached our first professional rating of Divemaster, which involved a three man, six dive, underwater mapping project, some search and recovery exercises, diver rescue and a bucket of other skills and requirements.
Interestingly, the biggest eye opener on the Divemaster course was the assisting on real beginner classes: where we helped instructors conduct the lightning fast, two day courses that the shop had designed which managed to get people certified over a weekend. Ironically, the 'eLearning' that new students were given well in advance, was often done late the night before, ensuring that they began the course exhausted from a night's studying.... But the results I witnessed were, overall, surprisingly good. By the end of the second day of training, these new divers could almost dive in control.
So I'd seen 'the aim' of instructor development in action. We were to be trained to keep our students safe while running them through tried and true diving drills, keeping it fun, but constantly reminding them of safe diving practices while we, as teachers remained at the ready for any questions regarding dive physics, physiology, equipment and skills etc. We were learning how to turn people's anticipation into passion, their fear into courage, and to change their lives for the better for ever. Inspiring stuff right?
Half of my fellow instructor candidates were living in a house together in reality TV style, so occasionally personal problems did make their way to work, but we were kept busy from morning to night, so only couple of feuds managed to fester all the way until the exams.
Instructor Development involved classroom time to introduce us to the formulae of teaching, keeping things consistent and up to standard. Presenting to our colleagues became quite fun as we were a supportive bunch. Even under the water we were egging each other on to do well during our teaching presentations.
At the pool, we'd brief each other on how our assigned skill should be performed and why it was important for safe and skilled diving. There was very little joking around as all of the training was conducted under exam conditions, with a grading sheet constantly lurking in the background.
The pool always seemed warm enough on entry, but after four hours it managed to zap every bit of heat out of our bodies even with seven millimeters of wetsuit! A bit of suffering can really make a group of colleagues tight.
Sydney's open water beckoned a drysuit, especially as our large class would be kneeling almost motionless in the sand under the murky green water, occasionally role playing as student and instructor, but I'd been warned by the owner of the dive shop that wearing a drysuit for the final exam would make things more difficult. His advice may not have been appropriate for seasoned cold water divers, but whatever... follow orders when you are a student.
Our first open water session dive was ninety minutes long. As we huddled together, arms linked on the bottom of the ocean, shivering uncontrollably, I thought about some of the warm destinations I've worked in and how much easier this could have been.
Coming forward to teach the two assigned skills to the poor shaking candidates was challenging. Watching for problems assigned secretly to the 'students' was an exercise in concentration. The instructor exam would be similar, but failing to notice a problem would have more serious implications.
Perhaps these training conditions made us all better prepared for what would come. I found the murky surge of Sydney quite similar to some of the wreck dive conditions I've experienced in the North Atlantic ocean, so quite appropriate right?
The Instructor Exam
Over three days, we were tested on dive theory, the standards and procedures, classroom teaching, and practical assessments including the rescue of an unconscious diver on the surface. The written exams have a pass mark of 75%, so very little margin for error. The practical exams allow the candidates some latitude in the form of averaging marks across skills, but in general, everything has to be up to specifications for a candidate to pass.
The pool session involved a high level demonstration of five assigned skills, followed by a teaching session of one assigned skill. There were a couple of 'repeats' among my colleagues, both having to re-demonstrate the controlled emergency swimming ascent, but pretty strong across the board and the examiner was, so far, happy with the way we had been trained.
Our examiner noticed my drysuit hose and asked if I'd be joining him in wearing a drysuit for the following day's ocean exam.... and asked why not, I replied "out of respect for my colleagues, I choose to freeze with them".
Shelly Beach was the scene of our exam in open water. Most of us were awake at 5am to allow time to prepare equipment such as dive flags, descent lines and lift bags. The first candidate taught the '5 point descent' which took us all down to the bottom. In turn we each came forward and taught two skills, correcting the secret problems assigned to each student. My second skill was the 'controlled emergency swimming ascent' during which my students spat out regulators, pulled on the ascent line and neglected to kick. Good fun.
After successfully completing our 'surface rescue' exercises we headed for shore to give debriefings to our mock class of attentive students.
Pass or Fail
Each of us were called over to the examiner to talk about our exam. Things that could have gone better, problems that might have been missed. I had a bit of a chat about North East Diving, video and the Andrea Doria which had been on his bucket list for years. Nice bloke.
Read a quick review of the Abyss Dive Operation in Sydney
Please take a look at my Youtube channel
Read more scuba related posts here
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An international group of strangers had assembled in Sydney to undertake the Instructor Development Course, some of us just having just reached our first professional rating of Divemaster, which involved a three man, six dive, underwater mapping project, some search and recovery exercises, diver rescue and a bucket of other skills and requirements.
 |
| Divemaster course: Equipment exchange stress test |
Interestingly, the biggest eye opener on the Divemaster course was the assisting on real beginner classes: where we helped instructors conduct the lightning fast, two day courses that the shop had designed which managed to get people certified over a weekend. Ironically, the 'eLearning' that new students were given well in advance, was often done late the night before, ensuring that they began the course exhausted from a night's studying.... But the results I witnessed were, overall, surprisingly good. By the end of the second day of training, these new divers could almost dive in control.
So I'd seen 'the aim' of instructor development in action. We were to be trained to keep our students safe while running them through tried and true diving drills, keeping it fun, but constantly reminding them of safe diving practices while we, as teachers remained at the ready for any questions regarding dive physics, physiology, equipment and skills etc. We were learning how to turn people's anticipation into passion, their fear into courage, and to change their lives for the better for ever. Inspiring stuff right?
Half of my fellow instructor candidates were living in a house together in reality TV style, so occasionally personal problems did make their way to work, but we were kept busy from morning to night, so only couple of feuds managed to fester all the way until the exams.
Instructor Development involved classroom time to introduce us to the formulae of teaching, keeping things consistent and up to standard. Presenting to our colleagues became quite fun as we were a supportive bunch. Even under the water we were egging each other on to do well during our teaching presentations.
 |
| Giving Positive Reinforcement to a 'student' after a skill (more photos) |
The pool always seemed warm enough on entry, but after four hours it managed to zap every bit of heat out of our bodies even with seven millimeters of wetsuit! A bit of suffering can really make a group of colleagues tight.
Sydney's open water beckoned a drysuit, especially as our large class would be kneeling almost motionless in the sand under the murky green water, occasionally role playing as student and instructor, but I'd been warned by the owner of the dive shop that wearing a drysuit for the final exam would make things more difficult. His advice may not have been appropriate for seasoned cold water divers, but whatever... follow orders when you are a student.
 |
| Knots: one of the many skills required during an Instructor Exam |
Coming forward to teach the two assigned skills to the poor shaking candidates was challenging. Watching for problems assigned secretly to the 'students' was an exercise in concentration. The instructor exam would be similar, but failing to notice a problem would have more serious implications.
Perhaps these training conditions made us all better prepared for what would come. I found the murky surge of Sydney quite similar to some of the wreck dive conditions I've experienced in the North Atlantic ocean, so quite appropriate right?
The Instructor Exam
Over three days, we were tested on dive theory, the standards and procedures, classroom teaching, and practical assessments including the rescue of an unconscious diver on the surface. The written exams have a pass mark of 75%, so very little margin for error. The practical exams allow the candidates some latitude in the form of averaging marks across skills, but in general, everything has to be up to specifications for a candidate to pass.
The pool session involved a high level demonstration of five assigned skills, followed by a teaching session of one assigned skill. There were a couple of 'repeats' among my colleagues, both having to re-demonstrate the controlled emergency swimming ascent, but pretty strong across the board and the examiner was, so far, happy with the way we had been trained.
Our examiner noticed my drysuit hose and asked if I'd be joining him in wearing a drysuit for the following day's ocean exam.... and asked why not, I replied "out of respect for my colleagues, I choose to freeze with them".
Shelly Beach was the scene of our exam in open water. Most of us were awake at 5am to allow time to prepare equipment such as dive flags, descent lines and lift bags. The first candidate taught the '5 point descent' which took us all down to the bottom. In turn we each came forward and taught two skills, correcting the secret problems assigned to each student. My second skill was the 'controlled emergency swimming ascent' during which my students spat out regulators, pulled on the ascent line and neglected to kick. Good fun.
After successfully completing our 'surface rescue' exercises we headed for shore to give debriefings to our mock class of attentive students.
Pass or Fail
Each of us were called over to the examiner to talk about our exam. Things that could have gone better, problems that might have been missed. I had a bit of a chat about North East Diving, video and the Andrea Doria which had been on his bucket list for years. Nice bloke.
Read a quick review of the Abyss Dive Operation in Sydney
Please take a look at my Youtube channel
 |
| Everyone Passed! We're all PADI instructors now |
Read more scuba related posts here
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Mar 21, 2013
Episode 152: Crashing a Photo Shoot on Sydney Harbour
Opera Companies always allow me to come to photo shoots of my wife and dress rehearsals with the press when she's in the throes of a production. They welcome the extra publicity, and they usually facilitate the safe passage of their opera star's support crew (her husband).
Opera Australia was dealing with unions, floating building site regulations - the stage being on the water; generally a liability nightmare. I showed up for the big photo shoot without the OK from anyone, which sent up all the red flags....
Somehow, after donning a helmet, a fluorescent vest and a life jacket.... I was on the photo barge with both my large video camera on a tall tripod, and a stills camera.
The opera company ended up using my still shots and my slow motion HD video footage.
It's often best to go with the flow, and I think we all managed to do just that, and everybody won.
The slow motion footage of Rinat at the end of this video is from this shoot:
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Opera Australia was dealing with unions, floating building site regulations - the stage being on the water; generally a liability nightmare. I showed up for the big photo shoot without the OK from anyone, which sent up all the red flags....
Somehow, after donning a helmet, a fluorescent vest and a life jacket.... I was on the photo barge with both my large video camera on a tall tripod, and a stills camera.
The opera company ended up using my still shots and my slow motion HD video footage.
It's often best to go with the flow, and I think we all managed to do just that, and everybody won.
 |
| Rinat Shaham - Opera Singer |
The slow motion footage of Rinat at the end of this video is from this shoot:
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Mar 12, 2013
Episode 151: power of the moment:
This video is still attracting nice amounts of attention.
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Marina Abramovic and Ulay in love during the 70s, performing art out of the van they lived in. When they felt the relationship had run its course, they decided to walk the Great Wall of China, each from one end, meeting for one last big hug in the middle and never seeing each other again.
At her MoMa retrospective Marina performed ‘The Artist Is Present’ where she shared a minute of silence with each stranger who sat in front of her. Her old lover Ulay arrived without her knowing:
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Feb 23, 2013
Episode 150: Latest Commercial Video work: Attention Knitters..
We shot 5 new product videos for Lion Brand Yarn this month.
Zontee wings it with a rough script of talking points in her head. No easy task as you'll know if you ever have been required to do do this on camera yourself. I'm a '10 take man' myself...
Exciting news for knitters and crocheters:
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Zontee wings it with a rough script of talking points in her head. No easy task as you'll know if you ever have been required to do do this on camera yourself. I'm a '10 take man' myself...
Exciting news for knitters and crocheters:
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Feb 20, 2013
Episode 149: My Israeli wife meets Australian wildlife: a possum
After dinner we crossed the road in Sydney to see if we could find a possum in one of the trees in Hyde Park.... armed with an apple.
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Feb 16, 2013
Episode 148: Sydney
My wife is singing in Australia a bit this year.
Yesterday's encounter with an emu will stick in her head for a while:
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Yesterday's encounter with an emu will stick in her head for a while:
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Feb 1, 2013
Episode 147: Dive video from Cozumel, Mexico
The video from the Mexican assignment is up and active.
I thought it was compelling enough to go to fifteen minutes instead of the usual short three minute web video....
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I thought it was compelling enough to go to fifteen minutes instead of the usual short three minute web video....
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Jan 21, 2013
Episode 146: The Cozumel Underwater Assignment
A week on assignment in Mexico's beautiful island of Cozumel is enviable.
My Facebook friends were calling me a bastard and commenting that they hate me as I posted the pictures of white sandy beaches and aqua waters with lonesome dive boats anchored for lunch.
The week in Cozumel involved gathering facts and opinions for a review of a dive operation called "Aldora Divers" for Adventure Diver Magazine, while shooting footage for an accompanying video.
I found myself 'alpha testing' a new underwater housing for my Panasonic AF100 camera, the first of its kind. This model of camera has never been underwater. My travails began at Laguardia airport where I had to try and get some extra weight through the system… carrying, among other weighty things, 20 pounds of lead (ballast for the underwater housing). The pelican case on loan from a friend actually broke my hand held scale… not a good omen.
$325 later and 3 trips through security, I was on the plane completely stressed out, mostly by the realization that this would not be a single incident.
I spent the first three days and nights underwater trying to find the right combination of filter, iris, zoom length and lights, occasionally hitting the sweet spot and shooting great footage nestled mysteriously amongst the out-of-focus junk that would end up in the trash.
With the kinks worked out, I was left with two days of diving to try and capture the spirit of Cozumel underwater, in HD…..
Luckily I have some good footage from last year's trip to fill in the gaps.
Video to follow in a couple of weeks.
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Jan 7, 2013
Episode 145 : swimming with some big fish : Tarpon video
One night while diving in Bonaire, the Tarpon came over to the big video lights I was using and began to hunt:
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Jan 3, 2013
Qantas reaches a new stingy low point
Qantas is now charging $25 extra just to get a seat assignment !
Unbelievable.
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Jan 2, 2013
Episode 144: Fun with a new underwater housing
My friend Doctor Mike put this fun video trailer together from footage he shot of me and the new Christmas present: an underwater housing for my good video camera.
We were in 45 degree water for over an hour, inland, at a quarry filled in with water.. on new year's eve.
Coming Soon.... from DoctorMike on Vimeo.
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We were in 45 degree water for over an hour, inland, at a quarry filled in with water.. on new year's eve.
Coming Soon.... from DoctorMike on Vimeo.
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Dec 19, 2012
Feeding the sharks
People have been asking me where to find the shark feed video, so I'll embed it here:
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Dec 18, 2012
Episode 143: Rinat Shaham sings Gershwin: Video
My wife Rinat Shaham arrived back from a trip to Spain where she sand an all Gershwin Program.
She handed over 3 Bluray discs containing some pretty tough footage to edit... different kinds of files generated from different types of consumer cameras, some footage shaky, and blown out by the spotlight; other footage static and badly framed...
5 days later I'm uploading final cuts to youtube. All for a kiss on the cheek from my lovely wife.
Here's the first one:
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She handed over 3 Bluray discs containing some pretty tough footage to edit... different kinds of files generated from different types of consumer cameras, some footage shaky, and blown out by the spotlight; other footage static and badly framed...
5 days later I'm uploading final cuts to youtube. All for a kiss on the cheek from my lovely wife.
Here's the first one:
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Dec 15, 2012
Episode 142: Gun related fatality statistics
As the citizens of the United States rage against each other, polarized by the gun laws and recent and appalling gun violence against children and teachers, the social networks become like a tennis court of lobbed, vollied and smashed statistics.
Remember this fabulous line? : "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." wiki
If you are going to join the debate, try not to resort to statistics from the get go.
Statistics show that you can find statistics that will loosely back up any argument, and they are just going to anger your opponent and solidify their position with their own statistics.
For example, this 2006 graph shows "murders per capita by Country"... and the USA did not rate a mention, but Australia was #18 ! What does it mean? Don't go to Turkey in 2006.
 |
| Go to the Graph |
Nestled amongst the raging gun fatality statistics is this gem... a sortable table on wikipedia that gives 'per capita' figures, which seem to be one of the most useful ways of comparing gun crime from Nation to Nation.
 |
| Go to the Wikipedia page |
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