I was recently interviewed by the Inner West Courier about my underwater photography and participation in the Protect Our Coral Sea photography exhibition.  The resulting article by Rashell Habib is below:

“UNDERWATER photography is Xanthe Rivett’s love. She is happiest when she is somewhere she can blow bubbles. Rivett is one of several underwater photographers whose work will be showcased at Strathfield Plaza next week. ‘I find underwater photography is an opportunity to bring the underwater world topside,’ she said.
‘When I’m down there floating around in this beautiful world, it is really about how I can bring, even a bit of the essence of this to the people out there.’

Rivett has also filmed and produced a number of videos on the underwater world. Her current chosen diving venue is the Coral Sea.  ‘The Coral Sea has completely captured my heart, it is an isolated wilderness and really unspoiled.’

Rivett’s work will help Pew Environment Group Australia continue the Protect our Coral Sea campaign.  Pew is calling on the federal government to establish a protected marine park in the Coral Sea that will provide a safe haven for marine life”

Working on the Protect Our Coral Sea campaign I am often asked about our spokefish ‘Barry’.  In Cairns all maori wrasse have become known as ‘Wally’ however there is also a ‘Rocky’ and in Airlie Beach, unfortunately ‘Elvis’ has left the building but Priscilla is slowly turning into a Prince and George and Georgina are still alive and well. There is no doubt these fish have grabbed the hearts of locals and visitors alike.  The humphead or maori wrasse (or sometimes humphead maori wrasse) is the largest member of the wrasse family.  At Osprey Reef, in the Coral Sea Conservation Zone, the maori wrasse are not as friendly and approachable as those at the popular Cairns dive sites.  However, it is the only place I have ever had the good fortune of witnessing a spawning aggregation.

Maori wrasse start off life as females and while some will become males in later life, others spend their entire lives as females.  It is these older females that are the most valuable to the species, as they are able to produce the most eggs, while it is the males that have endeared themselves to people with their bold approaches.  The females are a green grey and the males a deep blue-green (see picture).  Maori wrasse live for around 30 years and can be found down to 100m in depth.  They have been heavily targeted as a highly prized food fish in some countries.

My affection for these animals is strong.  I spent many dives in the company of ‘Elvis’, the most memorable of which was when I discovered him one morning with a fishing hook in his mouth and 15m of line trailing behind him.  A boat had moored in the bay during the night and obviously been fishing the green zone under the cover of darkness.  Elvis had been caught and then broken the line. He approached me that morning in wide circles with his fins down tightly on his body (a stance that reminded me of an unwell puppy’s drooping ears).  As he circled me I realised that it was going to be tough to get him close enough to really help, I spent the next twenty minutes with Elvis, trimming sections of fishing line off until there was only 2m and the hook left.  With the weight of the line removed, Elvis was able to spit the hook out.  Free of his burden, he didn’t hang around to offer his thanks but took off as fast as he could.  We didn’t see him for a few days, and then the news came across the boat radio ‘Elvis is back’.  On other dives Elvis would approach silently behind me, as I swam backwards watching the divers I was guiding, I would see (one by one) their eyes open up incredibly wide, slowly turning around my mask would be filled with the sight of a blue-green mouth.  If he was a human I would swear this was Elvis’ favourite joke to play, to see how close he could get before I realised he was there, and then enjoy seeing me jump.  I never fed Elvis, and so encounters were always on his terms, and it always felt like a privilege to have him choose to join us for while.

Maori wrasse have been listed on the the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 1996, initially as Vulnerable and since 2004 as Endangered. However, these beautiful fish, while protected in Western Australia and Queensland waters (including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park) are still legally caught in Australia’s federal waters and the Northern Territory.

It is Minke Magic time again.  Divers, snorkellers and underwater photographers are all lining up to head out into the Great Barrier Reef to get up close with the Minke Whales.  This special event happens for just two months each year.  At this point it is not fully understood where the dwarf minke whales come from, or where they go to.  What is known is that the travel through the deep waters of the Coral Sea (off the continental shelf) and then move into the shallower waters around the Ribbon Reefs for what appears to be a time of socialising.  Experience a close encounter with Minke Whales is a special experience.  Watch this great video for more information.  If you wish to experience an encounter, make sure you travel with an operator that has a Minke Whale Permit.  These operators all contribute to scientific research and our knowledge of Minke Whales, in addition they have signed up to a strict code of conduct to protect the whales and ensure encounters do not adversely impact their behaviour.

In 2009 I accompanied the Australian National Maritime Museum on two archaeological expeditions to remote coral reefs off the coast of Queensland.  The opportunity to be the underwater photographer and videographer on these expeditions was an absolute privilege and a highlight of my career.  In 2010 an exhibition of my images from these expeditions was displayed at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.  The museum has since expanded the exhibition to 33 images which will now go ‘on tour’… first stop, Geelong in Victoria.

The aim of these expeditions, sponsored by the Silentworld Foundation, were to locate the site of His Majesty’s Colonial Schooner Mermaid, wrecked in 1829 on the Great Barrier Reef, and to survey the sites of His Majesty’s Ship Porpoise and the merchant ship Cato, both lost more than 400 kilometres offshore from present day Gladstone (in the Coral Sea) on the Wreck Reefs in 1803.

The expeditions would also provide marine scientists the opportunity to investigate the physical condition of the various reefs encountered during the work and to seek possible evidence of the impact of climate change on these reefs.

Wrecks, Reefs and the Mermaid is a display of 33 photographs I have taken, illustrating the Museum’s work, on these coral reefs.

Exhibition itinerary

National Wool Museum  VIC
9 November 2011 – 12 February 2012
26 Moorabool Street  Geelong  VIC  3220
http://www.nwm.vic.gov.au/

Eden Killer Whale Museum  NSW
18 February – 20 May 2012
184 Imlay Street  Eden NSW  2551
www.killerwhalemuseum.com.au/

Parkes Shire Library  NSW
July – September 2012
Bogan Street  Parkes NSW  2870
www.parkes.nsw.gov.au/library.html

Bribie Island Seaside Museum  QLD
October – November 2012
1 South Esplanade  Bongaree  Bribie Island QLD
www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/subsite.aspx?id=72406

Manning Regional Art Gallery  NSW
8 December 2012 – 8 March 2013
12 Macquarie Street  Taree NSW  2430
www.fogsmanningvalley.com.au

‘The Coral Sea: Our Ocean Paradise’ exhibition opens this week in Cairns and aims to capture the beauty of the Coral Sea with 25-pieces of underwater art. This is a group exhibition and I am proud to have some of my work featured alongside artists such as Jurgen Freund, Mark Spencer, Lucy Tripett, Tyrone Canning and Nicola Temple.

The exhibition is in support of the Protect Our Coral Sea campaign, a joint effort supported by regional, national and international conservation organisations. This year, we are calling on the federal government to establish a very large, world-class,highly protected marine park in the Coral Sea that will provide a safe haven for marine life and recognise its historic significance.

The images will be on display at:
Stockland Shopping Centre, Earlville  3-5th June 2011.
Smithfield Shopping Centre Cairns 27th-29th May 2011
Cairns Central Shopping Centre 13th-22nd May 2011

For more information on the exhibition, please visit:
http://www.protectourcoralsea.org.au/news-media/north-queensland-upcoming-events

This year the Cairns Underwater Film Festival (CUFF) is back and I am proud to be involved both as a board member and also a photo competition judge.  Although one look at the prize pool is enough to make me wish I was entering!  There are some incredible prizes on offer to top destinations.  The underwater photography competition requires entries to be taken in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.

Previously the festival has been run as a business by Christian Botella, however this year he has handed the running over to a team (the CUFF board) of volunteers, which Christian is still a part of.  The CUFF team then made the unanimous decision to volunteer their time and return all profit from the festival back to the community through donations to local marine conservation groups and other worthwhile causes.  Please visit the CUFF website for more information on this years festival and also the photo competition.

It is hard to create a beautiful image if you don’t first have beautiful thoughts floating through your mind. This includes being able to focus on the nature around you rather than camera issues or frustrations you have brought on your dive with you..

There are dives underwater when, your shots aren’t working and you realise things just aren’t going your way. Sometimes this is a result of equipment issues, bad weather or simply putting too much importance on getting good shots. It is times like these I like to put the camera down and get back to the point of being underwater in the first place: enjoying the serenity, beautiful surroundings and spectacular life. One of the great things about scuba diving is of course weightlessness; and it is amazing how quickly you can relax when suspended in blue water with just the sound of your breathing.

I am not a student of Buddhism. When I refer to ‘Zen’ I talk about getting to the mental state where you find yourself humming “let’s go fly a kite” while gliding around underwater without a care in the world. When you are in this mental state underwater it is amazing how easy it becomes to pick out beautiful photographic opportunities. Your dive once again becomes an activity which is enriched by your photography rather than taken over it.

Of course not everyone can become an underwater Zen master, and “let’s go fly a kite” wouldn’t be everyone’s choice of underwater song (in fact some people may wonder about my mental state by suggesting it). My point however, is that diving is a joy and photography is there to enhance it, rather than take over it. If you would like to become an underwater Zen master to help your photography, get in touch…

Philippines, PNG (again), Truk Lagoon, Coral Bay / Ningaloo (in Western Australia), Wolf Rock (near Fraser Island on Australia’s east coast), the Yongala Wreck (again), Coral Sea, Fiji, Tonga, Raja Ampat in Indonesia.  There are so many spectacular dive sites, both locally and internationally that I would love to dive and photograph.  What is you dream list?  Are you doing any this year?

Or perhpas diving and underwater photography for you is all about keeping it local?  While I love heading out to explore new areas and see the differences in coral reefs and critters all over the world, the bulk of my portfolio will always be the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.   We are lucky in Cairns to have such a great marine backyard and with my underwater photography workshops getting more popular I am looking forward to sharing it with lots of people this year, along with working towards the protection of the Coral Sea.  If you would like to know more about either the workshops or how you can help establish a marine park in the Coral Sea, please get in touch.

Last weekend I headed to Sydney for the opening of my latest exhibition “The Coral Sea: Our Ocean Paradise”.  This is a group exhibition held to raise awareness of the campaign to protect the Coral Sea.  A group exhibition, it was a privilege to see some of my images displayed next to the work of artists I have looked up to for many years.  The Arthouse Hotel continues to host the exhibition and it will be on display there until the 9th April before traveling to Brisbane (or more specifically Mooloolaba) and then Cairns.

Opening night was a fantastic evening and a big thank you to all who attended.  It was a success in terms of the exhibition looking fantastic in the surrounds of the Arthouse Hotel and also it achieved its aim of raising awareness. For more information about the campaign, please visit: Protect Our Coral Sea.  A big thank you also to those from the campaign who worked hard to get the exhibition together and for selecting me as one of the showcased photographers.

Dwarf Minke Whales are curious and friendly whales that inhabit the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. They also make a great underwater photography subject. The species was identified in the late 1990′s as separate from its northern hemisphere counterpart and has been closely studied ever since. A task that has been made much easier by the whale’s own behaviour as it commonly approaches divers and snorkellers to ‘check them out’

The Dwarf Minke Whale’s inquisitive nature have made it very popular. Dwarf Minke Whales seek out interactions with snorkelers and divers – one of most special experiences you can have in the ocean. The Minke Whales are sighted (most commonly) between June and July each year, and the hotspot for interactions is the Ribbon Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. The whales arrive here from the deep waters of the Coral Sea, but where they migrate to or from remains a mystery.

To understand more about the minke whales, especially the great research being done by JCU scientists, please download the minke whale project newsletter or join the Minke Whale Project Facebook group Friends of Minke Whales.

Creating great images of minke whales can be challenging due to the fact that minke whales turn up during the ‘trade winds’ when seas are often rough and the sky grey. Their close approaches can mean that you cannot frame and compose the entire animal as it is simply TOO CLOSE! Plus with both dark areas and bright white on the fins exposure needs to be just right. The results however make the challenge very worthwhile.  A wide angle lens and the sun behind you, shoot with natural light and adjust the exposure down a stop to avoid overexposing the fins.   When you are in the water with a minke whale, do not swim toward it, let it approach you and this makes the whale more bold, often resulting in spectacularly close encounters.