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In the news...
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”
Sydney Exhibition Opening of "The Coral Sea: Our Ocean Paradise."
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.
Photographs Featured by Australian Marine Conservation Society in the IUCN Red List
Dwarf Minke Whale IUCN Conservation Information
Three of my underwater images are currently being used to promote the conservation status of marine species on the IUCN Red List. The first photograph to be show-cased is of a Dwarf Minke Whale (pictured). Details on the conservation status of the Dwarf Minke Whale is detailed on the IUCN website, or you can download the pdf document. Two additional photographs will also be featured: Coral Sea Manta Rays and a photo of a Green Turtle taken on the Great Barrier Reef.
Marine conservation, and awareness of marine issues, is central to the core values of Xanthe Rivett Underwater Photography. These photographs will be used to help educate the public about the conservation status and importance of marine species.
Cairns Underwater Photography Workshop - Tues Nov 2nd 2010 - With incredible bonus offer
On Tuesday 2nd November I will be holding a 2hr workshop for $60pp at the Cairns Diving Company. Read on to find out about the bonus FREE course included with this workshop.
We all know that the underwater world contains amazing photographic opportunities, however it also presents very specific photographic challenges. This workshop is designed to deliver some of the knowledge and skills that can make a huge difference to the quality of your underwater images.
- This is an intensive workshop to learn the essentials of digital underwater photography.
- A flexible session which can be tailored to the knowledge level of participants and delivered in a small group to ensure quality of learning.
- Topics include: white balance, controlling light, exposure, composition and equipment.
To help launch my new online courses (which go live in November) anyone attending this workshop will also receive FREE enrollment in the online course “Introduction to Underwater Photography” at www.learnunderwaterphotography.com with all its resources and activities.
Please contact me to reserve your space or to register your expression of interest in the online course.
News, News, News! Exhibition, Expeditions and Online Shopping
Xanthe's art was featured in the Cairns Post
For two weeks the HUGs Art Gallery in Cairns played host to an exhibition of my underwater images. Radio and press interviews, opening nights and a steady stream of visitors kept me very busy during the exhibition, which ran for ten days. I must say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who visited the exhibition, it is always great to have feedback on your work! To read some of the feedback and see images from opening night visit my main ‘News‘ page. A special thanks to those who have given me feedback on where they have placed the images in their homes and offices and the comments they have received on them. The exhibition was a really special experience and I was lucky to have a fantastic support team.
The online store is slowly taking shape and I have rushed a few items that people have been really asking for – the ice mounted blocks, the 2011 desktop calendar and the gift cards. These are available for purchase and if you have any questions or feedback on the layout of the new store I would love to hear it!
Following the exhibition, I was able to get one day of Great Barrier Reef photography in before heading off on expedition to the Coral Sea for ten days. This was a preliminary expedition ahead of a major expedition in January so further details will be coming in the new year! Visiting the Coral Sea is always special, and this was no different. Every journey out there further convinces me of the need to protect it and I have just placed the online petition on this blog, so please add your voice.
The online underwater photography courses are starting to come together. Stay in touch as there will be a special offer along with the launch in December, just before Christmas. Gift certificates will be available.
Australian National Maritime Museum Exhibition
Images from the exhibition
To have an exhibition of my images displayed at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney has been an honour.
For three months, over 50,000 visitors perused a collection of expedition images which educated visitors on the HMCS Mermaid and Wreck Reef expeditions conducted by the Australian National Maritime Museum in association with the Silentworld Foundation. There is currently a plan in place to double the size of this exhibition and travel it to Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane and Canberra, next year.
For more information click on the below links or read the text below.
Finding the HMCS Mermaid Expedition Images
The HMCS Mermaid Expedition:
In 2009, our expedition set out to the Great Barrier Reef and a 180-year-old mystery was solved, we located the wreck site of HMCS Mermaid. Measuring only 18m in length the HMCS Mermaid was a small ship which made a huge difference to the young colony of Australia. Involved in the settlement of Brisbane, the charting of the Australian coastline and setting out a safe shipping route through the Great Barrier Reef (still used today).
The Mermaid was originally commanded by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King RN during a series of important surveys of uncharted stretches of the Australian coast that took him right around the continent in the years 1817–22. At the end of the same decade, retired from King’s service the Mermaid – refitted and under a new command – was shipwrecked on an uncharted reef south of Cairns. It was little solace that her new master, Samuel Nolbrow, had ignored instructions to take the safer inshore passage through the Great Barrier Reef that King had chartered using the Mermaid.
The Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia
The final part of the Mermaid story was the rescue of her crew after the shipwreck. The crew were rescued by a passing ship, however their woes were not over, they were shipwrecked three more times before they reached port. Each time, there was not a single loss of life. To view a video of the expedition, click here.
During the Mermaid expedition we were forced to leave the survey site when the remains of a tropical cyclone caused bad weather. This opened up the opportunity to travel north to Endeavour Reef and re-locate the stranding site of James Cook’s Endeavour, which struck the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. In terrible weather with large swells, squalls and white-outs we managed to dive Endeavour Reef and successfully locate ballast and lead sheeting from the Endeavour. These artefacts confirmed that we had re-located the stranding site. If Cook had not made it off this small patch of reef in 1770 and back to England, Australia may not have been settled by the English.
The Wreck Reef Expedition:
Wreck Reef is a very remote and pristine series of reefs and sand cays some 450km off the Queensland coast where Captain Matthew Flinders was wrecked in 1803 with his two ships the Porpoise and the Cato. Led by maritime archaeologists from the Australian National Maritime Museum supported by the Silentworld Foundation’s volunteer diving team, the expedition was a great success with the original wreck of the Porpoise being visited, the location of the wreck of the Cato being confirmed, a visit to the site of the wreck of the Mahaica, originally misidentified as the Cato, and a general survey of most of the other reefs in the Wreck Reef system.
When the Porpoise and Cato wrecked, 90 men found themselves at the mercy of the sea. It was only as daylight broke that they spotted a sand cay and were able to setup a ‘shipwreck camp’ on this small patch of sand a long way from anywhere. The third vessel which had been travelling with them, the Bridgewater, never stopped to help but sailed away, leaving the survivors to their fate. When Bridgewater reached their next port, the Captain reported the Porpoise and Cato lost with no survivors. However Matthew Flinders had managed to sail back to Sydney in one of the ship’s long boats, an incredible journey, and raise a rescue party. Ironically the Bridgewater then sailed into the Indian Ocean never to be seen again while all 90 surviving crew from the Porpoise and Cato were rescued from the sand cay.
Maritime Archeology Expedition to Wreck Reef.
A short introduction to the ‘Wreck Reef Expedition’ undertaken by the Australian National Maritime Museum and Silentworld Foundation in December 2009. Wreck Reef is a pristine series of coral reefs and cays in the Coral Sea.
This video highlights some of the natural beauty of this region and work conducted on the expedition.
Wreck Reef Expedition – Short Intro from Xanthe Rivett on Vimeo.
