| Martin Edge was born in Staffordshire, England in 1955, where he lived and grew up without any inclination towards diving or photography. Years later, together with his wife Sylvia they moved to the Dorset coastline and in 1977 it was here that they both learnt to dive in the temperate waters around Swanage, Weymouth and Portland. Soon after, driven by a desire to travel, explore and experience warm water diving they visited the Island of Minorca in the Mediterranean and Martin took his first underwater photographs. He had never had any particular interest or tuition in photography but his desire to shoot pictures underwater grew into a passion bordering on an obsession. Frustrated by a lack of knowledge of camera equipment and how to best use it underwater, he set out to understand the 'minds eye' of those underwater photography whose work he most admired. In the 1980's he participated in numerous underwater photography competitions obtaining many awards from all over the world. He began to write articles on such a diverse range of subjects simply has a medium to get his work published.
Once judges and peers had vindicated his efforts in competitions, he quickly identified that his passion and potential was to teach and develop other aspiring underwater photographers. Over the last 20 years he has done just that. Introduced, developed, motivated and mentored hundreds of underwater photographers including many of the finest in the UK today.
In April 2006 his third edition: The Underwater Photographer Digital and Traditional Techniques was published. This has taken the underwater world by storm and is the Bible on the topic. It has won awards in UK and overseas and has been voted as "The best book ever written on the subject". A Spanish translation of the 3rd edition was published in November 2006 and is available from Anaya Multimedia. Russian, Cezch and German translations will be available in June 2008. When not travelling Martin offers personalised 1:1 tuition with programmes tailored to meet an individual's needs and budget. He adopts a modular approach enabling photographers to select areas of specific interest. See below for further details.
Signed copies of the 3rd edition can be obtained by contacting Martin or Sylvia by email at martin@edgeunderwaterphotography.com
The other half of this successful partnership is Martins wife Sylvia who has also 30 years of diving, travel and photo experience behind her. Sylvia is responsible for tropical workshop logistics and planning. She acts as buddy and photo model to workshop participants and frequently provides a 'one to one' facility on every topic from underwater modelling to advanced composition.
A third member of the Edge family has now joined the team. 18 year old Jamie is hoping to follow in the family foot-steps by pursuing a career in marine life video photography.He has worked in Australia, Red Sea and Greece during 2007.
Go to http://www.scuba.co.uk//Travel/Escorted/martin_edge.htm for more information about their tropical workshops and teaching style
Personal Underwater Photographic Tuition with Martin Edge
Martin Edge offers 1:1 tuition with programmes tailored to meet an individual’s needs and budget. Martin adopts a modular approach enabling photographers to select areas of specific interest and for those who want to combine teaching with practice he offers an accompanied underwater photography session in a swimming pool.
The modules are outlined below. It is not necessary to select the teach-in modules ahead of time. Many find it helpful to determine the areas of focus after the introductory photo clinic. A typical full day programme consists of the introductory photo clinic/critique, agreed topics/teach-ins and a swimming pool session with review and Photoshop skills if necessary.
Photo Clinic
Is a 1 – 11/2 hour session during which Martin reviews and critiques your own photographs to determine style, trends and specific areas for improvement. This session always provides direction for which teach-in sessions to select.
Teach-ins. Each teach-in runs for 45-60 minutes. During a one day programme a variety of these topics can be accommodated. They are numerous but often include:
Practical Pool Session
This provides the opportunity to put all the teaching and tips into practise in an accompanied photographic session with Martin. The results are reviewed and critiqued.
When booking a programme Martin will need to know what photographic equipment you use and you will need to bring all your photographic equipment with you. For those who have yet to take the ‘plunge’ digital camera hire is available free of charge.
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