NEWS
AN EDA MOVIE NIGHT WITH VOX CINEMAS
OF SHARK AND MAN FEATURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY ALLY LANDES
EDA had the pleasure of flying British Film Maker, David Diley from Scarlet View Media out to Dubai to screen his award winning film, ‘Of Shark and Man’ and hold a Q&A with EDA members on the 16th of November at VOX Cinemas in Mercato Mall. This trip was David’s first time to the UAE and we would like to thank the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project and Burj Al Arab Aquarium’s David Robinson and Warren Baverstock, and the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo’s Francis Uy and Paul Hamilton for the superb tours of their stunning and educational aquariums. We would also like to thank David for making the event such a success. David surpassed my expectations with his beautifully executed film and his profound passion for conservation work. I cannot recommend David enough to be a part of his screenings and engage with the audience. David delivered knowledgeable and interesting responses to the simplest and the most complex of questions asked of him at our member’s Q&A. There is much to be said about a person that holds such a level of commitment and responsibility to save this critically important species for our future generations. 8
A Q&A WITH DAVID DILEY Ally: David, from the Dubai screening and Q&A, what message can you give our readers to recap the night for those who were not able to attend? David: I think the main thing is, regardless of what it is you want to do, if you really want to do it, you have to commit fully, things very rarely just fall into your lap. Things very rarely just happen, so hard work, commitment and dedication are key to you achieving anything of substance. Also, if there are people out there with the same goals and aspirations as you, if you can work together, do so, it’s much more rewarding to work in a team pulling in the same direction. Ally: You also run underwater film making workshops.Tell us a little about your upcoming one in January as I know the destination is only a short flight from the UAE. This would be a great one for EDA members interested in videography. David: The workshops are a way for me to not only get more people interested in capturing moving images underwater, but to give people the skills and knowledge to actually tell stories with their films or videos that engage a viewer.
DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, DECEMBER 2016
It doesn’t have to be about conservation, it can be anything about which they’re passionate. The January workshop takes place from January 18th to 25th in Marsa Shagra in Southern Egypt. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect place, fantastic diving only a few yards from your accommodation (all shore diving is free of charge, unlimited and the workshop includes a dive on Elphinstone too), total isolation, incredible marine life (they’ve had Whale Sharks, Oceanic Whitetips and Hammerheads on the house reef and nearby sites recently), excellent visibility, friendly staff, great food and unrestricted access to myself, to ask anything they want and to engage with others in a noncompetitive environment. I had been planning what to do with my own workshop for a while as it seemed that although there are people out there doing them in various places around the world, there were very few, if any at all, that focused on actual film making, i.e. not just pointing a camera at a subject and editing the footage together to some random music, but to actually plan what you want to shoot, how to shoot it in a way which looks great and tells a story, how to edit that footage and how to convey a message. My workshops go