FEATURE

The Small Wonders Category

In the Small Wonders Category, the winner was Jim Kasson for his photo "Anemone Mouth, Beqa Lagoon, Fiji, 1993". Honorable mentions also went to:
Pieter S. van der Meulen for "Owl Face"
Jim Kasson for his photo "Orange Coral, Fiji, 1993"
John Maxwell of Vancouver, Canada for "Leaves"
Jim Kasson for his photo "Pink Flower, 1994"
Nancy J. Reynolds of for her photo "Untitled"


Anemone Mouth, Beqa Lagoon, Fiji, 1993

We didn't know what this was, but we sure liked it. This was the case with several of Jim Kasson's pieces. Kasson has a keen eye for color and composition. We found we could identify Jim's pieces by their "look," a difficult thing to achieve when you are photographing common objects like flowers (or even uncommon ones like anamonae). We loved the intricate, swirling ribbons of colour, and the rainbow progression of hues across the surface. We chose "Anemone Mouth..." over another of Jim's pieces "Orange Coral..." because it seemed to us to be the result of more "seeing" than the coral piece required. The "Orange Coral..." is a beautiful thing, but its beauty is more in the thing than in the photograph, we felt.

Kent Barrett, Vancouver, Canada
tt-photo@teletimes.com




Interview: Jim Kasson


Profile

Workwise he does research on digital computer processing of
photographic images. He has been seriously involved in photography
since a job on his school newspaper when he was 13 years old. This
is not the only photo contest he has won, and he spends up to 20hrs
a week on his own projects, he mostly does his own developing and
printing. Jim says his work has been influenced by John Sexton and
Huntington Witherill, who are black-and-white photographers on the
Monterey Peninsula. 


What does he have to say about his photo?

"The photograph of the orange coral was taken on a night dive in
Fiji. The tiny ball was hiding under a ledge in about 40 feet of
water.  The magnification is about 1:1.5. I made the photograph
with the 105 mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor AF lens, manually focused,
using two Ikelite AI/n strobes. The symmetry of the grasping 
feeding tubes and the inner glow that appears to come from the 
orange ball appeal to me."


Cameras

"The picture was taken with a Nikon F4s in an Aquatica housing.  I
also use Nikon F4s, a Nikon S2, a Hasselblad, Arca-Swiss view
cameras in 6x9 cm, 4x5 in and 8x10 in sizes, a Linhof Master
Technika, and a Plaubel Makina.


"There are only two lines of 35mm cameras with action finders
available: Nikon and Canon. When taking pictures underwater, you can't put
your eye close to the finder because you're wearing a mask.  An
action finder helps a lot.  There are add-on devices for ordinary
finders, but they darken close to the finder because you're wearing
a mask.   I use the Nikon because I've had lots of experience with
it over the years. TTL flash is welcome for underwater macro work,
and the F4s supports this feature.

 
"I use a housed camera in preference to a Nikonos V for macro work
because a) I can see the picture cropping before I make it, b) the
105 mm lens allows me a comfortable distance to the subject, c) the
105 mm lens lets me light the  subject from the front, rather than
the top or the side, as is the case when using a shorter lens at 
macro distances, d) being able to focus the lens underwater allows
me to use many different magnifications during a single dive."


Film preferences

"I use Ektar 100 and Fuji Reala underwater.  On land, I usually use
T-max 100."


Dr. Euan Taylor, Vancouver, Canada

ertaylor@unixg.ubc.ca