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Thanks to a number of talented, internationally known photographers, the Sangat Island Dive Resort website is proud to showcase over 300 still images of our resort and island, as well as numerous wreck sites, tour locations, and – of course – the magical beauty of life beneath the waves.
All those who have graciously contributed their time and photographic skills to the creation and continued expansion of www.sangat.ph are noted below.
Ruben’s photographic desires were born in 1972 after borrowing his father’s camera to take a few shots of a papaya tree. For reasons only the Photographic Gods are aware of, each image taken that afternoon yielded double exposures of papaya fruit over sentimentally-significant images of his father and friends.
After the film was developed, Ruben’s father was less than pleased; Ruben, on the other hand, was hooked.
During his early professional life as a Print Production manager at Foote, Cone & Belding Advertising (Manila), Ruben came into regular contact with many of the most prominent photographers of the time including Mark Floro, Joey Ibay and Bien Bautista. After sharing his amateur efforts with a number of these photographic luminaries, they frequently encouraged him to leave the light box and loupe behind and pick up the camera… full time.
Without any formal photographic training, Ruben finally decided to turn his passion for beautiful, interesting, evocative imagery into a business. Armed with only two cameras, a few simple photographic lights and a small studio space, Ruben began courting the photographic needs of many local and international advertising agencies.
The rest, as they say, is history.
To date, Ruben has shot for advertising giants such as Colgate Palmolive, Abott, Mead Johnson, United Laboratories, Uniliver, and the San Miguel Corporation. Notable local clients have included Philippine Long Distance Telecommunications Corporation, SMART Communications, TV5 and GMA7 networks, and more.
Balancing out his commercial advertising portfolio, Ruben has also provided stunning travel and promotional images for scores of clients throughout the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan. Throughout his career, his photography has also been featured in locally published magazines such as Inflight, Design and Architecture and Preview; in 2012 over 16 of his images were showcased within the pages of the internationally prestigious yachting periodical, Boat International.
Ruben has also recently received "Best in Photography" recognition – awarded by the Philippine Advertising Congress – for his photographic work on the GABRIELA-Summer Collection advertising campaign.
Rubin, happily married with three daughters, can be contacted via email by clicking here, or by phone at +63 [0]918-903-3240.
The Oosterschelde estuary in Zeeland (the Netherlands) is the place where Udo spends most of his time underwater. With a good eye for detail, composition and color he always tries to make photographs which breathe the same atmosphere as if you were underwater.
Udo started doing UW-photography in August 2003 with a simple point and shoot camera. Like many other underwater photographers Udo had a steep learning curve because of digital photography, which enabled him to anticipate on the result, directly on the spot.
From May 1st until July 15th 2006 he had his first exhibition in the Botanical Garden of the Delft University of Technology named: Duik eens in 'Die Zeeuwse groene soep’ (dive in the green soup of Zeeland), that showed the marine life of the Dutch Estuaries that nobody expects over there. Udo’s work was also published in several magazines and newspapers: just after the opening of this exhibition the second largest newspaper of the Netherlands used his photos for a two page article and a front cover about the Dutch marine life: 650.000 copies were spread through the country. Since 2005 he participated in several underwater photography contests where he regularly won prizes.
Besides the Dutch coastal areas Udo also dived in many other places: Brittany (F), the Cote d’ Azur (F), Red Sea (Egypt), Caribbean Sea (Mexico and Bonaire), Basque Country (ES), Galicia (ES), Lanzarote (ES) and in Portugal near Sesimbra and the Berlengas National Park and more recently in Indonesia (Wakatobi), Southwest Ireland, Cornwall (UK), Esperance (West Australia), Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island. These dive trips made it possible for him to master himself more in wide-angle-photography which is rarely possible in The Netherlands. Articles about these trips were published in Duikmagazine and duiken.
Udo's website can be viewed by clicking here.
As one of the world’s leading internationally underwater professionals shooting with compact cameras, Alex has over two dozen internationally awarded photos and recognitions from prestigious underwater film festivals and photo contests around the world. His work has been broadcasted, published in magazines and exhibited in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chicago, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Switzerland at major cities such as London, Bangkok, Athens, Prague, Cape Town and Chicago. All his underwater photography has been produced only from digital compact cameras.
He gained his passion for diving in Canadian Pacific waters and became a PADI Scuba instructor in 1996. In 2003, he dove into underwater photography with the digital camera revolution and has never come up for air since. Having shot in cold water, the tropics, low visibility diving, conservation and research diving, he has moved into the land and underwater photo journalism realm with a devotion to the oceanic environment.
Understanding the potential for shooting underwater and on land with compact cameras, he has translated his experiences, expertise and know-how of shooting with digital compacts into workshops which he teaches mainly throughout Asia in English, Thai, Cantonese and Mandarin. As well, he continues to strive for the well being of our oceans and to help preserve and improve its conditions.
Lawrence Wu's website can be viewed by clicking here.
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