Howard Hall - The Master!

The one and only Howard Hall

Check out Mike's blog post about Howard Hall and Richard Pyle.

He then followed it up by posting Howard's "Best of 2011" showreel which I have shared before but hadn't watched for a while. Watching it again clearly reaffirms my belief that Howard is nothing less than a God of the underwater image world.

The Blue Ocean in RED from Howard Hall on Vimeo.

As an aspiring film-maker and underwater cameraman, it's impossible not to watch this and be utterly inspired. Capturing moving image is an art form and as cameras become more and more advanced, it adds more for the cameraman to consider to ensure his or her shots are crystal clear, beautifully composed and that they tell a story. Doing it underwater is an even more difficult task and Howard is one of those who makes it all look effortless and for those of us who fell in love with the ocean and all its life, Howard's footage almost certainly influenced that passion.

I have a fair few heroes in the shark and underwater world, Stan Waterman, who is one of the biggest influences on my life, a charismatic and immensely talented story teller who revolutionised underwater film-making. Ron and Valerie Taylor, the greatest single motivators for my passion for sharks, Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch who wrote what I consider the greatest shark book ever written,
Samuel "Doc" Gruber, the shark expert, a charismatic, hugely intelligent and inspiring genius who runs Bimini Shark Lab and who has probably done more to educate the world about sharks than anybody and Dr Eugenie Clark, a woman who still at the grand age of 90, works tirelessly on behalf of marine life and who was diving with sharks without cages long before people accepted it could be done with a degree of safety.

There are many others and Mike's posting of Howard's video reminded me that I owe all these people a debt of thanks and gratitude for inspiring me to love sharks as much as I do and hopefully, one day, I can grow into being 10% as amazing as they are.

In the meantime, please take a minute to watch and marvel at Howard's 2011 showreel, the man is a colossus of the moving image.