The New York Underwater Photographic Society (NYUPS) is a sub-group of the NYC Sea Gypsies dive club. I’m not 100% sure but I think the Sea Gypsies might be the largest dive club in the US. It is definitely the largest dive club in New York. The Sea Gypsies dive club was founded in 1971 by local scuba divers and instructors and is operated as a not-for-profit club.

Every month the Sea Gypsies hosts a combination of evening lectures, local diving, out of town diving and other social events. Dive club membership is $20 per year. You do not need to be a member to attend club meetings. However, if you would like to dive with the club, you will need to be a member.

NYUPS is a cluster of mostly underwater photographers and videographers. The group also meets monthly to discuss underwater imaging techniques and show images from recent dives. Note, you do not need to be a member to participate. Our meetings are generally held at a local bar in the city. We just ask everyone to purchase an entrée and drink since the bar gives us space at no-charge. For the last two months, we have assembled in the back section of a bar called Gossip on the west side of Manhattan.

This month our theme was – “Best Underwater Images From 2019”. I presented the video above to the group entitled “Compact Moments“.

For those that follow this blog, you might have viewed some of the clips in previous posts. Sorry about the redundancy. After all, they are my favorite images from last year.

These are the underwater creatures featured in this short film:

• Dugong – Marsa Alam, Egypt
• Spotted Jellyfish – Dauin, Philippines
• Spiny Devilfish – Dumaguete, Philippines
• Wunderpus Octopus – Dumaguete, Philippines
• Needle Cuttlefish – Komodo, Indonesia
• Whitemargin Stargazer – Komodo, Indonesia
• Peacock Mantis Shrimp – Komodo, Indonesia
• Manta Ray – Komodo, Indonesia
• Marbled Ray – Komodo, Indonesia
• Napoleon Wrasse – Red Sea, Egypt (Somewhere in the south)

Sea Gypsies & NYUPS will have a booth at Beneath the Sea (BTS) in late March. BTS is a consumer scuba diving trade show held annually in New Jersey. This year the club will be displaying member images at the trade show. I will be submitting the above underwater video. Hopefully, it will be accepted and presented during the dive show.

I shot all of the images with the following underwater equipment: Gopro Hero 6 Black or Gopro Hero 8 Black, Sealife Sea Dragon 2500 Lumen Lights, Red Filters from Backscatter and PolarPro. In the middle of the year, I took advantage of Gopro’s upgrade offer and traded the Hero 6 for the Hero 8. I’m pleased with the improved image quality of the Hero 8 and a few of the new operational features. I particularly appreciate the ability set up to 10 custom programs. Here’s a link to my current underwater set-up.

Hope everyone enjoys my underwater video!