X-Ray Mag

X-Ray Mag #90

Feature articles in this issue with stand-alone pdfs

Rico Besserdich   Rico Besserdich
Photo by Rico Besserdich

The aspect ratio of an image often has a noticeable effect on the visual impact and thus can be considered a powerful tool of image composition. Some aspect ratios might nowadays be considered common, some might be considered “old school,” and what may be common today could be old school tomorrow. But in photography (including underwater photography), it always pays to give image aspect ratios some deeper thought, especially when considering image composition.

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Claudia Weber-Gebert   Sergio Hanquet
Travel & Trips

Spain’s highest mountain lies off the continent of Africa and is surrounded by the deepest chasms of the Atlantic Ocean—what a unique place! And the islands where the mountain is located are just as special. We are talking about the Canary Islands, which lie in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco.

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Gareth Lock   Gareth Lock
Tech and Training

Diving is not without risk—there is always a chance of death. There is always a latent or potential lethality within the “system”—where system is defined as the equipment, people and the physical, social or cultural environment. We cannot make diving 100 percent safe despite what anyone tells you. We can make things safer, but we cannot make diving safe.

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Christiane Linkenbach   Peter Symes
Equipment

As a diver, how does one rescue oneself when in distress? Call rescue services? How do the different emergency frequencies work? Which one is the most efficient for divers?

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Andy Murch   Andy Murch
Magnificent Miamira (Miamira magnifica), Kinki, Japan. Photo by Andy Murch.
Travel & Trips

Kinki is a ruggedly beautiful peninsula in the southwest of Honshu, Japan. The area is best known for the Shinto shrines of Kumano, which sit atop forested mountains in the center of the region. Each year, thousands of tourists and devotees undertake a pilgrimage through the mountains to reach the tranquil sanctuary, which is said to be a place of physical healing. Japanese divers also flock to Kinki to enjoy the region’s fabulous abundance of endemic marine life.

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Edited by Gunild Symes   Mira Nedyalkova
Lifestyle & Art

Mira Nedyalkova is a Bulgarian artist and photographer based in Sofia who creates stunning, sensual, surreal and evocative imagery by approaching photography and the element of water with the touch of a painter.

X-Ray Mag interviewed the artist to gain insight into her thought-provoking art and her creative process.

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Pete Mesley  
Equipment

One of the things close to everyone’s thoughts is diver safety. We spend good money on quality dive gear and prudently have it frequently serviced and maintained, as this equipment will be sustaining our lives while underwater. But what about when we are on the surface? Just how many of us really do think about getting lost at sea? We assume that the dive boat will be there when we surface but do not really think much about the consequences if it is not.

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Michael Menduno   aquaCORPS
Tech and Training

Today, the practice of “deep air” diving, and to a large extent, air diving itself has been related to the annals of sport diving history. Nitrox has become near ubiquitous as the diving gas of choice for shallow-water diving, and the trend, as pioneered by Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is for divers to switch to helium mixes for dives beyond about 100ft/30m.

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Simon Pridmore   Simon Pridmore
Tech and Training

At some point, many keen divers entertain the notion of giving up their 9-to-5 job and following the dream of becoming a professional scuba diver, making a living from their hobby and combining work with passion. After all, the advertisements for instructor courses in the dive magazines make it sound easy. All you have to do is sign up, fork out the dough and take the plunge. What could possibly go wrong?

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Vic Verlinden   Vic Verlinden
Wrecks & Archaeology

The armored cruiser Carl Friedrich was constructed in the year 1902 at the well-known shipyard of Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany. The armored cruiser had a length of 126m and was equipped with an impressive array of guns and torpedo launchers. She was the second ship of the Prinz Adalbert class when she was commissioned by the Imperial German Navy on the 12 December 1903.

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Don Silcock   Don Silcock
Travel & Trips

Often referred to as the Oriental Galapagos, the Ogasawara Archipelago is located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, about 1,000km south of Tokyo and is one of the most isolated and remote parts of Japan. The isolation of the archipelago, combined with the fact that the islands have never been connected to a continent, is said to have produced a “Galapagos effect” with flora and fauna that is unique to the islands. Plus, because they comprise some of the very few significant land masses in the northwestern Pacific, they provide a much-needed safe refuge for many endangered species.

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Sabine Kerkau   Sabine Kerkau
Wrecks & Archaeology

It was pure coincidence that led my expedition team and me to Lithuania for the first time in September 2016. Our goal was to dive the battleship SMS Friedrich Carl. What we did not know before this first visit was that we would discover the “El Dorado” of pristine wrecks in Lithuania, which could keep us busy for many years.

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