Hans Gerd Broeder
My name is Hans Gerd Broeder, year of completion 1952. In the 1970's, while being in Trincomalee, Sri lanka, I was infected with the "underwater world"- virus for the first time: I fell almost instantly for the room-sized, multi-storied Coral clusters, which unfortunately were destroyed in the last civil war and by a tsunami. From that time on, the "virus" slumbered deep within me - until, a few years ago, I visited the Island Bunaken which lies off the shore of northern Sulawesi, Indonesia.
As the diehard snorkeler I had been 2 years ago, I made the following experience at the islands local reef: A gigantic swarm of countless tuna, at least 50 meters long and ten meters in height, passed me by like a big, rotating roll . The silvery-blue reflections caused by light of the perfectly shining 3 pm sun took my breath away. Noone among the hotel guests believed me, only the natives did. It was this experience that marked the birth of my passion for underwater photography.
Since 2009 I've been trying out different underwater compact cameras ( for example, Olympus tough, Sony TX5 and TX7 with underwater casing), but I was never really satisfied with the results until I started using the G12 from Canon. Almost all pictures and movies offered were shot with that inexpensive compact camera.
However, starting September 2011, I will try out a professional SLR camera ( the Nikon D 300S) for the first time, hopefully giving me the chance for further development.
