RASMUS RAAHAUGE
I was born in Copenhagen Denmark and work daily as a Sales Representative in the IT industry. All my savings, time off work is primarily spend on traveling, photo-equipment and diving. (Please don't tell my girlfriend)
After my first plunge in 1995 near KOS (Greece) on a introduction dive I was sold to the underwater world and the year after I got certified in Hurghada in the Red Sea. The desire for sharks and big stuff quickly became a big passion to me and my goal was to dive with as many sharks and other big animals as possible.
On a backpacker trip around south east asia in 2002 I brought with me my first point and shoot camera and got hooked with UWP and to bring home nice photographic memories to show friends and family. At that time I realized that the quality wasn't good enough and it didn't showed the world as i saw it.
In 2010 I invested in my first SLR setup and after many, many hours in the water and being among pro-shooters on several trips the quality started to get better and better and within the last 1-2 years (2012/13) my images started to get good enough to even be publish on a sites like this :-)
My diving has reached a new level and excitement when taking pictures. Dives you used to shake your head of about suddenly become very funny and interesting again.
The most demanding shots i have done was shooting and diving with Great white sharks outside the cage. To experience these beautiful and fearfull animals in their natural environment was a dream come true for me.
My bucket list is still very long but if should mention 3 things? It would be to dive and photograph blue whales, Orcas and basking sharks.
My setup today is:
Nikon D7000
Nauticam house
Lenses from Nikon 105mm and 60mm and 12-24mm
Other lenses: Tokina 10-17 fisheye
Strobes: 2 X INON Z240
Other stuff: Kenko 1,4 teleconverter, Subsee +10
Cherie-Anne Henderson -Dam is a South African living and working in Bermuda in financial services, however, she spends all her spare time planning for and going on her next dive trip across the world with her husband. Cherie obtained her dive certification one month before she left for Bermuda. Very shortly after arriving in Bermuda her and her husband took a Western Caribbean Cruise and used it as an opportunity to dive at each stop over. At that point in time she only had a dipac cover for her point and shoot. They enjoyed one of their stop offs in Roatan so much so that they went the next year to dive at Anthony's Key for a week. By then Cherie had bought a casing for her basic shoot. "I was very happy with my photos until I saw someone else's DSLR photos. I felt like I was a pre-schooler who had taken her first photo compared to the quality of a photo with a good camera and lighting. I effectively tore up my photos in my mind and thought time to upgrade!". In 2010 she invested in a Canon 7-D (well actually it was supposed to be a birthday present for her husband ;) )and an Ikelite housing for herself and some strobes. A few years ago she bought a book called "Diving the World" which her husband still insists is the most expensive book ever as one night he went to sleep and when he woke up they were booked to dive Fiji for Christmas. To date, Cherie's dive vacations have taken her to: Cozumel, Grand and Little Cayman, Belize, Roatan, South Africa, Antigua,Bahamas, Barbados, Tobago, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysian Borneo, Fiji and USA.
Cherie loves macro photography ("even when I have my wide angle lens on, I still find myself trying to take macro photos") and especially muck-diving in Indonesia. Cherie comments that she considers herself a complete amateur and since she only knows how to work a few functions in Lightroom, but nothing about Photoshop, she really has to think about taking a good photo the first time round. Cherie loves critters and the related behaviours and enjoys sharing this knowledge with others. Her photos have been printed in the local newspaper and she has been part of a panel of Citizen Scientists that shared their stories at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI). Cherie has just recently published a website to share all her dive photos - www.cheriedam.smugmug.com, but considers it to be in its infancy stages, so keep checking back for new photos.
