Jump to >>> Expedition
Merits | Publishing Merits
| Speaker Merits | Images
Leigh Bishop is a professional HSE qualified diver
regarded by many as Britain's foremost deep wreck photographer.
Born in Northamptonshire England in 1968 he later began diving
at the age of 21 where he quickly established himself on the technical
scene during its infantile years. Utilizing mix gas to explore
deep wrecks around the British Isles since 1991 his later 1997
King
Edward expedition off North Scotland became the first of its
kind to explore wrecks beyond 100m depths in European waters.
With little material available on the subject of deep 35mm stills
he took to photography specifically for the Britannic 98 expedition
carving his own path in a somewhat specialized field. Concentrating
more so towards lost 20th Century Ocean liners his passion for
this calibre of shipwreck has steered him to some of history's
most famous shipwrecks, photographically cataloguing each one
as he explores them. During several expeditions to the Lusitania
he has accumulated almost ten hours physically on the wreck building
the most extensive collection of images of the wreck to date.
More recently he has photographed the WWII liner Transylvania
sunk in 135m/445ft off the north Atlantic. During 2001 along with
fellow members of the internationally renowned deep wreck diving
team 'Starfish Enterprise' he brought back the first images of
the lost gold treasure shipwreck 'Egypt'
sunk in deep water off the edge of Biscay (Western Atlantic).
Again in 2001 Leigh Bishop made the discovery of the famous shipwreck
Flying
Enterprise lost in 1952. In his opinion we are currently in
the golden age of shipwreck exploration and even after a decade
of specialized deep exploration himself, he alone believes his
has only just scraped the surface of what's to come. In order
to overcome depth & gas logistics of deep exploration he utilizes
closed circuit technology to explore deeper shipwrecks year upon
year. Together with the team he has documented for the first time
countless shipwrecks through collective time capsulated periods.
Established, as the team's main researcher Leigh had been responsible
for much of the location work during their successful career throughout
the decade of the 1990's. When not diving or researching a project
he lectures & writes extensively having successfully published
on the subject of deep wreck exploration throughout the world
since 1994. Interestingly enough Leigh Bishop does not make his
living through his writing, research and rare photographic material
but has a career as a full time fire fighter with the Hertfordshire
Fire & Rescue Service, the county where he also lives with
his family. His images have been published within dozens of shipwreck
books worldwide although his photographic & research efforts
are now focused more towards his own personal projects. Nikon
& Aquatica photographic equipment are the workhorse behind
Leigh's shipwreck images, which today evolve more towards ambient
light monochrome. As he describes every photographer eventually
finds their creative inner-self, capturing classic shipwrecks
on monochrome film using natural light & long exposures with
a tripod is something special indeed. These classic
images are the backbone of his entertaining presentations,
as seen at some of the larger UK diving events.
Bio research & words reproduced
for deep image courtesy of John Spencer
Notable shipwreck
exploration & photographic projects to date
Britannic
98
- White Star line (Sister to Olympic & Titanic) Aegean
Sea 400ft/120m
Egypt
- P&O Liner carrying Gold Atlantic 420ft/127m
Transylvania -Anchor Line Liner Atlantic 445ft/135m
Lusitania - Cunard Liner Celtic Sea 307ft/93m
Justicia - White Star line liner Atlantic 231ft/70m
HMS King Edward VII - Pre dreadnought Battleship North
Scotland 380ft/115m.
HMS
Limbourne - Destroyer English Channel 280ft/85m
HMS
Charybdis -Anti Aircraft cruiser English Channel 280ft/85m
HMS Affray - Submarine English Channel 280ft/85m
HMS M1 - Submarine English Channel 247ft/75m
Flying
Enterprise - Cargo vessel Atlantic /western approaches
280ft/85m
U767-
Important German Type VIIC WW2 UBoat lost of France 247ft/75m
HMS
Audacious
- Photographic assignment in the North Atlantic 231ft/70m
click here
La Negra- 8,000-ton WW1 Steam ship lost in the English
Channel.280ft/85m
RMS Tuscania - WW1 sensitive US liner loss, Photographic
assignment North Channel 2002
Wilhelm
Gustloff - The Nazi Liner that sank in the Baltic
Sea with 7700 lives. 45m/150ft
Titanic Expedition 2003- The 2003 Scientific
expedition aboard the Russian ship Keldysh
HMS
Vandal - Lost British Submarine off North West Scotland
100m/330ft depth
Britannic
2003 The expedition that found the answers. Leigh
Bishop lead photographer
Plus many more independent discoveries and wreck identifications.
Notable
Publishing Merits
Leigh Bishop has successfully published articles, features and
photographs in many best selling magazines as well as American
& English books and major newspapers. His Images have been
used in many advertising campaigns for the promotion of diving
manufacturers equipment and popular publications. He has contributed
to all of the UK's diving magazines although now specifically
contributes to DIVER magazine and 990 magazine. As well as the
UK market his material has been published extensively in Ireland,
United States of America and Germany. Underwater images of shipwrecks
and divers taken by Leigh Bishop have appeared on countless covers
of various magazines. As well as writing commercially his photography
has appeared on the cover of the British Society of Underwater
Photographers
magazine
on more than one occasion and his deep wreck imaging articles
have inspired other photographers. During the summer of 2003 he
worked on a specific assignment to photograph the worlds largest
sunken Ocean Liner,'Britannic' and of course on monochrome film.
A wreck he had been waiting to photograph in Blk & White since
his last expedition to the wreck in Sept 1998.
Public Speaker & Conference
Merits
Being involved in ground breaking deep shipwreck explorations
Leigh Bishop has been able to relay the story's behind these discoveries
as a public speaker, lecturer and conference adviser to hundreds
of people. His presentations were a direct result of successful
image creation and as he admits something that makes his job as
a public speaker somewhat easier even to audiences of up to 5-600
people. Originally asked to present on the Britannic 98 expedition
to a local club he has now conducted dozens of presentations and
lecturers around the British Isles. Together with fellow diving
colleague Geraint Ffoulkes Jones, Leigh Bishop donated all of
the proceeds of the Britannic talks to charity. His credits as
a public speaker to date include the NEC DIVE show on two separate
occasions, conferences in Scotland and Wales, Warwick University,
Imperial Colleague London, Birmingham University as well as many
UK dive clubs. In February of 2003 he was invited to speak at
the
International
shipwreck conference at Plymouth university and later in 2003
made his first appearance as a speaker at the European photographic
seminar
'Visions
in the Sea' at Kings College Waterloo London. He continues
to attend conferences and major dive shows were audiences continue
to enjoy his presentations with evocative images from the wrecks
as they are today.
Bio research & words reproduced for deep image
courtesy of John Spencer
Images
From the left; Lusitania 2000 expedition using Open Circuit,
the NEC DIVE show 2002, Skin Deep Dive charter Weymouth England
with 2001 sponsored suit. Finally using the Cis Lunar Mk4 mixed
gas rebreather in Scotland 1995.
Thanks to Kev Pickering for the NEC image.
If you wish to contact Leigh Bishop for a particular reason please
use the
contact form
