Above/below iceberg with penguin

Friday, April 10, 7:30pm: Chillin’ and Krillin’ with Patrick Webster

In-person at Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo (Monterey) and online by Zoom

From humble Breakwater beginnings to picturesque polar plunging, join Pat as he shares his work documenting the chilliest underwater critters from the High Arctic of Canada and Greenland, all the way to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia. You won't want to miss these breathtaking cold-water photos and expedition stories! ❄️📸

Note is that meetings are moving back to the 2nd Friday of the month.  And BIG news, the meetings are going to be hybrid: in person in Monterey at Backscatter and simultaneously on zoom.  If you can get there in person, it should be a great time.

Meeting - Friday, April 10, 2026

In-person:
Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo
225 Cannery Row, Monterey, California

Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87943932660?pwd=1bMjoezzGpivMGrdmesjHeHjGhmI8Z.1

Patrick Webster is a marine media monkey politely pushing pixels as an underwater photographer and science communicator based out of Monterey Bay, California. Raised in the foothills of the French Alps and on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden, Pat fell in love with the ocean when he was five years old thanks to the sea otters of the Pacific's kelpy coast. After successfully sliming his way through marine biology and scientific diving classes as a UC Santa Cruz SCUBA Slug, Pat spent the last decade combining subtidal storytelling and his word asso-sea-ocean syndrome to entertain and educate about the wonders of our water world as the (former) social media guy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Diving in his backyard kelp cathedral, with its gelatinous booger-beasts and tasteful nudibranchs, Patrick’s personal passion to see the sea shared from the seashore has grown into an award-winning science communication career as “@underwaterpat” on Instagram and YouTube. He’s grateful to have had the opportunity to produce words, photos and videos that various outlets and conservation efforts have used to help tell their stories, including Nat Geo, The New York Times, The Nature Conservancy, BBC, PBS, TEDx, NPR, Scuba Diving Magazine, and other legacy media

Bio pulled from https://www.expeditions.com/about/expedition-team/patrick-webster

 

Mini Competition

Some big changes here too. Read the full details on our website on the competition page.  But the quick big ticket items:

  • Still Photo and Video competitions each month.  Enter either or both!

  • Competition will be judged with comments provided instead of the old voting approach.

  • NEW DEADLINE for entry.  Since we’re using judges, we need to get images to them and give them time to actually do the judging.  So, going forward, please submit your images via the link below (or on the the competition page) by the 15th of the prior month. So, for April, you would submit by Mar 15.

All of the minicomp themes are on our here with convenient upload links.  You can upload your picture for any month at any time UP UNTIL the deadline.  

March Minicomp

April’s theme is Sunbeams. Those have to already have been submitted. And in fact, they’ve already been judged. Images were due 3/15. Come to the meeting to see the winners.

The  May competition is California.  And those images are due by 4/15.  Get them in on time, please!  Please name your files like this 01YourName.jpg.  Upload May entries here.

And remember, entering is a good idea.  For 2026, we have 2 BIG annual prizes:

  • Best Photographer. $100 prize for the person with the highest cumulative score during the year.

  • Best Shot. Another $100 prize will be awarded to the best photo of the year (based on the first place winners during the January to November time frame).

NCUPS Background

The Northern California Underwater Photographic Society (NCUPS) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that promotes interest in underwater photography. The club has been active since 1957, sponsoring educational events on both underwater photography and video while promoting awareness of the underwater environment and pertinent ecological issues. NCUPS serves the greater San Francisco Bay area, including Silicon Valley. FEIN 94-3278015

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