A Japanese-led team of scientists has captured on film the world’s first live images of a giant squid, journeying to the depths of the ocean in search of the mysterious creature thought to have inspired the myth of the “kraken”, a tentacled monster. The images of the silvery, three-meter (10 feet) long cephalopod, looming out of the darkness nearly 1 km below the surface, were taken last July near the Ogasawara islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo. READ ON: First images of giant squid filmed in deep ocean
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A Japanese-led team of scientists has captured on film the world’s first live images of a giant squid, journeying to the depths of the ocean in search of the mysterious creature thought to have inspired the myth of the “kraken”, a tentacled monster.

The images of the silvery, three-meter (10 feet) long cephalopod, looming out of the darkness nearly 1 km below the surface, were taken last July near the Ogasawara islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.

READ ON: First images of giant squid filmed in deep ocean

To get different angles I jumped into the water almost every day to change positions and lenses. I spent almost 8 hours over the last two weeks in the Olympic pool doing 25 dives to adjust, replace or rescue the remote controlled underwater camera. This was definitely longer in the Olympic pool than stars like Michael Phelps from the U.S. spent. To get this special perspective from below, we brought 6 Peli Cases containing some 200 kg (440 pounds) of equipment including 150 meters (yards) of power and network cables to the Aquatics Centre to place the underwater camera in the water.  Often, I discovered that it is possible to sweat underwater. Those with diving knowledge know that 20 minutes for a dive, including getting into full scuba gear, getting into the pool and getting on your back under the water, is a very short amount of time. This would have been impossible without the friendly help of Simon and his dive crew.  READ ON: Underwater Olympics by Reuters photog Michael Dalder
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To get different angles I jumped into the water almost every day to change positions and lenses. I spent almost 8 hours over the last two weeks in the Olympic pool doing 25 dives to adjust, replace or rescue the remote controlled underwater camera. This was definitely longer in the Olympic pool than stars like Michael Phelps from the U.S. spent.

To get this special perspective from below, we brought 6 Peli Cases containing some 200 kg (440 pounds) of equipment including 150 meters (yards) of power and network cables to the Aquatics Centre to place the underwater camera in the water. 

Often, I discovered that it is possible to sweat underwater. Those with diving knowledge know that 20 minutes for a dive, including getting into full scuba gear, getting into the pool and getting on your back under the water, is a very short amount of time. This would have been impossible without the friendly help of Simon and his dive crew. 

We have developed a remote-controlled “underwater photographer” that can hold its breath for the duration of the Olympic Aquatic competitions at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

At first we looked into available underwater robotic heads to buy in order to save time in developing a new system. We couldn’t find anything that would fit our underwater system requirements, that would be good for a news agency, easy to use and reliable.

In the end we decided to look beyond standard underwater photography and contacted a few off-shore and oil-platform companies to ask them how they operate underwater with their systems when it comes to pictures and videos.

PHOTO BLOG: How Reuters will capture underwater images in London
MORE: Reuters Olympics | On Facebook | On iOS 

Bob Bowman runs his hand over a slender green corn leaf here on his Iowa farm, and sighs. “This corn should be as high as my head right now, and it is only waist high,” he says, as a cool morning breeze belies the 90-degree Fahrenheit temperatures forecast to descend by afternoon in Welton, Iowa. “If we get rain real quick here, we might be down 25 percent,” said Bowman of prospective losses from the persistent dryness. “If we don’t get rain in the next two weeks, it will be a lot more serious.” Bowman farms 2,200 acres in east-central Iowa in one of the state’s highest production areas. There may not be much to brag about this year, however. READ ON: In Iowa, hope fades as relentless drought decimates crops
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Bob Bowman runs his hand over a slender green corn leaf here on his Iowa farm, and sighs.

“This corn should be as high as my head right now, and it is only waist high,” he says, as a cool morning breeze belies the 90-degree Fahrenheit temperatures forecast to descend by afternoon in Welton, Iowa.

“If we get rain real quick here, we might be down 25 percent,” said Bowman of prospective losses from the persistent dryness. “If we don’t get rain in the next two weeks, it will be a lot more serious.”

Bowman farms 2,200 acres in east-central Iowa in one of the state’s highest production areas. There may not be much to brag about this year, however.

READ ON: In Iowa, hope fades as relentless drought decimates crops

People sit on the edge of a fountain at a roundabout in Myanmar’s new capital Naypyitaw March 27, 2012. [REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun]
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People sit on the edge of a fountain at a roundabout in Myanmar’s new capital Naypyitaw March 27, 2012. [REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun]

Read more: Cameron makes first solo dive to Earth’s deepest point
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Read more: Cameron makes first solo dive to Earth’s deepest point