I Met Paul Scholes...

Me and "The Ginger Prince" Photo: Mrs Scholes

If you're asking yourself, "Who's Paul Scholes?" then to be quite frank, I am appalled at you, but to help you along here, Paul Scholes is one of the very small band of humans I can say I have genuine admiration for. One of the greatest footballers ever to play the game and a man who has given me more moments of absolute, sheer joy than most other people.

He's not just a bona fide great of the football world, he's also a down to earth, "no-frills," unaffected guy who I would admire for all the same reasons if he wasn't a Manchester United legend and was instead a postman or a builder.

I had the pleasure of meeting him today whilst on a filming job in Oldham and had a brief but very pleasant chat about life in general and I also got a chance to actually thank him for all the enjoyment he has given me over the years which was actually really nice for me.

I could gush about the man all day but I'll leave it at that, I've met a lot of very famous people over the years but I don't think I've ever felt as in awe of someone as I did today when I met a genuine hero of mine.

For those of you who don't know about "The Ginger Prince," here is a nice, albeit brief, summation of just some of the things which make him quite possibly the most popular Manchester United player of all time.

MKBCC8 - Paul Scholes - My Tribute by aditya_reds from aditya rathod on Vimeo.

Howard Hall - The Master!

The one and only Howard Hall

Check out Mike's blog post about Howard Hall and Richard Pyle.

He then followed it up by posting Howard's "Best of 2011" showreel which I have shared before but hadn't watched for a while. Watching it again clearly reaffirms my belief that Howard is nothing less than a God of the underwater image world.

The Blue Ocean in RED from Howard Hall on Vimeo.

As an aspiring film-maker and underwater cameraman, it's impossible not to watch this and be utterly inspired. Capturing moving image is an art form and as cameras become more and more advanced, it adds more for the cameraman to consider to ensure his or her shots are crystal clear, beautifully composed and that they tell a story. Doing it underwater is an even more difficult task and Howard is one of those who makes it all look effortless and for those of us who fell in love with the ocean and all its life, Howard's footage almost certainly influenced that passion.

I have a fair few heroes in the shark and underwater world, Stan Waterman, who is one of the biggest influences on my life, a charismatic and immensely talented story teller who revolutionised underwater film-making. Ron and Valerie Taylor, the greatest single motivators for my passion for sharks, Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch who wrote what I consider the greatest shark book ever written,
Samuel "Doc" Gruber, the shark expert, a charismatic, hugely intelligent and inspiring genius who runs Bimini Shark Lab and who has probably done more to educate the world about sharks than anybody and Dr Eugenie Clark, a woman who still at the grand age of 90, works tirelessly on behalf of marine life and who was diving with sharks without cages long before people accepted it could be done with a degree of safety.

There are many others and Mike's posting of Howard's video reminded me that I owe all these people a debt of thanks and gratitude for inspiring me to love sharks as much as I do and hopefully, one day, I can grow into being 10% as amazing as they are.

In the meantime, please take a minute to watch and marvel at Howard's 2011 showreel, the man is a colossus of the moving image.