Just want to give a big word of thanks to Mario Vitalini for hosting a great day for me today going over his level-2 course and some lighting techniques I've been struggling with. With the added help of a great pool session and his little Surrey reef system plus one to one theory sessions I'm now "fully manual" and looking forward to an upcoming trip to the Philippines next month

Just back from our trip abroad Mistral with Mario leading, we had a fantastic week with a great group of divers of mixed abilities. As usual with Scubatravel everything was covered with everything running smoothly, Mistral is a great boat with a fantastic, helpful and friendly crew. Mario was always at hand to offer advice when needed and gave very informative tutorials in the evenings after dinner which were technical but yet put over in an easy to understand way. Mario had a good working knowledge of the various cameras being used by the guests which ranged from basic point and shoot to full blown Dslr's. I highly recommend this trip

The week on Mistral with Mario was brilliant; great facilities, great crew and passengers, and Mario's relaxed style of tuition led to a really productive trip. This was my first workshop: I've had my camera for two years, and never seemed to get more than one or two "keepers" per trip, diving about once or twice per year. Having just invested in a wide angle lens and a second strobe, it was high time I learnt to use them. Reviewing my photos back home, my photography has come on leaps and bounds, as well as my post-production skills: I'm shooting better bluewater, and balancing that with more uniform light; and learning how to use a mask in post has really helped bring the subject to life, and stopped me pressing "Delete" quite as much! Mario was always on hand to offer advice and ideas before and after the dive; he observed us in the water, and also offered advice on what to try back on the boat, as well as giving tips on how to configure our cameras. Through that approach

Mario gave some excellent workshops on board Mistral. I particularly enjoyed the one on strobe positioning which he demonstrated with his own camera, rather than using a video. This really brought home how to use two strobes in a variety of situations to light the subject. I only wish I had two! Mario also gave an excellent lecture on how to take photos using natural light. Mario is excellent with dealing with individual problems no matter which camera one has and there were a great variety. Personally, I was very pleased to finally learn the theory of how to use my macro lenses to best advantage and I ended up with some very good shots. Thank you for all your help and advice and your patience!

If you want to start u/w photography or just brush up on your skills then Mario is the guy to do it for you. Expertise coupled with patience allows you to learn at your pace, thoroughly recommend!

Just a quick email to say thanks again for an excellent session on Sunday. It was very enjoyable and very informative and it was great just to be able to spend time concentrating on the camera.