Presentation
 

Thierry Kramer is the founder of Authentic Diving, a Swiss company based close to Nyon, 30 km away from Geneva. Thierry is pleased to present you trough the differents headings of the page "Productions" of this web site, the main activities and the philosophy of Authentic Diving, as well as the profile of each person of the staff.

The "Productions" department is of great importance, as it produces all the underwater documentary movies which we write. We also produce advertising movies for resorts around the world, offering in their panel of services scuba diving as an activity. We also have different script for companies who by an original intermediary wish to promote themselves or one of their specific products.

For all these reasons and the ones which are explained under the heading "Philosophy", Authentic Diving was imagined several years before it was finally founded in September 1999.
 
 

History made by Thierry Kramer - September 1999
 

Before the Maldives...

I primarily and firstly studied architecture and after having exercised my profession for almost four years, I decided on a career change.

It was during a trip to the Maldives in February 1988 that I tried diving for the first time. I then passed my first Instructor exam in Cannes - France, in November 1992 and the Staff Instructor level in February 1995, on the same place.
 

During the Maldives...

As of 1993, I was in charge of Diving Center in several different resorts in the Republic of Maldives and at the same time, my activity of diving instructor, gave me the opportunity to do many dives. The desire to show others this fantastic Underwater World naturally arose and it became my goal to film it.

In 1995, I started by investing in my first video camera and I finally could film for my own pleasure and that of my guests and family. Whenever it was possible, I always took the opportunity to shoot during my free time and made some good films in the Rasdhoo and Ari atolls.

Three years later, I signed a contract as regional manager with Eurodivers for all their video activities. As the manager of the videolab at Club Med Faru, I made close to 180 movies for scuba divers. I also had the pleasure of filming in the majority, the underwater sequences made in the Maldives of Antoine's (a French singer) movie about the Indian Ocean - N°2, as well as shots for the Indian Sony Television chain.

During the summer of 1997, with a small part of the present team, we started to film a documentary about a lake situated in the Swiss Alps. This film is still not completed due to weather conditions during the two last years, but we hope that the summer of 2000 will be better...
 

After the Maldives...

In March 1998, I left the Maldives and came back to Switzerland with the intention of creating Authentic Diving Productions.

In February 1999, we started investigations for the filming of a new documentary film, under ice this time. The story takes place around two lakes, of which the principal subject is to retrace the history, which is 50 years old. It is planned that we return, in January and April 2000, to make night filming under ice, as well as all day shots and interviews.

Finally, on the 1^st of September 1999, "Authentic Diving Productions" was born, and since then my goal has been to develop activities with an attitude and philosophy directly linked to the name I gave to the company.

During this month of September 1999, I filmed a project at Lake Neuchâtel for Swiss Television, in the scope of a portrait created by Véronica Duport an a young blind lady who practice diving in spite of his handicap.
 

The present...

We have now decided to give another dimension to the company and want our plans to take shape. During the next months, we will introduce brand new sophisticated filming equipment to provide high quality pictures (please refer to "Equipment" heading).

From my experience gained on the field and in the aim to satisfy our needs, I imagined and designed equipment which includes a 3-CCD numeric camera, a state of the art housing, an exceptional underwater lens and highly autonomous lighting system composed of 4 spots (please also see "Equipment" heading).

For this reason a contract with precise specifications was defined and at present, we are finalizing this new equipment with companies who have gained our trust. The manufacturing will start very soon in order to test the equipment before the filming scheduled in January 2000, in Tignes.
 

But why "Authentic Diving" ?

The final part of this résumé would be to divulge the origin of the name "Authentic Diving", which could in the eyes of some be considered conceited.

My philosophy is one of authenticity, the truth of the moment.

So, with this philosophy, never in any of my films will there be an organism which has been displaced or fed, an attitude of defence or agressivity provoked, an animal or fish anaesthetized in one way or another one (ice water, gas or drugs, etc) in order to favorize or to make the public bieliving in a scene of hunting... or finally, to include an unmentioned sequence filmed in an aquarium.

All these techniques are banished from my way of work as they are superficialities which I abhor.

With such an explanation, I suspect that there is a deeper understanding within each of you as to why Authentic Diving is meant to be...
 
 

From 2000 to 2002...

So during the year 2000, the films "Memories of the old Tignes village" and "Coral reefs of Mabul and Sipadan" were finished within the planned time frame. These two first films were made by "Authentic Diving Productions" with our own financial resources and using exclusively our technical means we had at the time.

Between 2001 and 2002, these films received awards in different Underwater Film Festivals throughout Europe : 2nd Prize in Middelkerke (Belgium), Special Prize of the Jury in San Sebastian (Spain), 1st Prize in Strasbourg and Prize of the Public in Toulon (France). (Please click on the link "Newsletter", heading "Festivals" and on the link "Sales" for both films).

In 2001, there were some organizational changes within the company which slowed down some ambitious projects, but this situation do not prevent the video clip "Maldivian Reefs" to born.

The year 2002 was a transition year as it was mostly used to create concepts for our future films, doing shootings in the Maldives for a series of thematic films and finally, a new filming starts in Switzerland in September.
 

And the future...

We have several films in production and 2003 should allow us to realize a second video clip called "Up Ice Down", a documentary of 26 minutes filmed in a valley of Switzerland and towards the end of the year or beginning 2004, another film of 26 minutes, shooted in the french department of the Hautes-Alpes.

Year 2004 will be dedicated to the realization of 4 or 6 new subjects, all to be filmed in the Rep. of Maldives, which will include several documentary’s film and a third video clip.

If you wish so, please follow our new projects under the different links on the page "Newsletter".