This year MSDS Marine are delighted to be hosting three internships thanks to funding from Historic England as part of our Landlocked and Looking Out project. The internships offer early career professionals and students the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the heritage sector – and the best bit is they are paid! Our first intern, Flora Tomlinson-Pilley, joins us this week and can’t wait to get stuck into the project. In this blog Flora introduces herself.
Hi I’m Flora, I am a marine and natural history student at Falmouth University. I specialise in wildlife photography, especially creatures beneath the waves, but also hope to help record shipwrecks in future. I am currently a PADI rescue diver, with my deep speciality and I am hoping to become a Dive Master in the near future! All my diving was completed with help from the lovely team at Go Dive and MSDS Marine, which has allowed me to participate in the marine side of my course which I absolutely love.
To be offered this internship with MSDS is an amazing opportunity and it will help me in so many ways within my future in photography, especially that underwater, and I am really excited to learn more about underwater cultural heritage. This internship will allow me to gain many different skills, and provide me with an insight into the real world of work, which will help me become more professional within my photography at university and beyond. As well as providing me with materials to help with my future studies and work, I will also be gaining more knowledge about marine archaeology and protected wreck sites which will widen my knowledge of what is beneath the waters. By widening my underwater knowledge from just marine wildlife to also understanding about marine archaeology, I am hoping to use the combined knowledge in my photography and studies to help people understand the importance of protected wrecks and its link to wildlife. Hopefully my photographs in future will be of help allowing the public to experience the protected wreck sites around our coast!
When I first started my diving journey I was never interested in wrecks and archaeology, I did not like the idea of it at all and thought it would be too scary! However, as I have continued my diving journey, I have started to grow a love for wrecks and all things old underwater. As part of my course I am regularly diving around Cornwall and spot all sorts of old and new artefacts; I can’t help but look at artefacts and the history that lies beneath the waves!
Protected wreck sites are significant within the world of marine archaeology and marine wildlife. Protected wrecks are home to many marine species as they provide shelter and protection for many marine animals. Wrecks are important sites for the breeding of species and also the protection of their offspring, along with the smaller species who can hide there for protection against the bigger predators of our oceans. Wildlife on protected wreck sites can be an important indicator of climate change and by broadening my knowledge I hope my photography will be able to make a difference. Along with providing a home for marine wildlife, wrecks also hold history and stories. The stories that are held within the wrecks can be fascinating and a great way to excite the public.
Overall, I hope to leave this internship, with a wider knowledge on what is beneath the waves but also how I can use this knowledge within my photography, along with the skills I gain, in a professional setting.
You can see some of my work on Instagram here.
