Surface Time with Stephanie Stephanie Luo

Katherine’s passion for photography fuels her, whether it is for underwater, wildlife or otherwise. Let’s listen to her recounting the incredible experience of diving in Anilao, Philippine when Taal Volcano erupted and the spectacular black water dives when she captured the award-winning photo.
When listening to the length that she would go to fine-tune her photography skills and her work, I could feel the joy of being immersed in what she feels passionate for. It reminds me of this quote:
Doing what you want is freedom. Loving what you do is happiness. 
So what fuels your curiosity? What drives your passion?
Connect with Katherine Lu
W: https://katherineluphotography.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/katherineluphotography/

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Since money and investment are the two words naturally connected to her profession as a private banker, it is inevitable that we chatted at length about them.
The word “investment” tends to be given a meaning limited monetary terms. When we talk about returns of investment, it tends to be the penny-for-penny calculation on the growth.
If we take a step back and look at a bigger picture, it is important to take into account of the “impact” that the original capital has created.
Say, you are the CEO of the company. When you decide to spend money and time to enhance your physical health and mental wellbeing, you would be able to lead your company more effectively. This is because you have the physical and mental capacity to be present and, therefore, make the sound decisions all the time.
It is fair to make the bold statement that the best investment you can make is on yourself. What have you been investing in yourself lately? What will you invest in yourself next?
Connect with Bei Zhou
W: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beizhou/
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You may recall from the episode with Magnus Akerblom-Wiker, where we spoke about one of his editorial photo of a diver holding a bunch of balloon in the Cenote, Mexico. Oh well, Karolina was that diver. My curiosity had to hear from her side of the story, her personal experience in that place.
In this mind-opening dialogue, we spoken about creativity, power of imagination, being in the state of free-floating attention. If diving is a form of experiential learning, I love the way she has put it “one dive is a symbol of how we approach life in very many ways”. In essence, it is all about being present in the moment, allowing yourself to process and filter information and refining the narrative of your life.
For every dive, we do a safety stop before we surface. Depending on your dive profile, it is normally about 3 minutes in the range of 3-5 metre depth. This is an important transition period. On the one hand, we would be savouring the last moments of the dive. On the other hand, we are getting ready to return to land.
The same ritual can be applied in other aspects of life. When would you take your “safety stop”? What would you do during that safety stop?
Connect with Karolina Isberg:
W: http://www.starfishdesign.se/

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When I first started producing Surface Time, my intention was simply to reproduce the kind of heart-opening dialogues between divers through podcast forum.
A woman’s true power and value is in her intuition, her wisdom, her womb, her ability to create.
When a woman is in her divine feminine, she is a being that is so powerful. That she can literally just sit there on her throne and just attract anything that she wants. Just sheerly with her energy and her inner power.
It is universal that powerful women are very attractive and sexy. We can choose how we respond to such powerful presence.
We can choose to be intimidated by their magnetism. This means that we start to be judgemental and even discredit their confidence and achievement.
Or we can choose to accept and even embrace such powerful magnetism. Overtime, we will stop being our own worst critics and start appreciating our own power and value. This is for both men and women.
I hope that you get inspired from these dialogues.
When you listen to each dialogue, ask yourself “what would my life feel like or look like when I am in my divine feminine?"
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During the Surface Time today, I spoke with Sam Shu Qin (founder of Our Singapore Reefs) and David Jones (from Jackson Square Aviation) about their collaboration in the project, Dive Against Debris in 2022. It started off with David’s shower idea about doing something that can help to protect the coastal underwater environment, by engaging local community and leveraging available resources from his company. Little did he know at the time, there are already some unsung heroes, like Our Singapore Reefs and The Submersibles, doing the dirty work of sea clean-up.
Sam and her co-founding partners are marine biologist, specialising in coral restorations in Singapore Reefs. So they have the first-hand experiences of watching how the health of the reefs, especially corals, is damaged by waste. Waste that cannot be managed because they were created and thrown away into the water mostly by inconsiderate people.
I participated the costal clean-up with them. After we cleaned ourselves up nicely, we sat down to look at the data collected by Sam and her team just in 2022. This is like the end-of year performance review.
There are so many takeaways from this chat. First, although diving in Singapore water is like diving in miso soup, the biodiversity is truly incredible. Yet it is so vulnerable. In order to improve the ecosystem, it requires a lot of resources, especially, manpower, financial support and time. The collaborations between Our Singapore Reefs, The Submersibles and Jackson Square Aviation has started to set the changes on course. It is important to continue the momentum in order to maintain the sustainability.
And the most obvious and powerful force would be the Corporate (especially multinational ones). They have the resources to help drive the changes. When setting the ESG policies and guidelines (ESG standards for environmental, social and governance), the focus and emphasis should be on what we can do to create a positive and sustainable impact. Whether it is on the environment, the community or even the way we conduct our business. A wholistic approach should be taken in order to define your stance. As a company, other than making a donation, make your most valuable assets available. That is: your employees.
Naturally, as an employee, if you too like David tend to sprout ideas during shower, it would be good to explore these shower ideas before writing-off as fleeting thoughts. You’ll never know what the outcome will look like until you take the first step and follow through.
Connect with Our Singapore Reefs
FB: https://www.facebook.com/oursingaporereefs
IG: https://www.instagram.com/oursingaporereefs/
Connect with The Submersibles
W: https://www.thesubmersibles.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/submersibles
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thesubmersibles/
WhatsApp: +65 8013 8445
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During the Surface Time today, I Skyped with the Dynamic Trio from South China Diving Club in Hong Kong. Rob Christie, Alex Grioni and Andy Niven.
All four of us shared a special memorable dive trip to Timor Leste back in 2010. All of them have returned for a second visit. It just felt right to reminisce the trip and hear their stories on their returned-visit to that country.
Just a quick caveat – these 3 have known each other for a long time, counting by decades. So when an American, an Italian and a Scot are in the same room, we will call that the Orderly Chaos Department. Feel free to pause and pour yourself a glass of vin before you continue listening to their stories.
Behind all the banters, their friendships have been forged and deepened over the years through their shared passion for scuba diving and the engagements in the club, from running the training to leading dives. And naturally, socialising with one another on their weekly Thursday club nights.
The club has been and still is a delightful place to meet other like-minded people. If you live in Hong Kong or are visiting Hong Kong and want to meet them, just go to Aberdeen Boat Club (that is the building right next to Aberdeen Marina Club) on a Thursday night. You will definitely be greeted and welcomed warmly by the club members. Go and connect with them.
Connect with
W: https://www.scdc.org.hk/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/scdc1097
IG: https://www.instagram.com/south_china_diving_club/
E: info@scdc.org.hk
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