Cor Bosman

Aliases: cor bosman, Guest cor, cor
Role: Underwater photographer, Wetpixel moderator, technical co-architect, tech entrepreneur, article author
First appearance: 2004 (forum, January 16) (^[1])
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands; seasonal in St. Croix, USVI (^[2], ^[3])
Affiliation: Wetpixel (moderator, 2007–present), XS4ALL (co-founder)
Website: underwa.ter.net (^[4])

Biography

Cor Bosman is a Dutch underwater photographer and tech entrepreneur who co-founded XS4ALL, one of the first Internet service providers in the Netherlands, known for internet privacy and security advocacy. He introduced himself on the Wetpixel forums in January 2004, describing himself as having been diving for approximately ten years and doing “serious photography for about 5 years,” alongside his girlfriend (later partner) Julie Edwards (forum name “bella”) (^[5]). He listed his other hobbies as land and astronomy photography, travel, and “fiddling with anything technical” (^[6]).

Cor and Julie divide their time between the Netherlands and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, where they spend roughly three months per year (^[7]). They specialize in macro critters of the South Pacific, particularly the Solomon Islands, where they made extended stays aboard the MV Bilikiki, visiting “twice a year” (^[8]). Eric Cheng described them as having “literally spent months in the Solomon Islands aboard the Bilikiki” with “impressive” knowledge of the area (^[9]).

Cor brought a technologist’s perspective to Wetpixel, becoming the site’s behind-the-scenes technical infrastructure partner. He built the Google Maps member integration, co-managed software upgrades, created social media tools, and contributed articles and news coverage spanning gear reviews, competition results, and conservation topics. His forum presence was substantial, with 1,402 posts across a wide range of topics including gear, technique, travel, critter identification, and site administration.

Camera Gear

Cor started underwater photography on a Nikonos V before transitioning to digital with a Nikon D100 in a Subal D10 housing in 2004 (^[10]). He later upgraded to a Nikon D2x in a Subal housing, paired with Sea & Sea YS-90DX strobes and ULCS (Ultralight) arms, which he eventually replaced with StiX buoyancy arms (^[11]). His macro setup included a 60mm macro lens with teleconverter on short arms (^[12]).

Contributions

Wetpixel Technical Infrastructure

Cor served as Wetpixel’s volunteer technical co-architect, leveraging his ISP background to build and maintain several site features:

• Google Maps member map (May 2008): Built an integration linking forum members’ location fields to an interactive Google Map, allowing the community (nearing 10,000 members at the time) to find nearby members or photographers near travel destinations. Alex Mustard praised the feature: “This is such a cool feature. Great work, Cor.” (^[13])

• Facebook application and WordPress widget (March 2008): Created social media tools for Wetpixel’s Photo of the Week contest, allowing members to embed POTW imagery on their Facebook profiles or WordPress blogs. Both applications auto-updated when new winners were announced. The article was written by Matt Segal, who pointed to Cor’s Facebook profile and WordPress journal as examples (^[14]).

• Major software upgrade (July 2008): Co-managed a two-day server migration with Eric Cheng. Cor worked from the Netherlands while Cheng worked from California, migrating custom code into plugin code so the front page and forums could work together. They fixed cross-browser CSS issues in real time, with Julie Edwards documenting the process photographically. The upgrade included new emoticons, larger avatar uploads, country flags, clickable location fields linked to the member map, and full-size attached images (^[15], ^[16]).

• Lithium battery travel guide (December 2007): Summarized new FAA rules about lithium batteries for the diving and underwater photography community, including a formula for determining lithium content. Concluded that “almost all batteries and devices that we as divers and photographers carry will not be impacted by this rule” but that spare batteries must be carried in carry-on luggage (^[17]).

Article Contributions

Cor authored six articles for Wetpixel, spanning gear reviews, expedition promotion, competition coverage, and software news:

• StiX buoyancy arms review (March 2007): Co-authored with Julie Edwards, based on 200+ dives testing in the Solomon Islands. Described meeting designer John Zeiss on a liveaboard trip in 2004, then field-testing prototype arms during a month on the Bilikiki in November 2006. The review covered arm construction (40,000 psi tensile aluminum), ball ends (polyetherimide thermoplastic), closed-cell polyethylene foam floats, and pricing ($35 per arm). Community member Colin Gans contributed an addendum showing how he modified the floats (^[18], ^[19]).

• Ultimate Indonesia expedition promotion (February 2009): Promoted the Wetpixel Ultimate Indonesia expeditions aboard the Seven Seas, offering last-minute discounted spots for the second trip through Ambon, Banda Sea, and Maumere (^[20]).

• OWU 2009 and DEEP 2009 contest deadlines (January 2009): Covered approaching deadlines for the Our World-Underwater and Deep Indonesia photo/video competitions, noting over $75,000 in prizes and a new Novice category (^[21]).

• Underwater Australasia competition 2008–2009 results (September 2009): Reported on the 5th annual Underwater Photo Competition, with first prize going to David Henshaw for a blue ribbon eel image (^[22]).

• X-Ray Magazine issue 27 (December 2008): News item about the free downloadable magazine issue featuring articles on Bali, white whales in the Russian Arctic, and an interview with Ron and Valerie Taylor (^[23]).

• Adobe Lightroom 3.3 / Camera Raw 6.3 release (December 2010): Covered Adobe’s release adding support for the Nikon D7000, Canon S95, and other cameras (^[24]).

Published Photography

• UwP Magazine Issue 27 (Nov/Dec 2005): Contributed a macro article (^[25]).
• Australasian Scuba Diver: Julie Edwards had both the cover and a portfolio in the issue current at the time of their moderator appointment in August 2007; their joint work was displayed at underwa.ter.net (^[26]).
• Wetpixel Quarterly Issue 2 (January 2008): Staff photographer alongside Alex Mustard, Eric Cheng, Mike Veitch, Luiz Rocha, Julie Edwards, Herb Ko, James Wiseman, Todd Mintz, Matt Segal, Elijah Woolery, William Heaton, and Leslie Harris (^[27]).

Copyright Advocacy

Cor’s images were among those stolen by websites that cropped out copyright watermarks. Matt Segal flagged a Croatian blog that had stolen images from Cor, Segal, and Mike Roberts (Tortuga), prompting a community discussion on using Google Images to detect copyright theft (^[28]).

Competition Results

Cor was a consistent competitor in international underwater photography contests from his first year on Wetpixel:

• Wetpixel/CTS Celebrate the Sea 2004: Finalist in Digital Open — the first competition Cor ever entered. Julie (as “Julia”) was a finalist in the slide macro section, described as “the only woman” in that category (^[29]).

• Underwater Images 2005: Both Cor and Julie received honorable mentions. Eric Cheng congratulated them as “a couple” (^[30]).

• Underwater Images 2006: Honorable mention in Wide Angle Open (^[31]).

• Beneath the Sea 2007 Worldwide Competition: Honorable mention in Marine Life category for “Two Worlds,” entered from Amsterdam, The Netherlands (^[32]).

• Underwater Images 2008: Best of Show for a photograph of a lizardfish being cleaned by a goby. Eric Cheng wrote the congratulatory article, noting that Underwater Images is a non-profit competition donating proceeds to marine conservation and education (^[33]).

Expeditions

Solomon Islands (recurring, 2004–2007+)

Cor and Julie made extended stays aboard the MV Bilikiki in the Solomon Islands, visiting twice yearly. Their knowledge of the area was extensive enough that Eric Cheng featured them as co-leaders of the 2007 Wetpixel Solomon Islands Expedition (September 11–25, 2007), described as “award-winning photographers” whose knowledge was “impressive” (^[34]). During the expedition, Cor and Julie served as photo contest judges alongside Bilikiki manager Michele Gaut. The 19 participants included Craig Jones, Douglas Seifert, Frank Baensch, and others. Cor posted a travel journal at underwa.ter.net (^[35]).

Komodo (May–June 2007)

Joined Eric Cheng and Norbert Wu aboard the Komodo Voyager from May 27 to June 8, 2007 (^[36]).

ADEX 2006 (April 2006)

Attended the Asia Dive Expo in Singapore with Julie Edwards. They were among the Wetpixel members Eric Cheng spent time with, alongside Tony Wu, Jason Heller (DivePhotoGuide), the Scubazoo team, Stephen Wong, and others (^[37]).

Ultimate Indonesia 2009 (March–April)

Participated in Wetpixel’s flagship Ultimate Indonesia expedition — 40 days spanning two back-to-back trips aboard the Seven Seas, logging over 130 dives across Sorong, Misool, Halmahera, Seram, Ambon, Gunung Api, and Alor. The expedition was described as having “the most Wetpixel moderators of any trip in history”: Eric Cheng, Matt Segal, Cor Bosman, Julie Edwards, and Craig Jones, with Drew Wong joining briefly in Bali (^[38]). Subjects photographed included Rhinopias, blue-ringed octopi, wunderpusses, mimic octopi, frogfishes, Bobbit worms, and sea snakes. Cor posted a trip report with GPS track at underwa.ter.net, and later Cor and Julie posted a gallery of their images (^[39]). A group photo from Bali (April 9, 2009) showed Matt Segal, Eric Cheng, Drew Wong, Julie Edwards, and Cor Bosman together (^[40]).

Dominica Sperm Whales (January 2010)

Joined Eric Cheng, Tony Wu, Julie Edwards, and Emiko Miyazaki in Dominica to photograph sperm whales. On their first day, they encountered multiple social groups and had a close encounter with “Scar,” a resident 10-year-old male sperm whale. They used the vessel Miser’s Dream with captain Andrew (^[41]).

Raja Ampat 2016 (September)

Participated in the Wetpixel expedition aboard the Damai I with Adam Hanlon, Douglas Seifert, Julie Edwards, Julian Cohen, David Gordon, Phil Sokol, Ryan Mack, Tom Gruber, Andy Deitsch, and Paul Rosenblum. The expedition ran two back-to-back trips: the first starting with whale sharks in Cendrawasih Bay, the second covering the northern and southern regions of the marine park. Cor contributed images to the expedition gallery (^[42]).

Moderator Role

Appointed Wetpixel moderator on August 7, 2007 alongside Julie Edwards, announced by Eric Cheng, who described them as “fantastic shooters, specializing mostly in macro critters in the South Pacific” (^[43], ^[44]). The community responded warmly, with Alex Mustard calling it “great news” and others praising the selection (^[45]).

By 2023, Cor was still listed as part of the Wetpixel volunteer staff. A Wikipedia article quoted during the Adam Hanlon controversy listed Wetpixel as being published “by Adam Hanlon with assistance from Associate Editor Abu Mullens, Alex Mustard, Drew Wong, Cor Bosman, the volunteer Wetpixel staff, and numerous other contributors” (^[46]).

Forum Activity

Cor posted 1,402 times across the Wetpixel forums under the username “Guest cor” (his account was among those that lost direct access at some point, resulting in the “Guest” prefix). His posts spanned from 2003 through 2023, with peak activity in 2004–2013. He was active across Photography Gear and Technique, Lights/Strobes/Lighting, Trip Reports, General Chat, Copyright Issues, Critter Identification, and administrative discussions. His technical background made him particularly valuable in threads about storage, backup, monitor calibration, web development, and digital workflow ([source: person_matrix.json]).

Timeline

• 2004-01-16: First forum appearance — introduces himself; mentions co-founding XS4ALL, Nikon D100 in Subal D10, diving with girlfriend Julie Edwards (^[47])
• 2004-07: Finalist in Digital Open at Wetpixel/CTS Celebrate the Sea competition — first competition ever entered (^[48])
• 2005-03: Honorable mention, Underwater Images 2005, alongside Julie Edwards (^[49])
• 2005-11: Macro article published in UwP Magazine issue 27 (^[50])
• 2006-03: Honorable mention, Wide Angle Open, Underwater Images 2006 (^[51])
• 2006-04: Attends ADEX 2006 in Singapore with Julie Edwards (^[52])
• 2006-11: Month-long stay on Bilikiki testing StiX buoyancy arm prototypes (^[53])
• 2007-01: Posts StiX buoyancy arms review to Wetpixel forum (^[54])
• 2007-03: Publishes StiX buoyancy arms review as featured article (^[55])
• 2007-03: Honorable mention in Marine Life, Beneath the Sea 2007 Worldwide Competition (^[56])
• 2007-05: Komodo expedition with Eric Cheng and Norbert Wu (^[57])
• 2007-08-07: Appointed Wetpixel moderator with Julie Edwards (^[58])
• 2007-09: Co-leads Wetpixel Solomon Islands expedition; judges photo contest (^[59])
• 2007-12: Summarizes new FAA lithium battery rules for the community (^[60])
• 2008-01: Staff photographer, Wetpixel Quarterly Issue 2 (^[61])
• 2008-03: Creates Facebook app and WordPress widget for POTW (^[62])
• 2008-04: Wins Best of Show, Underwater Images 2008 — lizardfish cleaned by goby (^[63])
• 2008-05: Launches Wetpixel Google Maps member map (^[64])
• 2008-07: Co-manages major Wetpixel software upgrade with Eric Cheng (^[65])
• 2008-12: Authors X-Ray Magazine issue 27 announcement (^[66])
• 2009-01: Authors OWU 2009 / DEEP 2009 contest deadline article (^[67])
• 2009-02: Promotes Ultimate Indonesia expedition with discounted spots (^[68])
• 2009-03: Ultimate Indonesia expedition — 40 days, 130+ dives aboard Seven Seas (^[69])
• 2009-08: Posts Ultimate Indonesia gallery with Julie Edwards (^[70])
• 2009-09: Authors Underwater Australasia competition results article (^[71])
• 2010-01: Dominica sperm whale expedition with Eric Cheng, Tony Wu, Julie Edwards (^[72])
• 2010-04: Comments on ocean acidification article, quoting “If we all do a little, we only achieve a little” (^[73])
• 2010-12: Authors Adobe Lightroom 3.3 release announcement (^[74])
• 2016-09: Raja Ampat expedition aboard Damai I (^[75])

References