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 Many people express great amazement to learn that not only do we dive here
in Southwest Florida but we also take pictures and video of the
underwater world that begins just under the swim platform of your boat.
There’s no question that the challenges are greater in our local Gulf
waters than a photographer would face in the clearer water of Key Largo
or some dreamy Pacific paradise. Even on a day when the visibility seems
unbelievable, and a huge Goliath Grouper appears an arm length away, the
photographer is often surprised when the resulting photograph shows lots
of floating particles between the camera and the subject. To add to the
difficulty, that great wide-angle shot of a sunken shrimp boat comes
back looking like a pile of rubble in a bowl of bright, green Gatorade.
Typically, underwater visibility in the southwest Florida gulf is 10-30
feet depending on how far you travel from the coastline. Usually, the
further west you travel away from the mouth of the Caloosahatchee and
Peace rivers, the better the visibility becomes. In the winter months,
with cooler water and less rain, and even as close to shore as Edison
Reef is, a diver might enjoy one of those spectacular days when you can
see forever (or over 30 feet in diving terms).
Underwater photography is difficult. Ask any underwater photographer,
experienced or novice, and the answer is going to be the same.
Underwater photography is difficult. Does that stop us? Of course it
doesn’t. We pile on the wetsuits, masks, fins, tanks, regulators,
weights and get ready to leap, gracefully, off the swim platform. Then
we ask the divemaster to hand down our camera. In most cases, the
camera, housing and lights weigh somewhere between 5-8 pounds, and
sometimes more, so we have to account for the difference when setting up
our gear. We don’t want to jump in holding our camera equipment because
the chances are good that the impact will cause unwanted leaks of salt
water into our expensive rig.
At this point, camera-less divers are clearing their ears and drifting
casually down to the reef. All of their attention is focused on the
dive. Photographers, on the other hand, are turning on their cameras and
lights. We are adjusting lights and strobes, and looking around to make
sure we don’t miss a super photo-op. We have to remind ourselves to take
a second to clear those ears and to make sure we aren’t dropping like a
lead weight into the depths. Buoyancy control is extremely important to
avoid landing on a beautiful coral head or stirring up the sand making
it too cloudy to get a decent photograph. Photographers need to be close
to the bottom and yet to be able to hover next to an undulating sea fan
without touching or bumping anything around us.
Sometimes life is great. We reach the bottom in a hazy mist and there
are Goliath Groupers ten deep, hovering over a drape of fishing nets
that decorate an unfortunate shrimp boat. It’s hard to decide whether we
want the big fish moving in to see what has just landed in their living
room or the tiny Arrow Crab that is hidden in a tangle of net and coral
in a dark overhang. What do we do? Adjust the lights – adjust the focus
– adjust our buoyancy – check our air pressure– check our bottom time –
check our computers – adjust the lights and take another shot. Watch our
knees – was that a spiny sea urchin we just landed on? Wow – did you see
that Southern Ray in the sand just a few feet off of the wreck. Did you
know that conch shells have little eyeballs that peer out of smooth
ivory curves? We spot a tiny, yellow and blue, Florida Regal Nudibrach
reaching for the next piece of structure to slither over. We know that
everyone has this shot, but maybe we’ll get the one that no one has ever
seen. It could happen.
Suddenly, the dive computer says we are in caution. Now, nervously, we
check every few seconds to make sure we still have some time. We
frantically search for something that we can photograph in the short
time we have left on this dive. Our brain is divided between art and
technology and biological fact. We only have so much time to stay here.
We ascend but cameras are still running. During our safety stop, we take
pictures of barracuda, hanging in the shade of the boat or we take
pictures of each other while we work to stay at 15 feet. When the time
comes, we surface; see the boat (boy do we love to see the boat when we
surface) and then take a photo or two. Maybe if we show the boat name in
one of our pictures, we’ll get invited out again. Before doing anything
else, we hand our cameras back up to anyone who is willing to grab them.
It’s easier to remove fins when we aren’t hanging onto a bulky camera
housing.
And now what? If we are on film cameras, we check batteries, change
film, lubricate housing o-rings and clamp the camera back in its
waterproof case. If we are on digital, we probably don’t have to open
the housing but do we review and delete? Do we waste our batteries doing
that or do we just get our tanks switched out and set up for the next
dive? Do we want to go back down to the same location because we saw
something really interesting to photograph or do we want to move to a
new dive site to look for a completely different set of subjects?
Back on the boat after our final dive of the day, we make sure the
camera equipment is rinsed in fresh water before we even consider
rinsing our salty bodies. We spend some time bragging about the great
shot we think we got and then hope that we didn’t blow it away. Many
digital photographers will dry off the housings so they can get the
camera out to review the dives. By the time we are back at the dock,
we’ve already deleted the worst of the bunch especially the ones that
would be too embarrassing if anyone saw them. We are anxious to get back
to our computer where we can view the days work on a bigger screen. Film
photographers still have to get their film out for processing and it
seems everyone has a favorite place to get the best results. Some will
head to a local drug store but many will be patient and send their film
to a professional processing facility to ensure that they get the
quality they want.
It’s hard to describe the excitement we feel when we finally have the
chance to view our photos. Back when we were shooting slides, we were
happy to end up with 2-3 really good shots from an entire roll of film.
With digital photography, the combination of instant review capability
and the fact that we have huge storage capacity, may raise that success
rate. We know as soon as we take a shot whether we got light on the
subject or if we only got the tail of a fish. We have an opportunity to
correct and shoot again as long as the subject hasn’t moved out of
range. Even with that help, the success rate of underwater photography
remains lower than the average land photographer would expect.
Despite the difficulties, there are rewards. At some point, we have a
beautiful underwater scene to display in our home and to share with
family and friends. Luckily, for members of the Caloosa Dive Club Photo
Competition, we have the best possible opportunity to showcase our hard
work. The Photography Competition runs all year, ending around Labor
Day. We spend hours sorting through our favorite photos and
painstakingly editing miles of video tape and finally we reach the
crucial moment. The entire dive club has a chance to see our work and to
vote on which ones they like best. The results of the voting are known
to only a few until the annual Awards Banquet where the winners are
announced.
The photo competition judging takes place this year on September 15th ,
for photographs and September 29th , for video. Showtime is 8:00 pm at
the Cape Coral Yacht Club, Tony Rotino Center. The event is open to
anyone who wants to attend but voting is restricted to active members of
the Caloosa Dive Club. The competition includes pictures taken locally,
in other Florida areas and exotic travel locations around the world. |
