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BON
DANKI, BONAIRE!
by
Pat Morrissey
'Bon
danki' is the Papiamentu equivalent of our own 'Thank you',
and seems the most fitting way to recall a recent trip made
to the island of Bonaire, fifty miles off the Venezuelan coastline.
We went out there in the company of Martin Edge and his motley
crew of all the usual suspects, and the crack, as they say,
was great.
Before
I left England, someone had warned me about this far-flung
outpost of the Dutch empire, saying somewhat enigmatically
"Well, it ain't Sipadan!" After two or three dives,
I was beginning to see what he meant: there was nothing similar
to Sipadan's luxuriance of fish-life, no regularly resident
shoals of slow-moving jacks or ubiquitous turtles. And yet,
once my eyes had grown accustomed to our house reef, this
was not the problem it might at first appear to be.
Bonaire
has a lot going for it, in terms of underwater photographic
potential. An island where every car number plate proudly
proclaims it as 'Diver's Paradise', the sites are never far
from shore and all are clearly marked with a system of permanently-moored
yellow buoys. Shore diving is the norm, and the two best sites
of all - the 'Hilma Hooker' and the Old Town pier - can both
be dived without much effort.
For
me, the trip rapidly crystallised into a regular pattern,
and the days passed in a languid swirl between fisheye lens
dives (07.00, 10.45) and 105 mm macro rummages (15.45,18.45).
The sunlight - which was at a definite premium during our
first week - would creep delicately over the Sand Dollar Dive
and Photo condo buildings, opening up opportunities for capturing
moon jellyfish in Snell's Windows or patiently awaiting kitchen
staff's feeding of the resident shoals of different fish in
all of two metres of water.
Later
in the day, either at the Old Town Pier (to be forever haunted
by El Edge and the seahorse squad), or out on any of the sites
to which the boats would drop us, there was the prospect of
fish portraits, soft coral seascapes or taking part in the
Great Purple Sea-fan hunt.
The
course, which was really a series of fairly informal lectures
interspersed with ad hoc tips and suggestions, occupied us
for the first week and later acted as a useful buffer against
'burnout' which I found set in after about 8 days intensive
diving. Thankfully, I still had enough time to work through
this odd condition (in which I would find myself in beautifully
clear waters and yet not know what to photograph!), and regain
my mental focus well before it was time to quit the water
for the last time
I
learned a lot on this trip, mostly to do with maintaining
that inner visual balance without which we all tend to become
like kids let loose in a sweet shop; and so, 'bon danki' again,
Bonaire, and 'te otro anja, - 'till next year'
BONAIRE
'98
by
Anne Owen
In
late May this year, I joined Martin Edge for a weeklong practical
workshop at the Sand Dollar Resort in Bonaire. Many of you
will already know Martin and his 'TC' (Think and Consider)
approach to taking underwater pictures, so I guess this article
is for those of you who don't.
I
had heard Martin speak at the Oceans event last year and had
read his book, but I had not been on one of his weekend courses,
so I was both impressed and a little daunted by the pre-workshop
questionnaire I was asked to list five strengths and five
weaknesses in my underwater photography, plus five things
I wanted to get out of the workshop. I wondered if I dared
come clean and just say 'have fun', but decided to play it
safe and wrote something fairly meaningless about 'balancing
dual lighting sources when using a housed camera'.
The
travel arrangements courtesy of Dive Quest, worked smoothly
and we started off the workshop with heroic tales from participants
on the previous week. The format for the week was an early
morning shore dive on the excellent house reef, followed by
the two boat dives at 10.45 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. and finishing
with a classroom talk at 6.30pm. This left time for a night
dive for those with some energy left. It sounds quite relaxed,
but add in meals and sessions to view and mount slides and
it was a full timetable.
The
workshop had its own boat (just as well, since Sand Dollar
was full with over one hundred divers!) and, by choice, we
did the majority of our dives at the town pier, well known
as Bonaire's #1 night dive spot but in my view, even better
during the day. It's like being in a well stocked aquarium
with two differently coloured frogfish, a seahorse, an octopus,
curious angelfish and three species of cleaner shrimps all
within a few yards of one another and a spectacular backdrop
of sponges on every pillar. Even the unprepossessing litter
of old tyres and other rubbish are home to gems such as a
chain moray and juvenile spotted drums. Going back to the
same site gives you, of course, the chance to look at your
images, see what hasn't worked and try again.
Martin's
approach was to work with each person on his or her specific
questions, even accompanying me on an entire dive to work
on using two strobes. I have been on many workshops but this
was the first time I had actually had 1:1 instruction underwater,
it was excellent. He was equally enthusiastic about working
with someone who had never taken a frame underwater before
as with those with more experience trying to get the definitive
close-up shot of the teeth of the lesser twin-spotted snake
goby.
So
did I learn anything? I suppose I'll really be able to answer
that after my next dive trip, but I came away feeling I had
made progress on all the things I had put on my list and with
a few pictures from the week with which I was really pleased.
I would certainly recommend one of Martin's workshops to anyone
thinking about some practical underwater photography coaching.
Note
Martin's book The Underwater
Photographer is published by Focal Press, ISBN 0-240-51433-5.
For
details of Martin's Underwater Photographic Courses phone
Sylvia or Martin on 01202 887611
Reproduced
from in focus 63. (Oct.
1998) |
