| The
type of image we are taking here will never sell our sport well
although they will cover what could be said as one of the relatively
untouched areas of our sport. A carved niche within the history
of the sport however insignificant they may appear to some and
of course a whole new dimension for underwater photography itself!
Starting
out
Personally
I took up the challenge during the 1997 season for several
reasons. Firstly I had returned from an expedition I had led
to search for a lost British Battleship. The wreck was found
in 115m and while the project was the first of its kind to
explore European wrecks deeper than 100m I was feeling empty
with only surface images. Shortly after I was chosen as a
member of a team set to explore Titanic's sister ship the
'Britannic' the largest sunken liner on the planet lying at
120m depth south of Athens in the Aegean sea. The final reason
was simply that I had begun to work on a dive guide to the
deep wrecks of the English Channel and needed images of the
wrecks to accompany my forthcoming volume.
The
hardest part of the entire journey was now to begin, where
to start! One of my close friends Jamie Powell had also taken
the idea up with me and between us we had managed to lay our
hands on a set up that we could share on alternative days
on the Britannic. Needless to say we thought we were the top
guys with our Cannon T70 & Sigma 24mm lens housed in what
is now an antique Subal housing. Trouble we were faced with
was the Britannic lay at twice the depth the housing was rated
to. We took the risk owing to the fact that it wasn't ours
and its owner no longer dived. Looking back its kind of ironic
to think that my first underwater photographic dive was in
fact inside the bridge of the Britannic at a depth of around
110ml Fair be it we had no technical knowledge of the subject
and were more than happy to leave a manual camera in a pre-set
mode. Sticking with an average of what we had read in books
of F5.6 & 60th of a second the results were more than
acceptable in fact so much so that our images were published
in magazines and newspapers around the world.
Next
step
After
the project I now began to look at the options that would
suit my needs to image deep wrecks back home as well as a
visit to the Lusitania in southern Ireland. I called upon
several notable photographers whom could advise me technically
although new nothing nor anyone whom could advise on the approach
to depth logistics. I needed a depth rating of at least 100m
if not more and the option to ride fully manual as I new an
automatic system would prove troublesome in dark waters often
blessed with back scatter. From numerous calls and contacts
I had made none would provide more help and advise than Alan
James at Bristol. Alan presented a range of options advantages
and disadvantages the result plainly clear the Aquatica gave
me the depth rating and the pro-90 with a Nikon F90x would
give me my total all-round manual option I was after. Lens
choice was never an issue as the conditions I would be working
in called for close up work so a 16mm 1:2.80 Nikkor fisheye
was the right move although Alan was sure the 20mm would give
me suf ficient results! Being lucky enough to live near Ken
Sullivan meant that expert work and modifications could be
carried out without having to send the system away for periods
of time.
Looking
for a flashgun wasn't so simple although something with enough
power was a must as most deep wrecks rest in total darkness.
Of course the darkness gives me the option to obtain results
with slave units effectively, although at such great depths
that means acquiring some assistance, which is easier said
that done! Time is THE limiting factor for me on a deep dive
and even with a set of twins 20's on my back 20-25 mins bottom
time is a push, 28 mins on the Britannic gave us almost 5
hours of decompression. Taking this into consideration a quick
recycle time is of the essence.
Depth
rating on all flashguns I have experimented with have never
been an issue as most have doubled their ratings with no effect
although coverage over the fisheye has never been sufficient
even with a single big gun. Understandably I will never cover
an entire wreck image in UK waters at depth although the opportunity
to image larger sections of wreckage will sometimes arise.
Dropping a stop with a diffuser compensates to some extent
however, often the spotlight effect is still there in the
final results. Of all the big flashguns I have now settled
with a Sea & Sea YS-350 used in TTL mode in conduction
with a 120 set on TTL slave mode.
Exposure
with irregular light levels has been experimental although
Fujichrome Sensia 11400 ASA slide format always provides me
acceptable results. Even pushed foe time I still manage to
squeeze 36 exposures out albeit with snap judgements although
on an extreme UK deep dive I would consider 24 only.
Having
established all of this the most challenging aspect is to
bribe a fellow diver to be your model, having a diver in your
art of composition in wreck photography is a key factor a
potential publisher will look for. With a single mixed gas
dive costing up to £100 each and such little precious
bottom time finding a willing model is something I'll be working
on for some time to come!
[Leigh
Bishop has been exploring deep shipwrecks for over a decade
and has published his results with numerous articles in various
diving magazines around the world. He is a member of the deep
wreck diving team 'Starfish Enterprise' He can be contacted
at leigh@deepimage.co.uk] |
