|
All
marine life has its photographic potential. it might be a
chance encounter with a rare marine creature or a subject
that diver's normally pass by without a second thought, but
underwater photographers should take each subject on its own
merit and explore all the possibilities open to them. Subject
selection should be made a prime concern, taking into account
the position of the subject for both camera and strobe angles,
the quality of the specimen, the surroundings to be included
or excluded from the visualised image. With practice, the
art of seeing the visualised image helps to release the subject's
potential to the viewer.
A
NIGHT TO REMEMBER
One
rare opportunity came my way whilst diving with Calypso Diving
in Lanzarote, a lovely dive destination where I have spent
many happy hours under the water. Following the two organised
dives of the day, I talked San, a Dutch instructor and resident
of the island, into doing a private night dive and offered
him the opportunity to use his recently purchased Nikonos
V with some macro lenses.
We
entered the water at around 7.00 p. m. at our usual dive location,
the jetty in Puerto del Carmen. I was using my Nikonos V with
the Nikonos close-up outfit, looking for small suitable subjects
to complete the second exposure of a double exposure film
started earlier that day, using a wide angle lens for a shot
of a diver in a cave entrance.
The
night dive went well in a known area with depths varying from
4 to 17 m. I completed my second exposure while San was busy
with his macro lens. Time and air ticked away and we signalled
agreement to head for home. My film was finished, but San
had one or two frames left, to use up on the swim back. I
was about 5 to 6m to the side of San when the subject he was
framing caught my eye as his strobe fired - "plumose
anemone" I thought and carried on swimming. Then I stopped,
there are no plumose anemones in Lanzarote. I swam back and
there before me, just 12 m from the exit point in 4 m of water
was a Daughter of the Wind (Alicia mirabilis), a rare
nocturnal anemone which I recognised instantly from the two
articles I had read in Sportdiver Magazine (Vol 1, No. 3,
1989 and Vol 2, No. 4, 1990). Talk about mixed emotions! I
was filled with excitement at this rare discovery and horrified
at the realisation that I was not in a position to photograph
it. Neither was San, with my 1-2 macro lens and two frames
left. "Sod's Law had got me again.
Once
clear of the water and back on the jetty, I explained to San
that we had found a rare subject and that I was frustrated
to miss this photographic opportunity. I then asked him to
consider another dive, which was a bit ambitious, as it was
now 8.30 p.m. and we had already logged a total of 3 hours
20 minutes on the three previous dives.
After
some persuasion on my part, San reluctantly agreed, and set
off to the diving centre for some more tanks. During the half
hour that he was gone I pondered over the best photographic
approach to this subject. I made the fairly radical decision
to use my 15nim Nikonos lens and a single strobe unit. Radical
because working with a wide-angle lens at night and co-ordinating
diver and subject in a scene is very difficult (see Martin
Edge's article "A shot in the dark" in Sportdiver
Magazine). It normally demands plenty of light on the whole
of the subject area. But I remembered that the Daughter of
the Wind is photophobic and does not tolerate too much light,
so the job had to be done in the dark.
Three
points were in my favour (i) my subject was in only 4m of
water (ii) it was a clear night with a fairly full moon (iii)
the water was clear, even if a bit choppy, and I reckoned
that my eyes could adapt to the available light after a while.
On
Jan's return with full tanks and grumbles about working day
and night, I briefed him on my plans and by 9.30 p.m. we were
back in the water. Everything seemed to go well. After five
minutes getting used to the low light levels, I worked with
my 15 mm lens and strobe from all angles at distances from
3 feet down to 6 inches and apertures from f8 - f22. Thirty-six
frames and 75 minutes later I emerged from the water a tired
but happy man. Jan, in contrast, came out with a few well
chosen adjectives about not diving with "crazy English
photographers".
A
DAY TO FORGET?
Obviously
the above dive with a rare species of anemone was exciting
and obtaining a few good shots of it gave me great pleasure.
But photographically I have gained just as much pleasure from
common UK subjects. One such experience came as a result of
a failed photographic dive during which I led a small group
of photographers from the Bristol Underwater Photography Group.
We had the intention of taking natural light shots of a small
shallow cave system out of Babbacombe, a site at which I had
had some previous success.
After
searching in what I considered to be the right area for 10
to 15 minutes without success, I popped my head above the
surface to take some bearings and to my horror that the cave
system was high and dry on a low spring tide! General comments
from the group ranged from 'so this is what you call shore
diving" to the unprintable. Plan B was to pop back down
to deeper water in the hope of finding alternative photographic
subjects.
As
the dive progressed, I came across a small rocky reef island
on a sandy bottom with a good selection of marine life. I
took a few shots here and there without too much commitment
until I noticed a clump of anemones at the high point of the
reef that were completely separated from all other marine
life.
The
anemones were all in a tight formation at their bases, but
fanned out like stretched fingers to allow space at the tips
of their tenctacles. Perhaps the icing on the cake of this
well formed clump of white anemones was the single but not
fully open orange anemone occupying the centre position. The
anemones had my undivided attention for the rest of the dive,
and working various angles and bracketing with strobe and
aperture I made 28 exposures.
I
emerged from this dive with a feeling of satisfaction, the
image of those common plumose anemones still clear in my mind.
I had completely forgotten leading the group to a dry cave
system; and the subsequent ribbing that followed was like
water off a duck's back.
So
the moral of my story is "take another good look at all
those every-day subjects and try to create a visualised image. |
