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"My love affair with large format was encouraged by my
attendance at BSoUP meetings, where the quality of the work
by Peter Scoones in particular, helped convince me that large
format was worth all the extra effort. I couldn't sleep after
each BSoUP meeting as I tried to absorb all the information
and chat. However, I was still severely limited with the narrow
angle of the lens of the Rollei and when I heard that Peter
Scoones was selling his housing for a Bronica S2A, I snapped
it up."
"The
Bronica gave me closer focusing and ability to use wide-angle
lenses. A trip to Malta was imminent, so I bought a 45mm Konura
lens with the proceeds of the Rollei Sale, hours before the
plane took off. The housing would take a 50mm wide-angle,
but I didn't realise the 45mm was a fraction longer. I only
discovered this on the first dive when I went to focus on
a close-up subject in shallow water and pushed the front part
off the housing!"
"I
was a fanatic undeterred by these major setbacks. Peter Scoones
than announced his latest Bronica S2A housing was for sale
- more versatile, extension tubes, wider angle lenses. I couln't
wait to get my hands an it".
"It
was with this camera that I really started. The optics were
very good. A supportive friend, and I seem to have been blessed
with many generous friends who have helped me, offered to
make a glass dome for the 40mm wide-angle lens. The combination
was very good Indeed, Results and consistency were beginning
to improve. Around this time, Warren Williams introduced me
to Steve Birchall at a BSoUP meeting."
"Being
mega-keen I booked a week on a hard boat from Salcombe and
advertised at BSoUP. Half a dozen people contacted me and
it went on from there, The best way to improve is to work
with others, see what they do. Help them, they help you and
your results will progressively improve,"
"From
then on I started to dive with much more purpose and Steve
Birchall and I began to form the foundations for a duo. Its
most important to have someone to work with. You can bounce
ideas off each other, keep each other going and pose for each
others cameras."
"Without
such a regular buddy I know I wouldn't have produced the amount
of material which has now accumulated. The struggle with format
was now about to get completely out of hand as Pete Scoones
discovered the Mamiya RB67, and as you may have guessed by
now, what Pete has today I try to get tomorrow. This time
it was a bit different as I decided to produce a housing to
Pete's design for the RB67. The result was what I believe
to be the finest example of a large format housing ever made,
combining style with ease of use and good optics."
"However,
the limitations of large format were always there. Very limited
depth of field made a lot of shots unsharp. Very heavy, expensive
to run and all the associated back up gear Le, enlargers,
projectors. But when you got it right, the quality of the
results was impressive, Being connected with equipment supply,
I'm fortunate to be spoilt for choice and started to use a
35 mm camera in a housing and a Nikonos."
"The
Nikonos was used mainly for 1 : 1 close ups and for wide-angle
shots. The housed 35 mm camera was used for 16mm full frame
fish eye and 50mm macro shots. At one time I was using an
RB67, 35 mm housed and a Nik! Too much gear meant too little
concentration, so eventually the RB67 faded away and was eventually
sold. That was not an easy decision to make, but I feel much
happier with the 35 mm cameras. My time with large format
taught me the value of each frame and made me concentrate.
Too much film means too little concentration."
"With
35 mm I have developed consistency without too many limitations.
The results with 35 mm were helped by making sone one-off
lenses such as a 16mm full frame fish eye and a special set
of probes for 1 : I use. These were major improvements for
the non-reflex Nikonos. The improvements showed in the results.
I thought in individual shots rather than linking shots to
add up to a story."
"Shooting
for audio-visuals requires consistent effort and you never
finish until many rolls of film have been shot. You have to
try all the time. Gradually the audio-visuals and techniques
bit, and now I consider my underwater photography is solely
aimed at producing audio visual images. If I get an individual
shot, then that's a bonus."
"Audio-visuals
have stopped me becoming bored with underwater photography.
They give me a purpose after exhausting basic natural history
shots. I'm not a creative photographer in terms of 'surreal'
images and was becoming bored with marine identification shots."
"Audio-visual
work has led me back to the darkroom where I love manipulation
of plain images and use lith film a lot, not only for titles
but also special effects."
"However,
too much of a good thing numbs the brain and I decided to
rest last year and was fortunate that the weather was lousy.
This meant that BSoUP meetings weren't full of new and exciting
images, which never fail to get me going. I enjoy looking
at other photographer's work more than my own and this helps
me to be more objective about my own results. Competitions,
magazines and BSoUP provide a regular supply of underwater
images to admire."
"Having
said this, and at the risk of being boring, I feel that underwater
photography needs a new lift, Natural history shots, Red Sea
scenery and modern emulsions have led to an excellent general
level, but we need to open the barriers to allow underwater
photography to blossom. We shouldn't limit ourselves to underwater
photography. Use it as a medium, but don't stop when you surface."
"I'm
now thinking of and starting to produce combination images
aimed at blending land and underwater. The scope is refreshingly
wide and for me spells a new chapter, which I hope will result
in fresh images based on consistent effort," |
