Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Beginning of My Venture into Underwater Photography.

I had the unique pleasure of attending the Nikon School of Photography's Underwater Digital SLR Workshop on the island of Bonaire, Netherland Antilles during the second week of June 08. I have been a scuba diver for the past 13 years and a photographer for well over 25, but have never married the two disciplines. It was an interesting experience in which I completed 11 boat/shore dives, photographed with a Nikon D70 SLR digital camera in a SeaCam housing with a Nikonos SB105 strobe lighting attachment system. My instructor was Suzi Swygert, an accomplished underwater photographer with over 20 years experience. Suzi has lived on Bonaire for 23 years so her unique understanding of the marine environment was an unbelievable resource to draw on. And I must say she was demanding both in her daily expectations and brutal in critiquing the results. My students will be happy to hear that I was on the other end for a change. I made roughly 550 underwater images during the week so here are a sampling of my best. Enjoy!

CLICKING ON ANY PHOTOGRAPH WILL MAKE THEM LARGER


Schooling Jacks

Brain Coral

A Banded Coral Shrimp cleaning a Hind Fish. Perhaps my most difficult photograph of the week.

Close-up Coral

Scorpion Fish - Hard to See and Dangerous to Touch