Preparing for some extraordinary diving with this incredible morning mountain view in Musandam.
For the love of photos-
A friend once told me that he ‘lost his purpose for diving’. This confession shocked me. How could anyone lose interest in diving? Then I thought about it and began to find that I actually understood what he meant. You spend days on days diving all over the world, everywhere from Indonesia to Mexico, and then you come to feel as if you have seen all there is to see, your curiosity is somehow satisfied.
The truth is, everybody needs a reason to go diving. My love of diving originally sprouted from my scientific roots and endless curiosity in marine biology. Although more recently, thanks to inspiration from my friend’s epiphany and coincidentally my dad’s great influence, I have been drawn to the new world of underwater photography. As an avid diver, I was really surprised by how quickly I began to see things differently. From finding almost microscopic nudibranchs to completely camouflaged fish, underwater photography allowed me to take a closer look at the marine world I thought I knew so well.
In the beginning I started out by being the spotter – finding all the little things for my dad to photograph. ‘Did he get this one? Did he see this incredible blue thing here? Oh, I hope he got a decent photo of this awesome creature.’ Then I got impatient with my reliance on his photos – so I invested in a camera of my own. How marvelous it is to take pictures! Although they were absolutely dreadful at the beginning when I only took photos to remind myself of what I saw on the dive, I’ve now gotten the hang of it and I actually started taking good photos.
Almost instantly I found that there were a few things that are absolutely necessary for this to happen-
- Buoyancy – probably the most important skill. If you can’t hover on the spot, how do you expect to take a photo? Also, you need to make sure you’re not kicking up sand (or the subject in question!), messing up the area for other divers and photographers. Without good buoyancy you can also put yourself or others (including the marine life) in danger.
- Curiosity and Observation – in order to take pictures of things, you must be able to find them! Knowing more about the habitat and behavior of certain species can help in identifying things. And when you’re looking for the tiniest of creatures, your eyes have to become magnifying glasses. Think small!
- Patience – when you rush, the chances of you getting a decent photo go down dramatically. Having the right state of mind and breathing well (goes along with buoyancy!) really helps when framing and then capturing your subject.
Photo hunting for the tiniest of tiny creatures in North Sulawesi.
Taking it one step further-
There are also huge benefits to underwater photography aside from creating magical pictures for your laptop backgrounds and Facebook cover photos. Actually, perhaps the most important use of underwater photography is for marine conservation. Pictures have always captured more attention than long texts and in marine conservation pictures are worth more than a thousand words. As our oceans face ever increasing threats and stress from pollution, what better way to capture the attention of the public than with pretty of the underwater world they may not have the pleasure of knowing? Even more impacting are the photos of the very not so pretty empty algal covered reefs we are seeing today.
Although half of the world’s population lives within 60km of the coast, it is frightening how little the average person knows about the ocean. Even ocean scientists know very little about the environment of the deep sea! Therefore, how are we suppose to spread awareness and make people care about conserving something that they have never seen? By using something common that people can relate to, like photos, we can appeal to the minds and the hearts of our diverse communities across the world. Images of beautiful, healthy, thriving coral reefs, teeming with life, can be compared with empty, algae-covered, rubble reefs to show people the differences we are sadly starting see in more and more areas. The more we publicize our pictures of the underwater world, the more interest we can gain from the public to incite action for ocean conservation.
(Left, taken by Caitlin) A pretty beat up reef in Mexico vs. a flourishing reef in Indonesia (right, taken by Yanni)
On a scientific note-
There is also huge scientific importance within underwater photography. New species are being discovered all the time – just this year, more than 100 new marine species have been found in the Philippines alone! The more photographic evidence we gather, the more we can understand the species in question (not to mention it is a lot easier to ID from a picture than a quickly swimming fish!).
In a world where technology gets better every day, we are no longer limited by the amount of images on a film cartridge. We can take endless photos and can even send cameras beyond our own capable depths. Deep sea cameras deployed on the sea floor can not only capture images of the fauna that exist, but they can gather information about the grain size and type. For examples, check out National Geographic’s gallery of deep-sea creatures (and other ocean galleries)!
Most importantly, photography (if done correctly, see dive skills above) is the perfect example of a non-destructive/no-take/no-touch form of data collection. Our aim as modern day scientists is to harmlessly retrieve information about the underwater life without changing the subject’s behaviour or mood.
Recently, I went on a dive trip (mainly for photography) to Lembeh, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Indonesia has one of the highest marine bio-diversities in the world – showcasing the weird and wonderful. It was there in Lembeh that I realized how incredibly important all of these things were– proper dive etiquette, scientific research and of course no harassing of marine creatures. There the research is never-ending, with no doubt hundreds of new things still to be discovered, and photography is such a great way to access those resources properly.
I’m proud to say I came back from this trip with wonderful photos. But even more importantly, I came back with a way to spread awareness. Most of my family has no experience of being underwater. When I showed them my photos they were quite amazed by the variety of things I saw – the colour and the size and just the absolute strangeness of it all. Even if their response was “can we eat this?” my bewildered expression stopped them in their tracks. Although it is mostly the aesthetic beauty of the photos that captures their attention, it gives me a moment to explain the importance of marine conservation. That moment can go a long way, especially when you start with your family and friends.
(Top left) The Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) – one of the most beautiful and weird creatures you can find on Lembeh. Careful though, its club-like appendages are notorious for breaking glass and even knee caps (I backed away quickly after taking this photo!)
(Top right) Cute little Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicus) – it was too hard to get a face-on shot of this guy!
(Bottom left) Mating of the blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)! These are incredibly difficult creatures to spot, so seeing the mating was a pretty special and rare occasion.
(Bottom right) One of my favourite things to photograph – Nudibranchs (i.e. sea slugs)!!! This one was a cute little Chromodoris annulata (which is actually now named Goniobranchus annulatus).
Happy Diving everybody! x
The Caguama Chronicles 