Scuba diving photography in Roatan Honduras

My scuba trip to Roatan Honduras was a delight and a success.  I wanted to try my hand at underwater photography with my Canon G10 which is a very sophisticated point and shoot. When I 1^st got this camera my intent was to be able to have a camera on me at all times.  I was wondering about underwater photography and I found its preset of a fish.  Then I knew it was meant to be.

I am a former scuba instructor and handling a camera underwater requires good buoyancy control.  So with this great intent in mind, I set off to find good locations to set down and work through all the things we do as a professional photographer.  NO WAY was that going to happen in a heavy surge and/or current surrounded by a gorgeous reef that should not be touched.  So mind you, carrying a 3 pound crystal ball underwater was a feat in itself.  Then to get it out and into position without crashing into the reef was another.   So I spot the location, pull out the ball, dump air from my buoyancy compensator (BC) to compensate for the loss of 3 pounds, scoot in to position it, pull back, line up the camera, come back in, and absolutely forget trying to see if it is focus.  I have to say, it takes a lot of controlling buoyancy with a little inhale or exhale and holding my breath.  Then a fin pull or push and shoot then another twist and shoot.  I just shot from every angle I could.  That little camera did the rest.  To get the ball back into its holder without losing it over a 3,000 foot wall or to just be able to pick it up was not graceful.  Weight is everything and to suddenly add 3 pounds back had to be immediately compensated with more air to the BC.   At least I had the camera on a tether.  I hope no one was filming this.

I would lose myself in it.  Everyone else was out looking for sea life they could play with and I was looking for settings I knew would come out beautiful.  Mind you, the colors are not visible until a flash goes off.  Colors are lost after a depth of about 30’.  So the photos again became a kind of sense or feel which is what I do on the nature trails.  Once I was the only one left in the water doing my 3 minute safety stop at the 15’ depth.  I am thankful I had good friends with me that understood and my scuba computer that told me what I could safely do.

So this crystal ball has been to the beaches of Oregon with those strange monoliths, Polo Duro Canyon in Texas, Sedona and then Antelope Canyon in Arizona, in the beautiful creeks and trails of Beaver’s Bend OK, around ghosts in Jefferson, Tx and now to Rotan to scuba dive.

www.photoartbynoni.com

~ by Noni on November 28, 2009.