Surprise Cameo

Last Saturday, I was lying in bed when my husband brought me a hot cup of coffee along with a fresh copy of Diver Magazine (to try to inject some life into my body).  He knows me so well.  Coffee and diving magazines get my attention!  As I was skimming through the pages I came across an image that startled me a bit.  It was an image of me.  Not the most flattering image but nonetheless I made it into a Dive Magazine! First goal of 2014, check! Lol.  I'm kidding.  Of course that doesn't count! But doesn't it?!                

My husband had to be in London for work so I tried to find something worthwhile to do while we were there.  I spent a few minutes googling events in London that week when it occurred to me that I should search 'dive events in UK'.  Sure enough, there was an expo being held in Birmingham.  Not only that, but the underwater photography speakers lined up were excellent.  So naturally, we rented a car and drove up to Birmingham for the weekend.  I got to listen to Michael Aw, Martin Edge, and Alex Mustard talk about underwater photography (and I couldn't have been happier).  Oh, and apparently I had my photo taken while doing so too!

She Makes a Little Ocean

“But in a way you can say that after leaving the sea, after all those millions of years of living inside of the sea, we took the ocean with us. When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her  body, to grow in. That water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea.   It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean, in her body.   And not only this.  Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almost exactly like the water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears.”

One of my favourite quotes from Gregory David Robert's book Shantaram and I think most appropriate for this post.  Let me introduce my gorgeous friend Nisrine.  She is currently on her third pregnancy but unfortunately has never had herself photographed pregnant.  We decided it was time to change that.  

My Happy Place

Finding the time to dive is an ongoing priority of mine.  Being in the water and behind the camera has become really important to me because I feel the happiest there.  But I realised a while ago that I don't have to be in some exotic dive location to be in the water snapping photos.  

While portrait photography on land never interested me much, its a different story in the water.  The fluid environment creates a sense of movement you don't find on land.  For me, seeing someone suspended in the water; weightless and free-spirited is a beautiful thing.   

For nine months of our lives we live in this fluid environment yet many of us never find a 

connection with it again.  Our bodies, our planet, our minds are all dependent on this one element.  Why not create images celebrating this fact? In my journey throughout the underwater realm I hope to do so.  In these photos I tried to capture the love these two great 

people have for one another . . . 

Diving with Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

This place is definitely off the beaten path, but well worth the effort of getting there.  The service here is top-notch.  Everything is taken care of and everyone’s there to dive.  Of course you don’t have to dive to have a good time as there is plenty of snorkelling along their extensive house reef that will keep you entertained for some time.  On the short boat ride from the airport you'll pass by the local town which is supported by visitors to Wakatobi.  It was great to hear that the resort has had sucha positive impact on the locals livelihoods as well as the protection of the reefs.

 

Speaking of reefs, it doesn't get much better than this.  Cut off from mass tourism, Wakatobi truly is a remote island refuge.  It is situated in the heart of the Coral Triangle and if you know anything about reefs, you know this is where it's at in terms of diving.  But do take note, if you are hoping to see large pelagic you're headed to the wrong island.  This place is all about macro.  For those of you that are into photography, be sure to pack your macro lens and port.  Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time with video on this trip and don't have a lot in terms of macro shots.  But I can assure you if macro isn't your thing there are many other options.  The walls and reefs capes are incredibly dramatic.   

Giant Strides

As I wrote in my first post, I had some anxieties about the ocean, however as much as I feared it, I couldn’t stay away.  Living in Southeast Asia at the time, I realized I needed to seize the opportunity to get acquainted with the Coral Triangle.  So I went to Koh Tao, an island off the eastern coast of Thailand to get certified through PADI as an Open Water Diver.  This island is well known for pumping out certified divers like they are on an assembly line, however, I decided to go a different route.  Having a one-on-one instructor

from the Jamahkiri resort helped me overcome a few of my hangups and by the end of the week I felt pretty comfortable in the water.  If you are heading to Koh Tao you should take a look at these guys as an alternative to the crowded dive operations found everywhere 

else on the island.  

My biggest obstacle of this trip was definitely clearing my mask.  If you are unfamiliar with diving, this is an important skill to master. If and when water seeps inside your mask, whether intentionally or unintentionally (leaks or even comes off completely), being able to 

clear the water from it needs to be second nature.  For some reason I had an irresistible urge to inhale any drops of water resting in the nose piece of my mask.  So I am sure you can understand my hesitation with having to remove it completely, put it back on and clear the seawater from it. I cannot tell you how many times I inhaled water while practicing this skill

in a pool.  It was extremely frustrating and embarrassing to say the least. But at least in a pool you can stand up and cough it out. With 15 meters of water above your head this becomes a bit more tricky.  Even though this was my last task in completing the course and the entire reason I was in Koh Tao; I felt close to bailing on the whole thing.   As my PADI instructor waited patiently for me to muster up the courage, I started to fidget around and grew more and more anxious.  My shifting in the sand caused a bit of an issue with the visibility and this just added to my anxiety.

Wet Feet

The idea of scuba diving has always intrigued me. It’s was one of those bucket list items I thought would be great to try once, just to say I did it. But the truth is, scuba diving is not something you can say you’ve tried if you’ve only been once or twice.  I’ve always loved the ocean. Marine life of all shapes and sizes piqued my interest. But for some reason, I was also slightly terrified of it as a kid and that fear followed me into adulthood.  So when the 

opportunity to finally give it a shot came about, naturally all I could think about were the sea monsters below the surface waiting to get me.  Instead of focusing on how amazing it was that my first ever dive was in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, I focused all of my energy on how much I did not want to see a shark.  All I could think about after both feet were safely back on the boat was how lucky I was to be in one piece and that while it was an amazing 

experience, I probably couldn’t bring myself to try it again.  Why take the risk? By the way, about that shark I didn't want to see; I saw him and he saw me and I was shocked at how quickly he wanted to get away from us.