Scuba Diver ready to go, Cork, Ireland

I was delighted to be asked to photograph some fellow members of Cork Sub-Aqua Scuba Diving Club a few weeks ago. A big bonus for me was that this was not just a task of photographing people, nice and all as that is, but of photographing scuba divers, in full scuba diving kit, in the water.

Many elements of the photo-shoot provided me with challenges. My own choice was to do the shoot where I would be in the water along with the divers. This alowed me to get close to the divers with a wide angle lens and still capture the essential elements of sea and background. I was most of the time waist high and often up to chest high in the sea during the shoot. Obviously I was wearing suitable dive gear but my cameras were not! I had some plastic bag rain protector (more like splash protection really) on the camera and lens to provide some water proofing but care was needed all the time.

The light is so important for any photo session. I normally prefer to use natural light over flash or artificial lights. That day I used natural light but I did not use a reflector as I normally might. The logistics of the site would mean another person in the water and that could not happen on the day. I expected the water to be good at reflecting some bounced back light and hoped that would help. On the day the light was as good as possible in early April Ireland, bright and cloudy for the most part (and no rain!). The light conditions really did suit the way I wanted to work that day.

Composition, pose and background are some of the standard choices to me made for any shoot. In addition, on that day, the exposure presented its own issues. Scuba dive suits tend to have a lot of black material that often features bright – even “day-glow” type splashes of colour for the arms or head gear. While I was there photographing an “event” of a scuba diver test day the person or persons remain one of the key elements in the picture. Normally I would be trying to expose for the face or skin areas of the subject. However, because of the low water temperature of the sea in Ireland in April, divers typically don’t show too much skin! The skin that you can see presents an additional problem since it (the face) is hidden behind a glass diving mask presenting choices regarding exposure and focus. To solve the issue of exposure I set my equipment to overexpose somewhat. I was sure that an in camera Canon TTL reading would be accurate for the overall scene. But almost any scene that day included: water, sky, people, and combinations of dark and bright clothing along with visuals of clothing both dry and wet. The overall scene might be exposed in an accurate manner but that was not really what I was looking for. If I ended up with a pretty sky but with a dull faced diver that would not have been good. It’s always a compromise in an open water situation like this one. You can’t control all the variables in a location like the ocean. Later, of course, you can attack the raw files and make some adjustments, But getting it more or less right on the day is a big help and means a lot less work later. I don’t feel that even a raw edit does a good job of exposure issues; colour, hue, saturation adjustments and so forth work out fine but exposure- no. I was happy with the half to 1.5 stop adjustment I gave. Mostly it resulted in the face and eyes being bright enough. The backgrounds at times go very light but that is desirable. It was West Cork Ireland in April and therefore the light would not have been of a Caribbean quality! The extra stop adds a lightness to the scene backgrounds and as a result makes the subject stand out.

While the diver is the subject in the photographs I did want to allow the environment to set the overall theme of any one picture. I choose to let the water do the work for me here. The water worked by variously providing reflections, texture, movement, and a quality of semi-transparency. I had a good day photographing in the water, hope you enjoy the photos. More pictures and video will be in future posts.

Scuba Diving Photos, Cork, Ireland ©, .

Scuba Diving Photos, Cork, Ireland - watervista.com

A highly recommended read – as divers say “you learn better from others’ mistakes than from your own!”, (your own might me the last one you make!)

http://ow.ly/aBSs4

(these are BSAC-incident reports)

incident reports ©, .

incident reports - watervista.com

What can you do on the first weekend in April? For all Cork Sub Aqua Club SCUBA Trainees and PADI Crossover candidates the answer is simple- get started with your Open Water Dives!

Classroom sessions were completed and the three open water snorkels but a memory. Pool work gave a chance to practice and master vital SCUBA diving techniques and then, at last, Saturday and Sunday provided the opportunity to practice and test those SCUBA skills in Oysterhaven’s sheltered waters. Oysterhaven may not be the major Cork dive destination but it does allow us the space to shore dive in almost all weather conditions. As it happened the weekend weather was more than kind to us. The usual April Irish water temperature was not as inviting but was bearable in short doses.

With many reminders and hints about everything from equalising to SMB deployment each group set off on several tours of the Oysterhaven seabed. Visibility was reported to be “massive” but that was before skills were demonstrated while circling several mooring buoys.

Brian Burke planned and oversaw the activities on the weekend and also managed to find the time and energy to lead/test trainees in the water. Declan O’ Grady, Dave Riordan, Kieran McAulliff, Dick Vaughan, and Andrew Kenny were on hand to instruct, supervise and test.

Congratulations to Leonard, Janet, Ronan, Jenny, Catriona, Ed, Vitas for successfully completing all their required Open Water SCUBA Dives. For all Cork Sub Aqua trainee Divers 2012 got off to a magical start last weekend. Many lesson were learned and a huge range of skills displayed. The superb competency from all trainees makes us look forward even more to the coming dive season.

SCUBA Open Water Photos ©, .

SCUBA Open Water Photos - watervista.com

11-18-11 — Here is the full picture of my skylight with the attention seeking leaf attached. The other photograph is a close-up of the leaf.

I think the real beauty was uncovered by looking closer and by dialing out the distractions. You should probably take a look at this previous post also. The leaf is gone away now. Windy conditions have moved it on. Rain still persists. Have to think of a new viewpoint on that…

the lone leaf on my skylight window in the rain

Adjustment of awareness required to view beauty ©, .

Adjustment of awareness required to view beauty - watervista.com

18-11-11- It’s raining. Thirty Six millimeters of rain measured overnight at Cork Airport. I have just arrived up to my office-attic around 9am this morning. I have one skylight window through which I can admire the world from way up here. Out the window today I see rain, lots of rain. Rain is water. I photograph water. I photograph water often. Doesn’t matter if the water is on the ground or in the sky, I normally still point my cameras at it. Looking out now I see a completely grey sky with wind blowing showers across from west to east. I often drop the camera shutter speeds way down to try and better capture falling rain in a photograph. I think about doing that now. But I notice a new actor on the stage. A tiny leaf has become stuck to the outside of the glass. It sticks there stubbornly while rainwater streams all around it. It’s a fairly dull looking tan / brown tinted leaf but it looks much brighter than it should because everything else around it right now is such a grey monotone. For added excitement it has got a tiny pin sized hole in it. Normally the hole would not be seen but its quite visible now with all the light from the sky coming in behind it. That hole makes it much more interesting, gives it an enhanced beauty.

Focused awareness exposes inherent beauty ©, .

Focused awareness exposes inherent beauty - watervista.com

The show features the work of photographer Timothy James. All photographs have a Water Theme.
There are photographs of sailing, seas, islands, boats and more.
Colour and Black & White photographs from Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Croatia on show.
Contribution from sales to RNLI.
You can see a preview of the work at this address http://www.watervista.com/Exhibition_2010_Maho_g64.html

We are hoping the images of blue sky and sunshine moments will be a welcome boost for many people in this cold snap and will attract some Christmas shoppers to come and take a look. Pictures framed and unframed have prices to suit all. There is even a selection of original prints on postcards for only €2.00 each.

Timothy James, Photographer, has an  Exhibition of some of his photographs. They will be on display in Mahon family Centre over the next 2 weeks or so. The centre has fairly broad opening hours  but  the photographer expects to be there in person on at least the 3 Saturdays and will be delighted to talk to viewers about his photographs and travels. The photographer is a keen sailor and diver and has an extensive portfolio of pictures from Ireland and around the world that feature a “water” theme.

* ExhibitionDetails
Photo Exhibition at – Mahon Family Resource Centre, Mahon, Cork, December 3rd – 18th.
Framed and un-framed prints for sale.
Signed and unsigned photographs available.
Sizes from postcard to poster on display.
Ideal Christmas gifts, personalised, limited editions, signed by photographer.

The centre is just past the “Red Cove Inn”, Avenue de Rennes, Mahon, Cork, Ireland.

Travel Directions-
If travelling from Blackrock side of city- on Skehard Road- Turn left at church, take left just after traffic lights (at red cove inn), then next right.

A map to the photographic exhibition is at -  click here to display an online route map .

Poster Info is at – http://www.watervista.com/Exhibition_2010_Maho_g64.html

The Photo website is at-  http://www.watervista.com

Photo Show Mahon Cork ©, .

Photo Show Mahon Cork - watervista.com

The idea started as a reaction to the scarcity of gallery type venues to display any type of art. It is a number of benefits to the artist; exposure of your work, possibility of a sale (generously the bar owner Benny McCabe sells completely without any commission) and the collegiality of display amongst your peers.

The art display is catalogued in a beautiful full colour show book featuring an image of each item along with artist details and contact data, (except my entry of course which does not have the contact info attached!). Never mind- if someone loves the picture enough they will find me!

The official show launch of Salon at the Bodega in Cork was on Tuesday 12th October 2010 the group exhibition runs, with catalog reprints already required, until January 2011.

Catalogue Salon at the Bodega ©, .

Catalogue Salon at the Bodega - watervista.com

Exhibition Details Photo Exhibition at – Mahon Family Resource Centre, Mahon, Cork, December 3rd – 18th.

Framed and un-framed prints for sale.
Signed and unsigned photographs available.
Sizes from postcard to poster on display.
Ideal Christmas gifts, personalised, limited editions, signed by photographer.

Forthcoming Photographic Exhibition ©, .

Forthcoming Photographic Exhibition - watervista.com

Bodega Salon is an art display with a difference,- it’s in a fully licensed bar! And in a pretty fine and very nice looking bar at that. A bar that cost a million Euro Plus to outfit. In truth the art is bolted on around the bar but it does all add to the overall theme of the place.

It’s a bar that fulfils the casual quiet drink requirement as well as the drinks with the gang obligations. A place where you can feel equally at home in your day-to-day jeans and pullover or in your fancy going out clothes.

As well as getting together for coffee, drinks and food you can now take some time to admire the various pieces of art while you are at the Bodega. If you see anything you like just check it up in the supplied catalogue. To purchase contact the artist directly.

Bodega Salon Gallery Display ©, .

Bodega Salon Gallery Display - watervista.com

Two of my water images are now exhibited in the innovative “Salon at the Bodega”. The Salon is an exhibition of art works of various types including painting, sculpture and photography. It is innovative in as much as it is a gallery of art, surrounding a bar. Enjoy a drink and a look at the art at the same time.

Bodega Salon ©, .

Bodega Salon - watervista.com