fire_diver
Contributor
I was on a liveaboard, and the diver in question was my roommate and my buddy for the dives.
My buddy was a photographer with a really nice digital camera. He found a lot to photograph on the first part of the dive. A lot. And he wanted to get just the right shot, so it was not unusual for him to take 10-12 shots of the same thing. (That is both the joy and horror of digital photography.) Every time we would find something, those who saw it first would take a quick glance and then get out of the way for someone else. When he got there, though, he set up camp. Those who were behind him in line sometimes gave up.
Eventually we all ran low on air and surfaced.
Back on the liveaboard, the divers in the first group were all aglow about how beautiful the cavern had been. My buddy was raving about how many great shots he got. I said, "You know, I kind of wanted to see that cavern. I heard it was really nice."
He replied, "Not me! I'm interested in living things, not dead stones."
The skipper of the boat, who was well aware of what happened, solved the problem by telling my buddy that he was a really good photographer himself, and he offered to take him on special dives, just the two of them, for the rest of the trip. My buddy was thrilled with the extra attention he was getting, and he apologized for the fact that I would have to get along without him.
He exemplified what I see is with certain problem participants in any activity, people whose only interest is in themselves and what the experience is for them; people who are totally oblivious to the fact that other people have needs, too, and that sometimes it's a good thing to give up a little of what you want so that others can have a little of what they want, too.
I guess these people were absent when they had the taking turns lesson in Kindergarten.
I think you are as much to blame in this situation as the photog.
You signed up for a liveaboard and took an insta-buddy. You just happened to get one with different goals than you. Would it have been "right" to tell mr. photog that he can't use his multi-$1000 dollar camera on this trip? I'm sure that the photos were the main reason for him to book the trip. If you had dragged him away form his subjects, he would have been a lot more pissed than you were at missing the "cavern".
The liveaboard should have done a better job of pairing people up to avoid the situation all together.