Breaking a Curse

[Oceanshutter]

Hello all,

I wanted to share a short film I have put together.

Ever since I have been diving, I have wanted to have an up close and personal interaction with Manta Rays. I have been all of the world waiting for this magical opportunity. Thousands of miles traveled and dollars spent, I went to some of the best places in the world to pursue this dream of mine. Whether it be weather, bad luck, or illness, something always seemed to get in the way. It was very frustrating.

This film is about how the manta curse eventually got broken.

Anyhow, Please let me know things you like and don't like about it. Always willing to try to improve and get opinions from others.
I hope you enjoy it!

Dustin

[video=vimeo;126446544]https://vimeo.com/126446544[/video]

Or Youtube

[video=youtube;WLvkUjNXhe0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLvkUjNXhe0[/video]

 

[descent]

Such awesome persistence, Dustin! Thanks for sharing the story, and many congratulations for finishing the project.

 

[phoenix31tt]

It's one of my dreams too.. i really hope i don't have to wait 18 years :|

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Beautiful! I love the subtle camera movement. My only suggestion would be to remove the scenes with multiple divers in them. Seeing bubbles, new divers in colorful gear sculling with their hands and swimming vertically subtracts from the slow motion majesty of the mantas.

 

[Oceanshutter]

Such awesome persistence, Dustin! Thanks for sharing the story, and many congratulations for finishing the project.

Thank you! It took me a while..lol.

---------- Post added July 18th, 2015 at 08:38 AM ----------

It's one of my dreams too.. i really hope i don't have to wait 18 years :|

I hope you don't have to wait that long either!

---------- Post added July 18th, 2015 at 08:39 AM ----------

Beautiful! I love the subtle camera movement. My only suggestion would be to remove the scenes with multiple divers in them. Seeing bubbles, new divers in colorful gear sculling with their hands and swimming vertically subtracts from the slow motion majesty of the mantas.

I agree with you. I normally don't like divers in my shots. However, in this case they helped give scale to the large size of the mantas. Also, it was unavoidable, as divers are just there. If you have been to Socorro you will understand what I mean... Thanks for watching.

 

[soundfield]

Congrat's and nice video work; liked it all!

 

[Yoda-X]

I agree....the divers give scale and depth to the project. Well done!!

 

[Oceanshutter]

Congrat's and nice video work; liked it all!

Thank you! I appreciate it.

---------- Post added July 27th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ----------

I agree....the divers give scale and depth to the project. Well done!!

Thank you very much!

 

[Tippytoes12]

This is a wonderful piece , a beautiful story with a happy ending ! I also agree that the people added interest and scale to many of the scenes.

We did 100 dives each before we saw a manta and were getting desperate ....but now we seem to see them all the time.

Thanks for for sharing with us.

Best fishes x

 

[Oceanshutter]

This is a wonderful piece , a beautiful story with a happy ending ! I also agree that the people added interest and scale to many of the scenes.We did 100 dives each before we saw a manta and were getting desperate ....but now we seem to see them all the time. Thanks for for sharing with us. Best fishes x

Thanks for watching. Glad you finally got to see them. Hopefully that happens with me as well.