It never fails . . .

[Diver0001]

So lets hear YOUR stories about what you saw on shakedown, or gear-testing, or other dives where you didn't take YOUR camera?

What's a camera?

I used to take photography semi-seriously as a hobby and spent so much time viewing the world through a lens that I was "capturing" everything and "seeing" nothing. Being somewhere or seeing something became a constant mental exercise in how to "get it on film" and I was failing to experience it.

This realisation hit me full force on my second time to the Taj Mahal. The first time I saw it through the lens and got some good pictures (if I do say so myself). The second time, 6 months later, it was overcast so I left the camera in the bag and while standing in front if it, its context and unadulterated perfection were so astonishing (when not looking through the camera) that it literally moved me to tears. To think that they made this perfect PERFECT thing--by hand, no less--in a country which had lost any ability to do anything perfectly and was purely and singularly busy trying to drag itself into the 20th century..... There....amidst the biggest mass of human chaos I had ever seen was one of the few buildings ever built that is as much a fully blown work of art as anything functional.

That experience pretty much ended my semi-serious obsession with photography. I realized that the camera was separating me from the world around me.... the exact opposite of the reason why I started with it to begin with. My pendulum swung to the other end and now I'm all about "being there". I still take the camera on vacation because my wife makes me but underwater..... I'm more than happy to let other people do that.

So, Lynne, the lesson is this. When you saw the manta you missed a great opportunity to "be there" because you were ruffled by not having the camera with you.

Just a thought.

R..

 

[RJP]

I realized that the camera was separating me from the world around me.... the exact opposite of the reason why I started with it to begin with. My pendulum swung to the other end and now I'm all about "being there".

So lets hear YOUR stories about what you saw on shakedown, or gear-testing, or other dives where you didn't take YOUR camera?

I'm with Diver0001 on this one. When I used to carry a camera I always had the OPPOSITE problem Lynne describes. I'd get back to the boat all excited to show people some or other nice (if not pedestrian) photo, only to find out that while I was intently staring through my camera I had completely missed a leprechaun riding a whale shark being chased by unicorns diving rebreathers or something similar.

I found that when diving with a camera I got lots of nice pictures, but missed lots of great dives. Realizing, that given the choice, I'd rather have the memories than the photographs... I stopped diving with a camera. Though I do believe I will soon pick up a GoPro rig... for that elusive leprechaun video!

 

[TSandM]

Oh, I didn't miss the moment with the manta!

But I hear you all about the difference between capturing things and experiencing them. Although I have a lot of fun with the camera, trying to get pictures I like, I still very much enjoy the dives where PETER gets to carry the camera (because he LIKES being distanced from the things around him by a lens) and I do the scouting.

 

[finbob]

While diving at Malapascua a large Thresher Shark passed by within two meters of me, no camera!
But then it would have certainly stole the experience of this memorable encounter - no regrets.

 

[mathauck0814]

Face in the water floating at the surface at Nubble light for the first dive of the season with a juvenile blue shark buzzing around our ankles. Gone before we could get a second good look at it.

 

[RayKay]

During one of my very first dives I saw a Black Brotula. I did not spend much time looking at the little guy because I did not know what it really was until I researched it later back at the hotel. Then I got excited. Then I felt disappointed that I had not spent more time checking it out since it is unlikely I would ever see one again. Fortunately we went back to the same site a few days later to do a night dive and we found the little guy again. This time *I* was the one gesturing to others to check him out and they didn't really care, ha!

Still no camera though as I was still a student and I am I am not much of a photographer on land, never mind underwater. I did find a picture of the exact same Black Brotula that someone else had taken online so at least there is that.

 

[eelnoraa]

This is super cool. I wish I knew you were in Maui. I was desparate looking for dive buddies for a few dives.

 

[RJP]

During one of my very first dives I saw a Black Brotula. I did not spend much time looking at the little guy because I did not know what it really was until I researched it later back at the hotel. Then I got excited. Then I felt disappointed that I had not spent more time checking it out since it is unlikely I would ever see one again. Fortunately we went back to the same site a few days later to do a night dive and we found the little guy again. This time *I* was the one gesturing to others to check him out and they didn't really care, ha!

Still no camera though as I was still a student and I am I am not much of a photographer on land, never mind underwater. I did find a picture of the exact same Black Brotula that someone else had taken online so at least there is that.

One of my first dives out of certification was in Kona Hawaii - like dive number 6. I had a camera with me so took pictures of all kinds of stuff I thought I'd never see again; Parrot fish, dories, squirrel fish, sargent majors, whatever.

During the surface interval I heard the op owner talking about the fact that he'd seen ALMOST EVERYTHNG there was to see in Hawaii, and his claim to fame was he had personally photographed every nudibranch... but one. At this point in my dive career I literally had no idea what a nudibranch was, so listened intently as everyone on the boat talked about these things. They got out a book and talked about all the different kinds...Including the one that the dive op owner had never seen. He called it by name - the "Jolly Green Giant" nudibranch - as if it were the white whale from Moby Dick, and went on to describe this elusive creature. At which point I said, "oh, you mean one of these" as I turned on my camera and showed him a picture I had taken 10min earlier right beneath his boat.

Never seen a grown man cry before.

 

[TSandM]

That reminds me of the dive we did off Lanai, where Peter got to videotape a juvenile humpback whale coming to check out the divers.

When we took the tanks back to B&B, the fellow behind the counter told us that he had over 6000 dives on Maui, and had never seen a whale underwater. He was more than slightly irked.

 

[ScubaSteve]

This was just posted by ScubaBoard on Facebook but it is fitting here in this thread.......