Motivation

I love to share the exatraordinary diverstity that non-divers miss.

I love the challenge of shooting in conditions that would make most topside photogpraphers cringe.

I love the amazing creatures that we share our time with underwater.

I love the reactions I get from showing people the things I see.

Chicks!

Ah... I never even wanted to take photo's, then a very good friend went a gave a little camera as a pressie.

I have to say... I do love it, being able to create my own galleries of things I've seen underwater is amazing, for me it is now like a log of what animals can be seen, well I should say what animals can be photographed with a very limiting camera in Indonesia and beyond. I find it great to log animals seen by destination. I also love the scientific side of having a camera along with me on dives, now I am able to log unusual animals, even at times new species of animals as well. If I am unsure, nw I know what to do, take a photo, pop on Wetpixel and let Worm Girl (Leslie) do the rest, she usually knows what it is, or at least knows someone who should know what it is.

Its funny that I'm reading this thread tonight. I'vejust changed over from film to digital in the last few weeks. And after diving for 20 years (geez...I think I just broke my hip leaning over to fart), it was interesing to look over my original prints and slides from back then. Amazing at it seemed, I could recall most of those dive from reliving it through the pictures...pretty cool!

And I'll be the first to say it...its a great ego booster! Coming back from a trip with the 1% top drawer images, just makes me feel so damn good.

And here is a true "Warm Fuzzy" story -

One of the resons I created my web site (H2opictures), was to have a wide ranging outlet for sharing my images. Over the years, I've recieved e-mail's asking for assistance or usage of a image. This one time, you could tell it was a kid who wrote the e-mail. Pretty simple request, he wanted to use some pictures for a report he was doing. As I always do, I fully supported him and made sure he got whatever he needed. Nothing special, just being a good mentor and helping someone who asked for it. Well, I really didn't give it much thought at the time...and a few weeks past. Another e-mail showed up. This time, it was the mother writting me. She went on to explain how happy her son was, and how proud of his report he was. Then the kicker...she then when on to explain that her son was a challenged individual...with a terminal illness. And all she could say was "thank you" over and over again. And how nice it was to have someone, who didn't know her son at all, extend themselves to help. Remember, I didn't think I really did anything special at the time.

The whole episode just kinda overwhelmed me.....that's why I do this...that one kid.

Some interesting comments, and the last posting was touching. I was a photographer, albeit photo teacher, long before I dove. I had stopped enjoying it, as I taught it all day to teenagers I took up diving, and saw the possibility of a new challenge, and that rekindled my love of capturing the beauty of the natural world. No longer do I enter photo contests, the magazine and stock business is, well, poor, and that's an understatement, so I'm now back just enjoying the reason I started to begin with: the challenge of discovering new things and the way to capture the familiar in new and exciting ways.

By the way, John B. mentioned that there are so few females...there are tons of females joining the digicam revolution. My recent trip to Roatan showed me just how many there are now armed and sometimes dangerous (gosh, new cameras should come with U/W etiquette rules) new photographers there are. However, in the really serious amateur category, many females that were once pretty into it ran when the talk became more about megapixels than the subject matter and composition. They are now coming back after backing away from u/w photography (I speak about UW Photo Club members that I know). As far as the pro end, well, it's tough for everyone, particularly for the past few years, and it is a male dominated sport, although it seems many art directors are women...with male bosses. Women tend to photograph from a different perspective than the formula that is often used in publishing. However, there are some amazing female photographers out there; perhaps they're just not online so much...

Cheers,

Marli