Hey guys. For a good laugh, I thought I'd share some photos from my first dive trip ever, which was aboard the Big Blue Explorer in Palau. I convinced a friend to get certified before we went, so the two of us, him with 5 dives, and me with 20 dives, hopped on a liveaboard without knowing what to expect. I had never done a dive outside of California, and had never been anything but shore diving. 20 dives in 6 years!
I randomly bought an Ikelite housing for my Coolpix 990, plus a SubStrobe 200. I had no idea what I was doing, and fought housing and overpowered-strobe problems the entire time. I remember having to swim up to 30' to change camera settings because the buttons were sticking.
That was my one keeper from the trip. I remember printing it and having it framed -- after cleaning out the gobs of backscatter in the photo. Most of the photos I took are TERRIBLE. They are all online.
Here is one of my favorites:
The Palau travel journal is here:
http://echeng.com/travel/palau/
April 2001
When I got home and published the journal, I received an email from Ike Brigham within just a few days, asking me what he could do to help about the housing problems I was having (!). I was impressed.
Continued journey down memory lane:
My second trip was to Bora Bora to do the website for TopDive Resort (now, the Bora Bora Dive Resort):
http://echeng.com/travel/bora/
Summer 2001
Here is a pretty bad image from that trip:
... but the image above is very similar to the image that the diver in the original Wetpixel logo came from. In fact, I think it was the same diver in an image that isn't online. It is truly a craptacular image, but it provided just enough content for the logo.
I remember trying to change the logo during a redesign. The community made a big stink about how they missed the diver, and I was forced to put it back in.
I saw my first manta ray, which was really exciting:
I also had to shoot images of various activities for the website. This was funny:
Third trip was to Kona, on the first Wetpixel Digital Shootout, which is where I met Jim Watt:
http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/kona-aggres...ootout-webcast/
November 2001
We had a prototype housing for the Canon D30, which was very exciting. I used it for a few days until Watt put down his F4 housing to give it a try. I never got to use it again, and had to buy my own. 
Fourth trip, also to Kona (plus Maui):
http://echeng.com/travel/kona2002/
March 2002
I was hosted by Jim Watt, and also met David Fleetham over in Maui. We had a great encounter with some squid in Molokini crater.
While in Kona, I took delivery of a Canon D60, which fit into the D30 housing (except that the power knob didn't work -- no big deal). This was an incredible jump in image quality.
Fifth trip, on Jim Watt's trip to the Bahamas on the Shear Water:
http://echeng.com/travel/bahamas2002/
July 2002
First real experience with sharks! This was a real eye-opener. Watt, Fleetham, Andy Sallmon, Jim Abernethy -- all on one boat. I learned a lot and met some folks that would later on become great friends.
It was also my first experience with dolphins. I remember diving down to get this (overprocessed) shot with David Fleetham to my right. I thought my lungs were going to either explode or implode. I couldn't figure out which it was, but it hurt ... A LOT. 
Fleetham managed not to cut off the dolphin's tail on the right. Clearly, he had more time to compose because he was probably dead calm with a minute of breath-old left in him...
I also managed to get a good shot of a dolphin at night:
To this day I have not taken a better image of a dolphin at night. I guess it's all about the encounter, and what opportunities it provides to you.
Anyway, that's enough for now. I don't know if anyone cares about my shooting history; I've had others write to me to tell me that they became hopeful as photographers after wandering through my travel journals because some of my images from 5-6 years ago are so terrible.
I guess that is a compliment, right? 
