Jump In, The Water Is Fine
Published August 16, 2020
I don't know about you, dear reader, but I am about as sick of doom and gloom as I can handle at the moment. There's a pandemic that continues to wreak havoc around the world, and especially in my home country (USA). There's a crazy man in the White House who is whining about not getting credit for what little he has done to halt the virus while breaking every norm of our democracy, and not in a good way. It's exhausting, right?
So I decided I needed a new photography project to get me out of my funk. I've been staring at my Olympus underwater housing for months since I purchased it for a trip that fell through. Decided to grab that thing and see what I could do with it in my pool here in Spain. For context, I have a roughly 6ftx9ft plunge pool, it's not huge. But it does have some tropical plantings and a fountain that is part of the filtration system. So there's potential to create some interesting images. Not having used my Olympus OMD EM5 Mark II in this housing yet means I get to learn something new, which I always enjoy.
Day One - Mostly all settings were on Auto and I was just clicking away to see what I could create. The subjects range from lights on the pool tiles to half/half shots looking toward the plants to abstractions of the bubbling water. I took over a thousand images and liked maybe 10% of them. That's a pretty average cull so I was feeling excited about where this is going at this stage! Here's my favourite shot from this first foray into underwater photography. Definitely liking the mood and beauty in these more abstract captures.
Day Two - Playing a bit more with settings in the camera. I have tried the iAuto setting, the Sports and Macro Scene settings and used Manual settings. The challenge here is switching from iAuto to Scene to Manual requires removing the camera from the housing. So I have to get out of the pool, let the housing dry a bit so I'm not dripping water inside before I can make the change. But this is all a learning lesson so I will note what I like/dislike about the process and adapt as I keep creating images. I also tried a new composition of shooting up toward some items hanging on the clothes line next to the pool which created some really cool, painterly images. Here's a couple of those:
Day Three - I am beginning to realise the Sports setting may be my favourite for this process. It allows me to shoot continuous frames while moving around the subject and the high shutter speeds have been good at freezing water droplets. I now have more images of water bubbles than I know what to do with! LOL. But they sparkle like diamonds and that makes me happy. I am feeling that funk disappear with the air in these bubbles!
What are you doing to find new creative outlets for yourself? Adding this into my repertoire is helping lift my spirits while possibly providing a new focus for my photography. Now that COVID-19 is limiting travel, businesses are closing, publications are ceasing, I don't see a lot of potential work beyond websites which don't pay much. So perhaps moving into Fine Art Photography might be a better direction. Time will tell. In the meantime...Jump In, The Water's Fine.
You can check out more of this work on my website VandrarPhoto.com.