So strange as it might seem to many - including me and my long suffering business partner Sharky, as one of the owners of an Underwater Video Production Company, I have not - until now - attempted much filming underwater.
Weird huh!!! And yes I agree it seems ridiculous after such a long period of time that I have still not completed the training, I'm a professional diver and like to dive for fun so what are my excuses. I can say, I'm the administrator for the business I have lots of other projects on land that I'm working on and I'm too busy blah blah blah!!! But really I think it's always been that I'm more comfortable on land and never saw my real skills being underwater.
Well - Sharky as mentioned before, in his frustration has finally put his foot down and insisted that I gain the skills that I am so happy to help develop and hone in the team working with me, from the comfort of the edit suite! So the perfect opportunity and timing has arisen with our friend Joey Curbishley who runs Koh Tao Seals and teaches in Bangkok, who has joined us for the PADI Pro Underwater Cinematography Course.
I have begun the course with huge amounts of trepidation, the expectations are high, from the team and from myself. I KNOW what it's supposed to look like but can I achieve it myself? More specifically the team will want to know is she all talk and no wetsuit!
Those who know me know that I am both an intermittent and a fair weather diver and our staff and colleagues at the dive shops all exclaim every time I show up at the dive shop ready to dive - so no pressure.
The Long tail driver Ting always has fun with me asking if I'm going diving knowing full well that I'm not!!! Imagine his surprise when I have been on the boat for the last five (well four with a visa run in the middle) days, and on days one and two some of the least calm seas Koh Tao has seen for a while.
So day one - dive gear ready or so I thought, we have equipment for hire for students so one set doubles as my gear, fins and mask are my own so no problems there. Sharky's training emphasizes the need to be cool calm and collected when filming in the water as it reduces stress and prevents rushing and getting things wrong. This all helped and whilst I noted that my mouthpiece on my regulator had a little problem (some one has been a bit of a tooth grinder and bitten through one side) I thought hey - no problem thats not a deal breaker! Sadly now I'm further into the course I realise that well maintained equipment is actually a key part of allowing you to relax and improve on the skills you already have. So first dive over I realised rookie mistake number one and mouth piece was exchanged for a fully functional mouth guard. Having said this the dive was great, even though there was a lot of chop on the surface the visability was gorgeous and the dive sites where teaming with fish. By the end of the second dive I was feeling comfortable with the buoyancy adjustment to accommodate the camera and housing.
Until day two! - So now floating about with the camera, taking what "I thought" were awesome shots (viewing in the edit suite proved otherwise) was not the only task at hand, now I had to incorporate some control. When these skills are briefed to you you kind of think 'well I can do that thats easy - I learnt that on my open water course' and to start of with yes its all easy peasy BUT then you watch Sharky and realise that what you think is perfect buoyancy is actually ALL OVER THE SHOP! your bouncing around in the swell the slightest little change of breathing takes you six inches up or six inches to the left and when your looking at it through the view finder of a camera, as any one who has attempted any underwater photography or videography will know its a whole other ball game. I have to take my hats off to my team, they are exceptionally good at what they do.
Any how not to bore you too much with the details of the following few days other than to say the dive sites where stunning and that my underwater awareness, observation skills and navigation have improved dramatically. I have also found new love of diving. There is something about finding that critter or seeing a scene no one else noticed AND being able to capture it on camera. I knew this about on land environments but there is something magical about the three dimensional space and the way that light behaves to give you that special magical underwater glow.
And as for the buoyancy skills after my initial reaction and complaining about being cold and bored, because "I knew it all" it is so satisfying to realise that you are beginning to master and fine tune a skill so perfectly. Recognising the factors that are determining your performance and being able to adjust delicately their balance has changed this on land videographer to an underwater videographer wanna be!
As for the footage - you won't be seeing any of it until I have it perfect - too much pressure!! but you'll be catching glimpses of what I've been up too along the way courtesy of Sharky and Joey