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I don't know where this should be posted.....some how this appears the place..
Just a little history lesson in Underwater Photography
One of the finest diving magazines ever published is Dive Training. However on occasion it misses the mark. So it was with the article by Marty Synderman in the December 2006 issue. I recalled reading the article and placing it aside for six months.
I was reading it for the second time and called the publisher Mark Young discussed the article with him. He asked if I would write a letter to the editor and he would publish it. I did and he published it in part in the recent edition of Dive Training.
There was a number of areas omitted which was expected do to space restrictions, but the mute point was that the letter was printed and hopefully noted by the readers.
The letter and its contents is a consise history of the origin of Underwater photograpy and equipment with in the United States as documented in books, magazine articles, magazines and activites--note that it began a long time ago
What follows is the letter in total as submited to Dive Training
'Mark, (fyi Mark Young,the publisher of Dive training)
As you have often heard from me in person or by e Mail I am an avid reader of your magazine. You also know I for what ever reason I often get behind in my reading...but I always allot time some where in my retired status schedule a catch up on my reading..so is the case with the December 2006 issue...Last weekend when I was catching up I read the story by Marty Synderman "Getting the shot" on pages 67,68 & 69 of the December 2006 issue. I was absolutely shocked by the following statement:
"Thirty years ago there weren't many courses, or even books, available to those who aspired to become underwater photographers and filmmakers. In those days underwater photography was a relatively new endeavor, and a lot of the equipment did not work very well a lot of the time. Some equipment designs were badly flawed. Cameras getting flooded and strobes not flashing were often par for the course. Sometimes we had to make our own gear. Video had yet to be invented.
Back then we did a lot of flying by the seat of our pants. Trial and error, with a lot of error, was the only learning method available a lot of the time."
I couldn't believe your fine magazine had published such a statement ! It is totally false! Totally in error!
For your information and the education of the young uninformed author and especially the many readers, the aspiring underwater shutterbugs of today and tomorrow who have been led astray by this statement I would like to submit a list of books published prior 1976. These are books in every sense of the word, hard backs with dust jackets, assigned ISBN or LCC numbers , not the small self published soft cover "books" that populate the market today. The list is as follows:
20 years under the sea Williamson 1936
Underwater with helmet and camera duPont 1940
Underwater photography and Television
Cross 1954
Underwater photography
Schenck & Kendal 1954
Underwater photography; (revised 2d edition)
Schenck & Kendal 1957
Build your own UW camera housing
Toggweiler 1962
Build your own UW camera housing
Toggweiler revised 1970
Underwater photography
Ribikoff & Cherney 1965
The art of underwater photography
Stark & Brundza 1966
Camera below
Frey & Tzimoulis 1967
In-Water photography Mertens 1970
Divers and cameras Strrykowski 1974
Bibliography on under water photography Kodak 1968
Photographs underwater Kendall 1976
It addition during this time frame and before there were a number of articles in magazines National geographic, Camera, and a number of men's magazines.
The first magazine devoted to recreational diving Skin Diver Magazine from the early 1950s periodically had specially issues totally devoted to the emerging activity of Underwater Photography.
In April 1973 Fred Roberts launched a new dive magazine: Underwater photography. This magazine was crammed full of advertisements, equipment reviews, how to articles for the advanced as well the aspiring underwater photographer. It was available in dive shops through out California and selected shops in the US. Sadly it ceased printing in July 1979.
In 1951,three years before E.R. Cross published the first book addressing Underwater Television 1954, a few miles away in Costa Mesa California Herb Samson was busy perfecting his Underwater Camera system. He produced three models, the 16 mm sport model and the very large professional model. The later would and did house either a 35 MM movie camera or a huge television camera system common to the 1950s. All three models have never been equaled in quality and performance--but they did have one draw back weight -the TV was 90 pounds and required three people to operate a diver, a tender and a topside operator, certainly a contrast to modem equipment.
Sea Hunt was photographed underwater by the great Lamar Boren in the 1950s with a 35 MM Movie camera housing of his own design.
There were many many great housing avaliable to the diver of the 1950s,1960s and 1970s. The Sampson, Rollie, the AKG Leica by Hans Hass, the Samson, Sea Hawks by Greenberg, the Mako by Klien, the Fenjohn by Johnson, Wollman-Schmidt, Petersen's Aqua Cam, the Dotson Kimes, the Ikelites, on an on...but the point has been made...
The original Underwater Photographic society was formed in the late 1950s in Los Angeles and now has chapters through out the US, including San Diego. The first Underwater film festival was in the late 1950s at Los Angeles State college and the first "International" Underwater Film festival was in Los Angles in the very early 1960s
LA state, Orange Coast College and others through out California offered 3-4 credit ,18 week long courses complete with field trips and term papers in Underwater photography in the 1960 and 1970s.
So there WERE hardback books with dust jacket published, there was a magazine, there was underwater television, there was a Underwater Photographic society there was many many camera housings and there were college classes in underwater photography long long before Marty Synderman entered the diving world--
It would seem appropriate even though a bit late that this letter be published in total in your fine magazine.
<~copy write 2007, Dr Samuel Miller~>
Warmest regards from California---where it all began!
Dr Samuel Miller,
Pismo Beach, California
Just a little history lesson in Underwater Photography
One of the finest diving magazines ever published is Dive Training. However on occasion it misses the mark. So it was with the article by Marty Synderman in the December 2006 issue. I recalled reading the article and placing it aside for six months.
I was reading it for the second time and called the publisher Mark Young discussed the article with him. He asked if I would write a letter to the editor and he would publish it. I did and he published it in part in the recent edition of Dive Training.
There was a number of areas omitted which was expected do to space restrictions, but the mute point was that the letter was printed and hopefully noted by the readers.
The letter and its contents is a consise history of the origin of Underwater photograpy and equipment with in the United States as documented in books, magazine articles, magazines and activites--note that it began a long time ago
What follows is the letter in total as submited to Dive Training
'Mark, (fyi Mark Young,the publisher of Dive training)
As you have often heard from me in person or by e Mail I am an avid reader of your magazine. You also know I for what ever reason I often get behind in my reading...but I always allot time some where in my retired status schedule a catch up on my reading..so is the case with the December 2006 issue...Last weekend when I was catching up I read the story by Marty Synderman "Getting the shot" on pages 67,68 & 69 of the December 2006 issue. I was absolutely shocked by the following statement:
"Thirty years ago there weren't many courses, or even books, available to those who aspired to become underwater photographers and filmmakers. In those days underwater photography was a relatively new endeavor, and a lot of the equipment did not work very well a lot of the time. Some equipment designs were badly flawed. Cameras getting flooded and strobes not flashing were often par for the course. Sometimes we had to make our own gear. Video had yet to be invented.
Back then we did a lot of flying by the seat of our pants. Trial and error, with a lot of error, was the only learning method available a lot of the time."
I couldn't believe your fine magazine had published such a statement ! It is totally false! Totally in error!
For your information and the education of the young uninformed author and especially the many readers, the aspiring underwater shutterbugs of today and tomorrow who have been led astray by this statement I would like to submit a list of books published prior 1976. These are books in every sense of the word, hard backs with dust jackets, assigned ISBN or LCC numbers , not the small self published soft cover "books" that populate the market today. The list is as follows:
20 years under the sea Williamson 1936
Underwater with helmet and camera duPont 1940
Underwater photography and Television
Cross 1954
Underwater photography
Schenck & Kendal 1954
Underwater photography; (revised 2d edition)
Schenck & Kendal 1957
Build your own UW camera housing
Toggweiler 1962
Build your own UW camera housing
Toggweiler revised 1970
Underwater photography
Ribikoff & Cherney 1965
The art of underwater photography
Stark & Brundza 1966
Camera below
Frey & Tzimoulis 1967
In-Water photography Mertens 1970
Divers and cameras Strrykowski 1974
Bibliography on under water photography Kodak 1968
Photographs underwater Kendall 1976
It addition during this time frame and before there were a number of articles in magazines National geographic, Camera, and a number of men's magazines.
The first magazine devoted to recreational diving Skin Diver Magazine from the early 1950s periodically had specially issues totally devoted to the emerging activity of Underwater Photography.
In April 1973 Fred Roberts launched a new dive magazine: Underwater photography. This magazine was crammed full of advertisements, equipment reviews, how to articles for the advanced as well the aspiring underwater photographer. It was available in dive shops through out California and selected shops in the US. Sadly it ceased printing in July 1979.
In 1951,three years before E.R. Cross published the first book addressing Underwater Television 1954, a few miles away in Costa Mesa California Herb Samson was busy perfecting his Underwater Camera system. He produced three models, the 16 mm sport model and the very large professional model. The later would and did house either a 35 MM movie camera or a huge television camera system common to the 1950s. All three models have never been equaled in quality and performance--but they did have one draw back weight -the TV was 90 pounds and required three people to operate a diver, a tender and a topside operator, certainly a contrast to modem equipment.
Sea Hunt was photographed underwater by the great Lamar Boren in the 1950s with a 35 MM Movie camera housing of his own design.
There were many many great housing avaliable to the diver of the 1950s,1960s and 1970s. The Sampson, Rollie, the AKG Leica by Hans Hass, the Samson, Sea Hawks by Greenberg, the Mako by Klien, the Fenjohn by Johnson, Wollman-Schmidt, Petersen's Aqua Cam, the Dotson Kimes, the Ikelites, on an on...but the point has been made...
The original Underwater Photographic society was formed in the late 1950s in Los Angeles and now has chapters through out the US, including San Diego. The first Underwater film festival was in the late 1950s at Los Angeles State college and the first "International" Underwater Film festival was in Los Angles in the very early 1960s
LA state, Orange Coast College and others through out California offered 3-4 credit ,18 week long courses complete with field trips and term papers in Underwater photography in the 1960 and 1970s.
So there WERE hardback books with dust jacket published, there was a magazine, there was underwater television, there was a Underwater Photographic society there was many many camera housings and there were college classes in underwater photography long long before Marty Synderman entered the diving world--
It would seem appropriate even though a bit late that this letter be published in total in your fine magazine.
<~copy write 2007, Dr Samuel Miller~>
Warmest regards from California---where it all began!
Dr Samuel Miller,
Pismo Beach, California
