It happened to me...

[OneBrightGator]

Thanks Ken, I don't dive with Photographers (no reason, just usually have a familiar dive buddy) or in SoCal, so I was just wondering.

Ben

 

[dutch-scuba-kid]

Hmm... haven't you ever heard of a buddy line? Sounds like the viz wasn't too good. And I realize you probably need your freedom while you're shooting, but those lines don't just come in a foot in length.

 

[AndrewJD]

I think that a three diver team is the ideal when one is a photographer. With a three diver team the two non photographers can pay attention to each other and both can keep an eye on the photographer. This allows the photographer to focus on taking pictures without compromising team awareness for all of the divers.

Jonathan

 

[MikeFerrara]

It was rule number 2b on Ken's list:

#1 - do not buddy with Rebreathers

#2 - do not buddy with:
a) Hunters
b) Photographers

#3 - do not buddy with the morbidly obese


So moving behind the lens, its been like "OK Ken, do NOT become one of those divers..." I entered this endeavor (UW photographer) believing there was a balance that could be achieved.

But the more I actually, you know, try it - the more I find that the quality of the shot is in inverse proportion to the level of my personal buddy-ness. If I'm being the wacky coo coo buddy nazi I usually am, I'm getting ho hum snapshots. To seriously compose a shot, take several shots with different exposures, angles, lighting, etc... my buddy-ness is diminished for the sake of the shot.

As I gain more experience with the cam, I'm confident I will be quicker (read: make less stupid mistakes requiring re-takes! :bonk: ) I can improve this. But you know what happens then: I'll start reaching for more ambitious shots to fill that newfound time gap my experience deliverrd, and I'll be back here again. Maybe it'll never get better. Maybe its not possible... I dunno. Solo diving for serious camera time is looking better all the time. Casual camera time for buddy diving. Still working through all of this.

While I (and others) will argue there is no shot worthy of being unsafe to capture, there is this balance I'm striving to achieve. And from this side of the camera, its a lot tougher in practice than in principal.

K

Ken,

When my wife and I do photo dives that's the objective of the dive. Only one of us has a cammera although we would use 2 if we had them.

While she takes pictures I don't do anything except watch, pose or otherwise help. When she has her eye to the view finder I have an eye on her and the other things that she can't see while looking through the cammera.

Just as when you're shooting a bag or practicing valve drills, your buddy just hangs (or helps) while you do it. As your focus shifts to some task, you're buddies needs to shift to take up the slack.

The answer isn't solo diving. If you didn't see your buddy swimming away what might you not see if you're alone?

The answer is a team with all members sharing the same objective (getting those pictures). Two people...one objective.

I don't claim to be DIR but you say that you are... But... you're missing the point.

 

[diverbrian]

One of my primary dive buddies is a photographer. What we do is look for each other other's next photo ops. You can see Chris in many of my photos for a reason, LOL. Seeing that we tend to photograph wrecks, it makes life easier to get a good shot.

Still, I think next trip that we dive, we will simply hand my digital off between us with the better than 200 photos available. Then we can both be in pictures (Hurray for Hollywood!).

Basically it comes down to what Mike said, our mission is to get photos and two sets of eyes are better than one for finding good photo ops. Oh, and the buddies don't tend to get separated either.

 

[Snowbear]

Last December while I was in WA state I got to see a buddy team in action. Husband/wife team - both DIR divers. He does still, she does video. When he's shooting pics, she spots potential subjects for him and while he spends several minutes lining up a shot, she's hovering right there, close enough to touch him if she had a problem and needed to get his attention. When she's shooting video, he's the watcher. It was impressive to see.

 

[CA Diver]

K:

Although I enjoy beach diving (Not the walk up & down the stairs) I had the same experience Saturday (twice). Viz sucked.

 

[ScottyK]

Jen and I almost always dive in poor vis conditions, and have developed the following technique when taking pictures.

1- First, as already stated, even though we have two cameras, only one comes diving at a time. It's clipped off to the chest of whoever is using it so it can be dropped right away.

2- Whoever is "not" taking pics is on their usual side, but drops back so thier head is parallel to the photograhers waist.

3- When the person taking pics stops and grabs the camera, the buddy stops also and taps the leg of photographer. This way when I stop, as soon as I feel the tap I know Jen is right there waiting and vice versa. If I don't get tapped, I can look over and backtrack if necessary long before she can get out of sight.

Even though our vis averages only 4', and we haven't yet invested in powerful canister lights, we've "never" even come close to getting seperated using this method.

 

[Mo2vation]

Let me ask you this Ken, if your buddy was in serious trouble, and you needed to help him (and needed both hands for whatever reason), or he would be toast, would you even have to think about ditching that camera???

If you say "Yes", I think you should be diving solo from now on.

Of course I'd help the buddy. You don't even need to ask those questions. I'd clip it off. If I missed, the cam is going south until problem solved. I know you didn't mean to be provoctive with that statement, so I'll spare you the lightening bolt.

Or not...

Hmmm - donate my primary to a soggy drowning stuffed moose, or get a pic of that, then donate the primary? THAT would be a tough call...



Its all good.

K

 

[TCDiver1]

Ken,

When my wife and I do photo dives that's the objective of the dive. Only one of us has a cammera although we would use 2 if we had them.

While she takes pictures I don't do anything except watch, pose or otherwise help. When she has her eye to the view finder I have an eye on her and the other things that she can't see while looking through the cammera.

Just as when you're shooting a bag or practicing valve drills, your buddy just hangs (or helps) while you do it. As your focus shifts to some task, you're buddies needs to shift to take up the slack.

I agree with this and that was my point. I'll dive with any photographer/videographer as long as they understand their turn will come where they need to keep track of me when i'm video'g.

Your objective as a buddy on dives like these is primarily to keep track of the photographer. Its not that big a deal IMO as long as you brief on adequate buddy procedures before the dive.

If done right, you will never lose your buddy anymore than you would if your buddy wasn't taking photos.