OK Heres my rant!!!!

[Calmday]

We just got back from Wakatobi and as usual there were "photographers" destroying the reefs to get pictures.
My question for you guys is "why does everybody think that they need to be an underwater photographer"? 8 out of ten people on our boat had cameras on every dive. Half of them had lousy bouncy control and the ones that did really didn’t seem to mind if they had to break a sponge or two to get the "great shot". There were a couple of (obviously very experienced) Japanese ladies that would literally lay on the coral or let the current push them against it while taking a pic. I know for a fact that several different Dive Masters saw this but no one ever said a word.
This was not the exception but the norm. With the exception of Cayman Brac Reef Resort, It’s the same almost every place that we have been. What bothers me more than anything else is that no one really seems to mind.
Is it that dive operators are scared that they will chase away customers if they say something? Is the perception that guys and gals with big camera housing must be experienced so they should be left alone? What is it?
Someone pleas enlighten me.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

You sound like the perfect candidate for hd video! Shoot video of them and post it on line!

 

[DevonDiver]

My question for you guys is "why does everybody think that they need to be an underwater photographer"? 8 out of ten people on our boat had cameras on every dive.

So why not 'lead by example' and leave your own camera on the boat?

Or are you suggesting that you should have more rights and privledges than other people?

Diving with a camera isn't the problem with these people - it's a case of poor core skills and bad initial training.

IMHO, dive operations have a responsibility to protect the reef from bad divers. They could introduce 'check-out' dives to assess customers. Perform the check-out badly, and you get limited to sandy bottom sites...and DMs know to keep you away from the coral. Bad check-out can also lead to a mandatory 'scuba review'.

I've seen this done in the Maldives - but that was with a 'captive' customer base. If there are other scuba shops who are willing to take divers on irresponsible, environmentally damaging dives, then having a 'hard-line' over necessary diver skills might just send a dive shop bankrupt.

 

[mjh]

I am surprised they got away with that at Wakatobi, when we were there they made expectations very clear up front.

Clearly resorts and especially dive guides, dependent on tips, struggle with what to do with divers that don't respect the reef. For those who simply have bad buoyancy it would mean "pulling them aside" for a dive and working with them. Difficult as divers egos are involved and there are those on this board that will start screaming "dive nazi". For those that are willing to sacrifice the reef for their shot the dive guides should confront them at the time, but that rarely happens.

I do not claim perfect buoyancy but it is something I work on every dive. FYI our guidelines we try to follow underwater: http://www.aquabluedreams.com/staticpages/pid/14 My wife and I talked about it and I can't sit by and watch the blatant bad behavior anymore.

When I am not buried in my own viewfinder I will as politely as possible bring to a fellow divers/photographers attention that they are laying on the reef, breaking pcs of coral off with their strobes, etc.... To date most have taken it very well. Frankly I don't care if behind my back they give me the finger, as long as they think twice next time they go in for a shot.

For a long time I have been an advocate of trying to get PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc... to adopt a "10 guidelines for Underwater Photographers". Something guides could point to and "say we subscribe to these rules." This way the can at least shift some of the blame to a third party when they confront offenders.

 

[Darnold9999]

I also don't claim perfect boyancy control and I have managed to break off bits of coral now and again and get myself pushed into places where I have to push on the reef to get out - but - I try to minimize all of this as much as possible. The goal is to do no damage at all but I am also not going to hover ten feet from the reef to ensure that I touch nothing.

One of the reasons I wear a shorty is to allow the reef to remind me when I get too close - and it does - instant feedback.

Just got back from two weeks in Raja Ampat - 9 divers 4 serious photographers 2 point and shoot - not one was exhibiting the behaviour you describe and this was in quite strong current on most dives.

This is typical from my experience.

I have seen the behaviour mentioned and from some very "experienced" divers, but they have been very much in the minority on the trips I have been on.

Don't know what can be done about them - I am not about to confront someone on a dive holiday, but have and will have a chat with the guides/operator. Not done any good. The worse offender was particularly militant about his "advanced skills" and that he had the right to do pretty much anything he chose.

 

[Teamcasa]

I guess I don't understand exactly what you don't like; diving with others that have poor skills (with or without a camera) or diving with DMs that don't keep divers off the reef.

 

[vladimir]

Is it that dive operators are scared that they will chase away customers if they say something? Is the perception that guys and gals with big camera housing must be experienced so they should be left alone? What is it?
Someone pleas enlighten me.

It is that a big portion of divemaster income is from tips. Tell somebody with a lot of ego invested in his dive "skills" that he's a lousy diver and he probably won't tip you.

 

[Allison Finch]

As a serious photographer, I do feel your pain. I dive first, photo second. I do not feel ANY shot is worth doing damage and often pass on subjects that would be too difficult to shoot without doing damage. There are just too many subjects out there to risk damaging the reefs I love. I have very good buoyancy skills and if I do need contact, I use a stick on dead sections of coral. Yes I, like every other diver, do occasionally make contact and do some damage. I cringe when this happens and make an even greater effort not to repeat it.

I also see the ravages that less experienced or less caring photographers (or just divers) exhibit. I have tried the "bring it to their attention" tack, but after finding too much resistance to criticism, I simply point it out to the DM and then try to avoid diving near the offender again.

Unfortunately, Vladimir is right when he says DM's are reluctant to risk a tip by addressing it.

 

[JB]

I couldn't agree more!! As a new diver I had a Nikonos V with all the bells and whistles, and took heaps of photographs. After a year or 2 I had boxes of slides of beautiful fish, and corals, which I never looked at. I then realised that I had enough photos of fish, and have not used a camera for the last 100 odd dives. I have some amazing shots that I look at now and can't believe I actually took them with manual slide camera, limited to 36 exposures per dive!
Generally an instabuddy with a camera is equivalent to diving solo. The lengths an amateur with a camera will go to to get a bad shot, or another pointless fish portrait is reef destroying. I note that having dived with some professional (published) photographers, they feel the need to protect the reef does not apply to them. So the amateur looks at this a learns to trample all over the reef in the interests of yet another boring fish photo.
I think underwater photography is promoted, generally by some dive mags and agencies as a means of broadening the diving base. Probably taken up by people who are bored with diving?

 

[WetLens]

Agree with Allison - couldn't have said it better. Often, I find the divemasters to be part of the problem, pointing out critters that are impossible to capture without damaging the enviroment. I'll pass on the opportunity only to be asked after the dive why I didn't go after the photo. My one negative comment on Lembeh is the lengths dive masters harrassed critters to "pose" them for photographers.

Photographers are not the problem - divers with poor skills and divers with poor attitudes towards the environment are...