Same thought as I always have... we don't have much protection under water, which is the current status, then I think the worse is, we have not been able to figure out a way to make protection available for ourselves. Now, I am not talking about weapon, or some safety instructions to follow, I am talking about equipment based protection. My feeling towards today equipment is one word -- primitive, 100 yrs from now, if people should consider what we are having now is laughable, I hope.
Risky Behavior and UW Photography
- Thread starter Larry C
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Diver Dennis
Contributor
howarde:
Dinosaurs.........
vondo
Contributor
alo100:
I hope you're wrong.
Aside for VERY rare occurences, we've got all the protection we need to be observers of the underwater world. Start outfitting divers in "kevlar" skins and we'll start to see all kinds of people molesting animals. We are in their world; we should be vulnerable if we do foolish things.
Storm
Contributor
The basic fact is simple. A wild animal, marine or land based, is exaclty that...wild. thier actions may be, in some cases, genrealized, but not predicted, and in many many case their "defensive" capabilites vastly out weigh our's. IT takes less than a pound of pressure to piece human flesh with a sharp object like a tooth or quill or stinger.
People anthorpromophize animals far too often and in some cases to their peril.
They look at a ray burried in the sand and think, he's lying there calmy when in fact the ray could very well be on the hunt, and thus actualy in an agressive state.
We need not live in fear of wild anuimals, but a instead develop healthy respect for their capabilites and act accordingly.
As to whether Steve Irwin interacted properly with his subjects, I have my personal opinions, but out of respect will keep them just that, personal.
Should we a divers and photographers change out patterns, is also too subjective as some will prefer to opt for keeping a safe and respectful distance, ann other will prefer to get up close and personal. If you're in the latter than you run the risk of getting personal with your subjects defensive capabilites.
They say "once bitten twice shy" but in many cases one bite is all that is necessary to turn the tables on the observer.
Personally, no picture is work getting hurt or killed over, nor it worth harassing the subject to the point where it goes defensive.
People anthorpromophize animals far too often and in some cases to their peril.
They look at a ray burried in the sand and think, he's lying there calmy when in fact the ray could very well be on the hunt, and thus actualy in an agressive state.
We need not live in fear of wild anuimals, but a instead develop healthy respect for their capabilites and act accordingly.
As to whether Steve Irwin interacted properly with his subjects, I have my personal opinions, but out of respect will keep them just that, personal.
Should we a divers and photographers change out patterns, is also too subjective as some will prefer to opt for keeping a safe and respectful distance, ann other will prefer to get up close and personal. If you're in the latter than you run the risk of getting personal with your subjects defensive capabilites.
They say "once bitten twice shy" but in many cases one bite is all that is necessary to turn the tables on the observer.
Personally, no picture is work getting hurt or killed over, nor it worth harassing the subject to the point where it goes defensive.
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That's the basic issue, and it ain't limited to underwater interactions. I've seen some really stupid people approaching bison way too close, or running into the woods with their Nikons to get a shot of a cute bear cub.Storm:
The real injustice is that when an animal defends itself, it generally gets identified as dangerous ... and eradicated.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
fairybasslet
Contributor
Maybe so, but I still felt a little guilty when a sea turtle stopped feeding because I was acting like a paparazzihowarde:
louisianadiver
Contributor
Although some of Mr. Irwin's antics were reasonably called into question, his tragic death had little to do with his passion for interacting with wild animals. The event was so freakish in nature that it can almost be equated with being struck by lightning. As underwater photographers, we are at far greater general peril from our drive to get a better photo of an animal than from being physically attacked by our subjects. For every photographer who has been bitten or stung there have been hundreds who have gone too deep, stayed too long, or have simply lost track of their dives due to their preoccupation with photography. While there are serious cases of photographers overstepping their bounds with their subjects (Mike deGruy's attack while trying to photograph a warning posture in a gray reef shark comes to mind), the real danger of underwater photography in my experience has been the blinders that photographers sometimes dive with. -Clay
This was part of a post I made in the Steve Irwin thread, so I appologize for repeating here. But it seems the logical thing to do
I was diving in the Coral Sea/Cod Hole last year on a live aboard. I had become friends with one of the instructors on the boat who was pro photographer. We made a few dives together and he helped me with my u/w photography. On a night dive, we found some garden eels dancing above the sand. We both settled down into the sand ourselves to get a picture that would look up into the dark blue/black background. We were about 6 feet apart, in doing this we startled a blue spotted lagoon ray that happened to be buried in the sand inbetween us. He just swam a few feet ahead of us and buried himself again.
I never come in contact with coral etc for any reason, but until now had never been bothered by making contact with the sand. Now I think I will make it a practice to never come in contact with the bottom regardless of it's make up nor for any reason.
We all probably have a better chance of hitting the lotto than we do getting stung in such a manner as Steve Irwin did, but these things do occur. Touching the sand was probably a bad move anyway.
I was diving in the Coral Sea/Cod Hole last year on a live aboard. I had become friends with one of the instructors on the boat who was pro photographer. We made a few dives together and he helped me with my u/w photography. On a night dive, we found some garden eels dancing above the sand. We both settled down into the sand ourselves to get a picture that would look up into the dark blue/black background. We were about 6 feet apart, in doing this we startled a blue spotted lagoon ray that happened to be buried in the sand inbetween us. He just swam a few feet ahead of us and buried himself again.
I never come in contact with coral etc for any reason, but until now had never been bothered by making contact with the sand. Now I think I will make it a practice to never come in contact with the bottom regardless of it's make up nor for any reason.
We all probably have a better chance of hitting the lotto than we do getting stung in such a manner as Steve Irwin did, but these things do occur. Touching the sand was probably a bad move anyway.
RonFrank
Contributor
One news source indicated that a photographer was below the Ray, Steve was above it, and it may have felt trapped which resulted in it's traggic bahavior. This is speculation, but the Ray struck out for a reason so it obviously felt threatened by the behavior of either the photographer, or Steve.
I was truely saddened by the news of The Croc Hunters untimely death as I feel the world was a better place with him in it. My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones.
Will this accident change my behavior UW? I seriously doubt it as I generlly don't make a habit of getting to close to marine life for comfort. Steve made his living getting close to animals that most avoid, and unfortunately it proved to be a fatal mistake.
RIP Steve Irwin.
I was truely saddened by the news of The Croc Hunters untimely death as I feel the world was a better place with him in it. My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones.
Will this accident change my behavior UW? I seriously doubt it as I generlly don't make a habit of getting to close to marine life for comfort. Steve made his living getting close to animals that most avoid, and unfortunately it proved to be a fatal mistake.
RIP Steve Irwin.
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