Should i purse career as underwater videographer?

[azstinger11]

Switch to contract roles and then leave weeks/months in between contracts for dive travel, just depends on your finances.

You can do touch up work/editing during the contract periods, along with marketing, social media stuff. Alternatively if you can also land fully remote (ideally with no team meetings) you can just dive during the day in a remote part of the world, digital nomad style.

Both keep your high paying, in demand skills (software dev) sharp while you build and develop your potential film career. If the film thing takes off that’s great, reduce or eliminate the software contracts, if not you can go back to a more standard job that is high paying. Use the lucrative software contracts to fuel the underwater video diving more or less, can stretch that even more moving a hyper low COL location.

As a software developer myself have a few friends doing the digital nomad/contract thing to fuel their hobbies and generally they seem to be enjoying the life.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Frankly I think you should evaluate other options if you want to leave your job.
@azstinger11 already provided proper suggestions.
A videographer is in general a difficult job, most just survive making promotional videos for companies or municipalities, schools, etc.
Or weddings...
An underwater videomaker is even more specialised. Even if sometimes you can be hired for a nice project, most of the time there will be almost no cash inflow.
I can share with you the experience of my son.
He has a computer engineering degree, but he has got hiring proposals just from banks or software houses developing accounting software.
He did not like this kind of job nor the idea of working as an employee, so he invested one more year in a master on documentary videomaking.
Even after this professional qualification, he got only sporadic contracts, despite the fact that he has gained some quite unique skills (and equipment), such as 360 VR panoramic videos, Ambisonics spatial audio, underwater video (also 360 and Ambisonics). He also got the European A1/A2/A3 drone pilot license for professional aerial photogrammetry. He owns 2 DJI drones.
Despite all these capabilities, in the end he had to switch back to software development, as he wss getting just one-two contracts per year, worth less than 10000 euros each. Not enough for living...
So this year, with two female partners (an architect and a graphic designer) he founded a small startup company (called E-muse) specialised in virtual museums and digital twins of artistic operas and archeological sites and monuments.
In this type of software development his skills in video and photo are quite useful, but in the end what sells and provide money is developing in HTML and Python, some Javascript and WebXR code.
Now he has a couple of projects also in Unity and Unreal Engine, as it appears that "gamification" starts to be required also on "institutional" web sites.
And in conclusion his customers are mostly banks or public administrations.
So I wish any luck to your idea of working as an underwater videomaker, but be aware that there is very limited money in this field. You should better increase the range of your activity, possibly adding your expertise as a software developer, as my son did successfully.

 

[Subcooled]

Hello everyone,

I'm considering shifting my career as a software engineer to pursue underwater videography as a career to create stock footage and documentaries.

It is great to have dreams, and sometimes we can make them come true.

I have been diving casually as a hobby for about seven years now and am GUE certified technical CCR1 diver and rEvo CCR, so I have some experience underwater.

I hope that you understand that all of this is irrelevant. You want to pursue a career in the arts. Your art needs to be good. Your challenges do not lie in diving skill but elsewhere. Your ability to dive deep and without bubbles is a prerequisite for some shots, but you do need to produce something that we actually want to pay for.

However, I have no knowledge of film production

If you are passionate enough, you will gain that.

and am just an amateur videographer with a pair of Sony A1/A7SIII and other video equipment that I use for my normal video projects.

Remember The Blair Witch Project?

My question is whether pursuing a career in underwater videography is worth it

I am not qualified to answer this question.

I will remind you of the fact though, that undewater videography is a form of art, not a form of diving.
If you have the passion, I suggest you contact people like Jill Heinerth, who already to this.

I can afford to spend around 18k USD on a camera housing and all the required accessories for a decent underwater rig, but that will leave me with about the same amount in savings.

You can get the gear. Do you have the passion? Can you make some art? A mind blowing documentary on kelp?

Do you think it's worth it for me to take this step, knowing that I don't have much money to spend?

Hey! You should do whattever you love to do! Life is short.

I appreciate any advice or opinions that you can share with me on this topic. Thank you in advance.

Please bear in mind, that the advice given by me is not professional in nature.

 

[Subcooled]

My total dive count around 1500+ are approx the following
650+ Rec Dives
300+ Tech Dives utilizing stage decompression
400+ Dives utilizing specially mixed gases
100+ Dives utilizing Diver Propulsion Vehicles
40+ Deep, exploration cave dives
182 Hours of rebreather experience (JJ + rEvo)

Nothing here says that you can create some good art.
You can dive, but can you make a film?

I didn't dive much during my first 3 years, but the years after i was doing a lot of rec/tech/cave dives and was shooting very amatures videos which i was learning how to shoot/edit and it's all experience and learning from linkedin/youtube, but do i have something that is "WOW" no, not even close. Thats why i was thinking of joining filming school and learn properly to create quality video that i can show off my work. I guess this is the next logical step as invested a lot of time and money to get where i am now in diving. On the other hand i guess yes its a good idea to start YouTube channel, not gonna get much return back but i would at least create some content to get started with.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You can dive, but can you make a film?

We must all remember, JYC was always struggling for funds

 

[klausi]

Imo you can't see underwater videography as a career like being a dentist or teacher. You can start shooting, teach yourself editing and build a network of potential clients and collaborators.... maybe then after a few years you will get yourself paid gigs, though it's hard to bank on this. Camera equipment has gotten so good and cheap that a lot of folks can produce quality underwater footage. And, filming divers on their underwater adventure for dive shops is something most talented DMs can do these days.

 

[berndo]

id also suggest you'll need enough savings to live for at least 18months -2 years before youll see any returns

Who's even buying uw footage these days? And enough of it to make a living?

My total dive count around 1500+ are approx the following

The problem is i can't create Portfolio when i have only 3 weeks of leaves a year. I need to concentrate and focus on creating this portfolio therefore i need to leave my full time job to be dedicated for it.

You managed to average over 200 dives per year while working but you can't create a portfolio because you don't have enough time?
I'm not sure if I got that right.

 

[CT-Rich]

I would say make some lifestyle changes. You are already making 200 dives a year and have money to burn to have a CCR, DPV, cave etc… find a job with some flexibility closer to where want to dive. You need to have a REALLY good portfolio to get any traction. You also need to build connections. Start emailing people like Jonathan at Blue World. Ask for advice and critiques of your work. Self produce a someprojects.

Most likely you are going build a hobby that some day you might monetize. I am not sure which is easier, teaching Camera men scuba or videography to a scuba diver. The reality is you are talking about an art form that a lot people do. Breaking into sDive video like trying to make a living as a DM in a resort. The dream is better than the reality.

Good luck

 

[Dan]

Perhaps you start your own YouTube channel and start working on it with your videos and also other social media sites.

That’s a good start!

 

[Germie]

I would say forget it in this stage.

I am not a good videographer, but shoot pictures under water on a high level. I do both for fun. My photocamera is more or less on a pro level, but also for video I can shoot in 4k, but it is not a pro level. But for wide angle good enough to show on television.
I have shot 2 times for TV, and this was done with a gopro. Needed were some shots to show how icediving looks like and as instroduction for searching under water for missing people. I was not paid, it was voluntary.
For the icediving, I organised an event and it was seen by some reporters that wanted to come to make a short (5 minutes) documentary about it. The other time, I was somewere to look for missing people (also a voluntary thing) and this cold case got a lot in the news again. So they came and asked me if I could make some shots under water to show how it looks like what we were doing. The viz ended within 1 minute in zero, so end of shots, haha.

So for short presentations, they can find enough divers who want to take some video under water. And even a gopro is good enough for wide angle.
For photo you see the same, a lot of people are shooting and if they want to use a picture, most give them away for free. I have had publications in several countries, 2 of my pictures are now in a museum, pictures have been used in expositions, but I never got paid. I am now on a level that I have refused use of some pictures in a book and on a particular website, but that book and website are filled with other free pictures. Even if the quality is a little bit worser, free means better than pay for them.

The documentary part, a real documentary means a long period of work. And a lot of materials. Again the wide angle in clear waters is not that hard. But the macro is way much more work. No shadows, stable images (so use a camera on the ground, or use sometimes a fish in an aquarium), etc.
Only a few people in the world earn their money with this work. In 2014, there was a television channel that was looking for an underwater cineast. I believe it was based in the UK. People from all over the world reacted to this advertisement.

Some more earn some money with youtube. So this is were I would start with. And remember, to earn money here, you must be lucky.

Some of my friends shoot footage for some documentaries under water. They all do it as a side job. They get some money for the shots and do the editting also themselves, but it is not enough to make a good live from. Making a documentary takes sometimes up to 2 years. They need the seasons, etc. Most times they have an idea, look for sponsors, get the sponsors and make the documentation.

Also voices are not free. I use most times myself, but my voice is not the best one for serious documentaries. For one of my next videos I am afraid I have to pay for a voice also. But this also means, shooting video, make an edit, you still have to think about voices and most times you cannot do that yourself.