We're back and the shoot was, indeed, a lot of fun. We all met near Lake Elmer Thomas on the Wichita Mts. Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday morning, had a briefing, and then moved to the lake to gear up. There were seven police divers and two reporters (who were NOT divers but had had some "training" with the police team a week earlier, sort of like the "resort courses" offered at tropical destinations).
The plan was simply to get shots of the reporters gearing up, entering the water, and...well...feeding the fish at about ten feet, flanked by two very attentive officers. Vis was understandably pretty bad--the newbies (and even the police divers) kicked up the area unmercifully. However, I was able to get good shots of the reporters and PD divers descending and we even were able to get them with some good sized bass scarfing up hot dogs. I was also able to follow the police divers as they conducted "searches" for the mannequin, which they found and brought to the surface a couple of times.
As we were shooting, I kept thinking, "It'll be a miracle if this produces anything useable," but after the dives, I went with the reporters back to their station to transfer the images off my camera and--lo, and behold!--we had done it! The reporters were thrilled with what we captured, and I was greatly relieved. Sure, some of the deep video was a bit dark and red, but they loved it because one of the main points of the report was the terrible conditions in which these guys work as they do their business underwater. The news director was so impressed, in fact, that they are going to make it a longer feature segment that will air in early July instead of simply a daily report. I can't wait to see the finished product.
All in all, a very interesting and satisfying morning underwater and a good way to use a home-made video housing.
