Training?

[Jacob Albert]

Hey there
i am a trained cameraman/editor and really wanted to do some uw videography training. Where would be the best place to do it?
I was thinking about taking some months of and maybe do a divemaster before the training (would that be preferable?).. And just spend some month in a nice tropical place.
I googled it and found some places in kot tao, but i they dont seem to pro to me.. You work with handycams and so forth.. and the people who train you are basically divemaster/instructors who did the video course as well. I guess that the video you get has a lot do do with how good a diver you are and so, and i could probally learn a lot on these courses, but it would be nice to work with pros and pro gear.!.
so..
Where can i find that?

And would you do a divemaster internship before taking a video internship?

(currently an advanced diver.. and no matter what planing to do the rescue diver before working with video under water)

Best regards Jacob

 

[t-mac]

Jacob, I can't address the video aspects, but I have experience with cameras and getting used to them under water. You will see from other post you find here that you need to be comfortable diving first and only you can judge that. I don't think divemaster will help you at all (I'm doing it currently). The main thing is buoyancy. I started with a small P&S camera and progressively complicated the rig dive after dive so that now I have a full housing with my DSLR and a couple of strobes that is probably about the same dimensions as a video rig you will use. Frankly, it was painless because I took it stepwise. I suspect you are ready with your diving skills to take a camera down. Don't bother with DM unless you want to teach, but don't do it for videography, just go out and practice. Others, I'm sure, can direct you to good educational sources. Good luck. Tom