NASE Shoot

A few years ago when I started my open water dive training up in Massachusetts, we still used the "old school" classroom/book approach. I still remember the excitement of getting the PADI book and reading every word before class, which was held in the back garage of Vineyard Scuba. Surrounded by dive gear and in the company of a few other people, the small garage witha little whiteboard is perhaps where it all began for me - but a new wave in diver education is starting. The next summer when I returned to the Vineyard, I decided to pursue my rescue diver training and this time the classroom portion was online. The training consisted of slideshows with videos and pictures, and it was great because I didn't have to buy books (and as a result didn't waste paper) and could complete the lessons on my own time and in the comfort of my own home. Not even in my craziest dreams did I think I'd ever be in a diver training video...

But this past May, about two years later, I found myself at a pool in Ocala with David, cameraman Bill Mills, photographer Gene Page, super cave diver Eric Hutcheson, NASE director Scott Evans, and fellow diver Lance. We met at a pool in Ocala and dragged tanks, cameras, and gear into the pool area, greeted at the same time by the practically-summer Florida sun and scorching temperatures. But this (and the fact that literally nobody remembered sunscreen...oops) didn't stop us from having a productive and successful day - and a perfect on-the-fly introduction to being on-camera.

Pool Day 1

On the first day of the shoot, we were tasked with getting the topside and underwater footage for confined water training. Part of the video was for an instructor training course while the rest was basic skills for beginning open water students.

Step 1: Gear setup. Bill films and Gene shoots as Lance sets up gear and Eric and I hold up reflectors. 

Before Lance showed the regulators, mask, fins, and pressure gauge, I was responsible for attaching the regs and BC to the tank. Seemingly simple task, right? Normally, I can basically do it with my eyes closed, but not for the camera... Here are a few things I learned: go slowly and be explicit with your movements and actions, take direction from the director and cameraman but do not respond with ok or a nod... just do it, don't look directly at the camera, don't block what your doing from the camera with your body or hands, and it usually takes multiple takes (and different angles/shots) to finish one skill. But with the help of the professional and very patient team, figuring these things out on the fly wasn't bad and actually turned out to be a lot of fun :)

David and Bill shooting some topside gear setup.

Opposite direction of the photo of David and Bill above... it was getting veryy warm at this point in the day... we were ready to jump in the pool!

Step 2: Superman/muscle pose while Scott arranges the gear. (I think the heat was getting to our heads). 

 Step 3: In-water skills. In the afternoon, we all hopped in the pool to shoot the underwater skills. Some shots were filmed as a group to reflect a class setting while others were camera-inches-from-your-face close. I demonstrated skills such as mask flooding, clearing, and removal, regulator removal, etc. It was a great review for me - after a while of diving (or doing anything for that matter), I think everyone adapts each skill or performs some sort of variation while actually swimming in the water. It was also interesting to learn how NASE wants the skills to be demonstrated for their new divers.

Pool Day 2

A few weeks later, we had another day at the pool to finish up some shots we didn't complete on Day 1, but this time it wasn't as large of a production. This time, it was just David, Scott, Gene, and I who met for a long morning in the water. With David behind the video camera, Gene behind the still camera, and Scott and I as the divers, we shot stride and seated entries then moved quickly to underwater shots of BC removal, kicking, and ascents, just to name a few.

BC removal at the bottom of the pool.

Remember: don't look directly at the camera! Such a blast working with Gene... it was pretty cool to get a chance to work with him again. He does all of the behind-the-scenes photography for The Walking Dead and has photographed many celebrities such as John Travolta, Colin Farrell, Drew Barrymore, and Jack Black!

Open Water Day 1 - Weeki Wachee

Most recently, the day before my birthday on October 10, we took an exciting trip to Weeki Wachee for the open-water portion of the dive video. Scott, David, and I returned, this time with the addition of Jim Killion as videographer and a much-recovered Harry as the producer. Thanks to Harry, I had been in the water at Ginnie a few days before the shoot to practice the skills and make sure I was demonstrating them in a NASE-like fashion... and to make the process go more smoothly once we were on site at Weeki Wachee for the day. Plus we had limited time to be in the water because we had to plan around the underwater mermaid shows that take place in the basin throughout the day.

While it wasn't  the objective of the day, I did manage to snap a 1/2 and 1/2 picture of the main basin with Harry's camera. The building with the sloping roof to the right is where the auditorium is located - people can sit in the comfortable room and look out the windows in front of them into the spring at the underwater stage and the mermaids!

The first time we were clear to be in the water was 11am, so after a 2 hour drive, unloading and trekking all of the gear over to the basin (and marveling at the free-roaming peacocks at the park), we had a pre-dive briefing and hopped in the water for our first (of three) dives. 

One of NASE's major philosophies is that sharing air does not need to occur only in out-of-air scenarios. Here, Scott and I demonstrate a convenient position for sharing air and swimming comfortably in a low-air situation - this skill could be used to get a low-air diver closer to the boat so they are safely able to ascend and do a safety stop near the boat without the help of a buddy.  

Another thing that sets NASE apart from other training organizations is that they do not believe buoyancy control is a skill - they more see it as a necessity. They believe that divers should naturally hover while swimming and when they stop swimming, and they do not teach any skills kneeling on a platform underwater. This photo, as well as the other two in this post with divers in them, are stills taken from Jim's amazing video - he shoots with the Red Epic camera, which shoots in 5k (higher resolution than HD!!).

Before our last dive, we took a trip over to the underwater room and watched a bit of the mermaid show. It's pretty amazing to be sitting in a room looking out at eye level with the mermaids in the middle of the basin.

Behind the scenes: this is how the mermaids enter the basin from their changing room... it is a 60' swim through this secret entrance... you never see them dive in during the show!

The filming went smoothly and we got all of the shots on the list that we needed that day. It was also fun to meet Allen, who is responsible for training all of the mermaids at Weeki Wachee. He had some cool stories and I also peppered him with questions about training and what it takes to be a mermaid. This particular shot is a still taken from video footage during the last dive. Jim was filming from the underwater stage as I floated above, ready to demonstrate how to breathe off a free-flowing regulator.

Here is a little video Harry made about our day at Weeki Wachee: http://scubanase.com/news/video.html 
Can't wait to see how the training videos turn out... they're promoting NASE's new Learn Green, Dive Blue philosophy by not printing any books (http://www.diveindustry.net/diving-news/70-diving-news/253-nase-think-green-dive-blue).
:)

Underwater Archaeology: Week 2 at sea

After a week at sea in the Bahamas and a very brief night on land (thankfully not quite enough time to get used to a full-sized bed with ample headroom to sit up), David and I headed back out to sea for a NOAA-sponsored archaeological cruise with scientists from Mercyhurst University aboard the Weatherbird II research vessel. We left Ocala early to meet a boat captain in Cedar Key and catch a ride out to the anchored ship, which had left its home port in St. Pete a few days before while we were still out in the Bahamas. Our job was to document the expedition via above- and under- water photos and videos. Throughout the day, we participated in team meetings, calls for all hands on deck, and several dives (when the seas were calm enough and weather permitted) while using GoPros, a Nikon D90 in an Ikelite housing, and a giant video camera in a Gates housing to capture the action and make daily video logs about the amazing science team. The scientist were performing underwater archaeology, employing novel field techniques to find out more about our ancestors that lived at the ancient site of the Suwannee River that now lies out in the Middlegrounds in the Gulf of Mexico. Here is the link to our video logs on the NOAA site with a lot more detail about the expedition:

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12newworld/logs/photolog/photolog.html

The research team meeting to discuss the daily activities (Dr. Hemmings, Ryan Duggins, Ben Wells, Jennifer Adler, and David Ulloa). Image courtesy of Exploring the Submerged New World 2012 Expedition, NOAA-OER.

Coming from a world of biologists and marine biology, it was very interesting to view the world through an archaeological lens. Just as there are known field techniques and buzz words in biology that became second nature throughout college and my job at USGS, the same is true for archaeology. The whole experience opened my eyes to this new and different science and allowed me to see the world in a different way. While biologists are trying to understand the world by discovering new species, understanding ecological processes, or studying the life cycles of native and invasive species in an ecosystem, archaeologists dig deeper into our past. It was neat to listen to the grad students, recent PhDs, and veterans in the field describe their jobs and what is involved at a lot of their dig sites both on land or underwater all over the country. It was a learning experience all around as I learned science aspects from the archaeologists and film/video techniques from David and got used to expedition style filming and editing. Aka film, download to computer, film, dive, download... and all at the same time edit, film, edit, edit, edit. Repeat! Producing on the go is a ton of fun but definitely tiring as you work in a lab in the middle of all of the science action on a rocking ship. One of my jobs was to write the scripts for the video logs, so that helped force me to completely understand what was going on every step of the way so we could relay it to a broad audience watching the video logs on the NOAA site.

As evidenced by the video logs, the trip was unfortunately plagued by bad weather, but this did not bring down the morale of the crew and scientists, who used their experience and expertise to work through seemingly unworkable circumstances. I have realized that this is a common theme among scientists, biologists and archaeologists alike, and it reminded me of being out at sea exactly one year before as a biologist on the Holiday Chouest research cruise to investigate the effects of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Fortunately this time we were not on 6 hour shifts, so sleep deprivation was not as much of an issue. It was also different being on the team documenting the science rather than performing the science. While I felt I had a better understanding of what was going on by the end of the trip, I didn't feel quite as at home with the archaeology as I ever will around my fish :) Nevertheless, it broadened my horizons and kept me close to learning and science, while also being underwater and taking pictures. It doesn't get much better than that... I'm definitely looking forward to more trips like this in the future.

Gates Fest 2012 Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ePkyvbdLE

On the road, in the air, and underwater - a week of diving in the Exuma Keys for Gates Fest 2012 aboard the Carib Dancer. © Passion to Profession 2012.

Filmed using GoPro, Sony, and HVX cameras. Sony and HVX equipped with Gates Underwater Housings. Special thanks to Gates, Dive Rite, and Valeo Films Inc.

Gates Fest 2012

A first glimpse of tropical paradise on the short flight
from Orlando to Nassau. More pictures HERE.

Once we motored away from the hustle and bustle of Nassau, New Providence, we saw nobody else. Besides catching a glimpse of an occasional yacht or rooftop peeking from amongst the trees of a nearby island, there was little sign of human life. For a week, we were our own floating microcosm surrounded by azure waters.

A good luck double rainbow spanned the sky as we left
Nassau harbor and bid us a warm and friendly goodbye
on our week-long voyage.

Each day for a week, we strapped tanks on our backs, stepped off the stern of the Carib Dancer, and descended, cameras in hand. Without a tank or camera I have started to feel naked, or perhaps like a beached mermaid stranded on shore. Trying to walk on solid ground for the past few days has been a bizarre experience as I continually anticipate a sudden jolt from a wave and expect a constant, subtle rocking motion.

Every morning, we rose with the sun and did 4-5 dives throughout the day. We significantly modified the “Eat, Sleep, Dive” motto that is popular on the bumper stickers and shirts of diving enthusiasts. Instead, a typical day went something like this: eat, dive, dive, eat, dive, dive, eat, dive, sleep. Repeat. Usually, the dives lasted about an hour, so being underwater for upwards of four hours a day was both a dream come true and an amazing learning experience.

Try to take the camera away. I dare you.

Others on the trip ranged from well-traveled recreational divers with mini cameras to professional and practically-professional photographers and videographers. It was an extremely talented and diverse group of divers from all over the US, Canada, and Caribbean Islands. David Ulloa (Valeo Films Inc.) and John Ellerbrock (Gates Underwater Housings) co-hosted the event and brought expertise as well as entertainment and inspiration.

Underwater, it was helpful to observe the different videographers, each with his or her own unique techniques and styles.

I quickly became familiar with different divers’ silhouettes
from a distance based on their camera and swimming
style – some cameras looked like alien spaceships
operated by underwater astronauts. David, often seen
with the big HVX “beast” camera, was easy to spot
diving single side mount along with Dee

Above water, when not found lounging on the sun deck, downloading videos from previous dives, or taking pictures, we often watched short videos by David and John and talked about photography and videography techniques. Besides David’s movies, which have inspired me from the beginning, I fell in love with two videos by Howard Hall: “The Blue Ocean in RED” and “100 Miles”. Sadly I can’t find “100 Miles” online, but I still literally cannot stop watching “The Blue Ocean in RED.” The way he composes the video gives the viewer an amazing feeling - it is as if you are underwater at that precise moment. I liken it to a brilliant underwater ballet. The perfectly arranged music is timed flawlessly with both the motion of the sea and the action of the sea life - this is something that I strive to do in my own work after many more years of practice and dedication. He has the ability to capture an organism not only in action but also doing something interesting and doing it naturally. It is as if he is not even there with a huge camera. The viewer is at once swept off the couch and is able to view the reef as another member of the school of fish or as a remora casually hitching a ride on a shark.

While the red lionfish (Pterois volitans) is undeniably a beautiful fish,  it is also an invasive species and is wreaking havoc on reefs all over the Caribbean. They are mesmorizing to watch as they swim slowly and hover gracefully in the water, but behind their mask of beauty lies poisonous spines and a voracious appetite. Unfortunately, we saw at least one (but usually between 4-6) on every dive, even at depths down to 100+ feet.

Corals have an amazing ability to grow at crazy angles all over the reef - this Gorgonian is growing at a 90 degree angle to the vertical wall, therefore exposing itself to the maximum amount of sunlight for photosynthesis. Its branching arms create a maze-like effect as I look directly up towards the sky from about 80 feet below the surface. 

Another neat aspect of the trip was that John and Jennifer brought their OTS full face masks. The mask is integrated with a regulator and there is no mouthpiece, so you can easily communicate both with your buddy and people at the surface. His masks have a wide variety of uses, including applications in the military, FBI, film and video production, and recreational diving. They also make for a nice Darth-Vador-like look. 

While I never actually tried a full face mask in the water, I did listen to a few divers talking underwater while I was on deck with Jennifer. This technology definitely has the ability to greatly enhance science and research underwater and I can’t wait to try it! Here, David and Dee (sporting single side mount tanks) are getting ready to giant stride off the stern for their first full face mask dive of the trip.

By the end of the week, I was feeling a bit more comfortable with different settings and adjustments on the more complicated cameras, but it is certainly a never-ending work in progress. I spent considerable amount of time above and below water messing with the white balance, ND filter, and using auto versus manual focus. But of course once I felt almost comfortable with one camera, I would try another and be totally thrown off and take an entire dive or two to attempt to adjust to the new one. I felt lucky to be surrounded by the perfect people to answer my million-and-one questions, no matter how trivial. I think one of the keys to success is going to be getting familiar with one camera and learning how to operate it out of the housing first - once I know it and it's settings like the back of my hand, it will be easier to adjust underwater in the housing. So now it's time to practice. I also learned a lot about importing files and file types and had a blast playing with the GoPro. I ended up getting some pretty cool stills from GoPro footage. It's a truly amazing little camera, about the size of an iphone folded in half, and it records in HD!

The highlight of the trip for me was making a real connection with sharks for the first time. Ever since seeing David's GoPro footage from Tiger Beach and watching Touched by a Shark countless times, my view of sharks changed. It is a drastic change, because images engrained in our brains by modern media and crazy camera effects turn these brilliant fish into voracious killers of the deep. As I jumped in the water at Amberjack Reef and swam with one little lemon shark, I felt emotions that I only felt so strongly when I first watched Touched by a Shark  - this magnificent fish was curious but much more scared than me. Using animal and shark behavior tips from David, I was able to keep her attention and have her swim along with me, the whole time playing back what David had told me that morning - "when you jump in the water, have a purpose; do your own thing, they are curious and will approach you; don't follow or chase them; don't be nervous, they can sense your heartbeat; they know you are the predator so you shouldn't be scared, otherwise it scares them." And the minute I saw the first of three sharks on this first dive, this all came in to play. She was curious when I splashed off the stern, and she came up to me as I turned on my GoPro. I calmly looked at her glassy eyes as she approached me, dorsal fins flat in a comfortable, unthreatened swimming stance. She got closer then turned and instead of chasing, I mirrored her and swam alongside. She had her eye on me the whole time and swam for a minute but it felt like an eternity - one of the best minutes of my life (until she came back a few minutes later to play again!).

And for a few seconds, the world stood still as I admired one of the most beautiful and misunderstood creatures on the planet. Since the trip, I have been reading Demon Fish by Juliet Eilperin, a reporter for The Washington Post who came and spoke to my senior environmental seminar at Brown last spring. She describes the evolving relationship between humans and sharks and reveals many secrets of these mysterious creatures, viewed by the overwhelming majority as ruthless killers. Many societies used to worship sharks, but unfortunately it has come to this: “For the most part we still see the sea as a source of valuable commodities we can extract, whether it’s the fish we eat or the oil we drill... Sharks and other commercial fish are something for humans to capture, not cultivate. We seek to defeat their wildness, rather than admire it.” ~Juliet Eilperin, Demon Fish

On the final day of the trip, we splashed at 7am.
We were greeted by a phenomenal sunrise and equally
magnificent dive into the Blue Hole. 

Dee shines her light towards the dark vertical wall of the Blue Hole at ~80 feet.

After a few bad run-ins with jellyfish over the past few years, they are not exactly my favorite creatures. But I am starting to come to terms with my Cnidaria-phobia, especially after really examining how beautiful they really are in a series of pictures I took during my safety stop on the way up from Blue Hole, the last dive of the trip.

Carib Dancer: 

LOA: 100’

Passengers: 14

Crew: 5

Dive Summary:

-17 total dives at 16 sites

-961 minutes (16 hours) underwater

-Max depth 121’

16 Dive Sites:

Pillar Wall, Jewfish Wall, Blacktip Wall, Barracuda Shoals, Flatrock Reef, Up Jump the Devil, Dog Rocks, Hammerhead Gulch, Amberjack Reef, Jeep Reef, Danger Reef, Cracked Coral Head, Close Mon, Lobster No Lobster, Blue Hole

Videos:

Two of the divers on the trip put together amazing videos. Michael's video is a compilation of footage from everyone on the trip and Beat's video is his own footage. I'm working on making a video now too and will publish the link as soon as I finish.

More pictures from the trip are on my Passion to Profession Facebook page.

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Getting Technical

The first step to cave, cavern, and technical dive training is having the right gear. I love my pink Aqualung BC and regulators, but they are meant for recreational open water diving - for technical diving, you need a back-inflating BC that is capable of holding two tanks, rather than a jacket-style BC. So on Tuesday, David and I took a trip up to Dive Rite in Lake City, FL for gear fitting and a tour from Jared. Thanks to Lamar, Jared, and Dive Rite, I'm equipped for technical diving. Thank you Jared for your gear expertise and tips! Check out the video from our visit below... can't wait to try my new gear in the water!!

Dive in, Dive Rite

Passion to Profession: Introduction

When you were little, if someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up, what did you say? A princess? A firefighter? Superman? A ballerina? I wanted to be a mermaid. And as of June 1, my dreams came true when I started officially working with David Ulloa at Valeo Films Inc. Although I did spend an amazing afternoon swimming in a mermaid tail, in general I now swim around with a tank strapped to my back and camera in hand basically being a human fish, which seems to be pretty close to a mermaid.

So what exactly is Passion to Profession? For me, it meant taking my passion, diving, and turning it in to “work”. And I say work with quotation marks because when you truly love your job, you hesitate to call your job “work” and days of the week become arbitrary. This blog is about the evolution of diving from passion to profession in my life - a story to share so that others may be inspired to follow their dreams and do what they love. The pieces of the puzzle were years, or perhaps a lifetime, in the making, and a series of fortunate events and amazing adventures have led me down a path that I hope will inspire divers and non-divers alike. Remember: there is still time to become what you want to be when you grow up, regardless of age. I also hope to spark a bigger interest in diving in younger generations (and start teaching in a few months!) so that more young people can share a whole new world that is completely off limits without a regulator in their mouth. Living life on the dry 29.2% of the planet just isn’t as much fun.

This is me facing off with a little sunfish in Alexander Spring a few months ago. Photo credit goes to the amazing David Ulloa, head of Valeo Films Inc., professional diver and photographer, fantastic mentor, and one of the largest influences on my passion to profession journey. This day-trip was one of our weekly "Sunday Funday" dives where we explored springs around Florida. You can check out this adventure (and many many more from the past year) on my personal "Magnitude 1" blog that I started when I moved down to Gainesville, FL in August 2011.

Also, check out my new Passion to Profession Facebook Page for news and pictures :)

The biologist in me had to add this water chart from usgs.gov. While water covers about 2/3 of the planet, it is definitely not an infinite resource. In fact, almost 70% of the earth's fresh water is frozen in the glaciers!