I didn’t have much experience with underwater photography before joining the Reef Photo & Video and Nauticam workshop in Bonaire. Scratch that. I didn’t have any experience. The two companies had generously donated a complete set of gear and the new Canon Rebel T5i for my year of travels as the 2013 North American Rolex Scholar. Receiving the boxes of equipment was like Christmas on steroids. I was so green that upon opening said boxes and noticing all of the different settings on the back of the Inon Z-240 strobes, I promptly swaddled them in bubble wrap and hid them from sight. Admittedly, it was a little overwhelming, which is why I was attending the workshop. I would not let those strobes have the last laugh.

Chris Parsons of Nauticam kindly showed me how to piece together my equipment. One of the cool things about the Nauticam 650D is that it fits both the Rebel T4i and T5i, meaning no upgrade necessary if you want to move to the newest camera model. After a short lesson on basic use, I was off with my dive buddy searching for the perfect shot. I quickly realized that I had no idea what I was doing when it came to light placement. Particulate matter mottled most of my shots on that first outing as I attempted to capture the encrusted legs of the salt pier. Perhaps it can be passed off as artistic? No, it was just poor workmanship. Later that evening as our group ate dinner, Chris recommended a short lesson each morning about different aspects of photography. We all agreed.

I learned about things like light placement, composition, wide angle vs. macro and post-processing. Incredibly informative for me as a beginner. After talking about the basic principles for taking a photo, Chris also recounted a story that was told to him by a guitar teacher. The teacher said that when you miss one note, it’s a mistake. When you miss two, it’s called jazz. All of the hard and fast rules to live by in photography are not really all that hard and fast. They are good guidelines but you have to let the creative juices flow. Unless, of course, you don’t like jazz.

Chris even loaned me a 60mm macro lens to use throughout the week. After sitting in one place at 15 feet for over an hour trying to get the perfect shot of a sharp nosed puffer fish, I realized that I was hooked.

As I filtered through my thousands of photos at the end of the week, there were a handful that I could proudly call my own. I am truly grateful to both Reef Photo & Video and Nauticam for their generosity and for giving me the opportunity to progress as an underwater photographer and videographer. I’ll be posting more as I travel throughout the world documenting my journey. Stay tuned for some attempts at underwater videography and editing. Follow along with my adventure and subscribe to the blog!