Former Scholar, OWUSS Board Member and photographer-extraordinaire Sara Shoemaker Lind invited me to San Francisco to kick off the year getting to know my camera system. Photography has interested me for years, but my greatest shots have been more chance than calculation. With an opportunity like this one to see so many amazing parts of the underwater world, I want to be sure I can capture them well and share this special adventure with you all. Photo boot camp was a perfect place for me to start the scholarship year!
Sara, her husband Kevin and their faithful sidekick/dachshund Remy hosted me for the week. Joining ‘Team Remy’ is an important rite o’ passage for scholars. I understood the full body wiggles and floor-wetting as the sign of an enthusiastic initiation. I had never been to San Francisco and enjoyed bridge views jogging along the waterfront and eating dinner at Giants Stadium. When I arrived, two big boxes of dive gear from Aqua Lung, my head-to-toe sponsor, were waiting. It was a mini Christmas morning in Sara’s living room tearing into all the bags. Thank you to Aqualung International for their continued generosity to the North American Rolex Scholarship. I am honored to be representing you on all coasts this year!
Gorgeous sun and photo opportunities lured us out of town so we loaded the car with cameras bound for Santa Cruz. Sara’s parents Sandie and Wells Shoemaker, hosted us in their beautiful home in the redwoods of Aptos. Years of scholars have been treated to staying in the Shoemaker’s cabin home with woodland creatures all around. Only minutes from the beach but nestled in the cool hills, this is also home to the Shoemaker’s Salmandre Wine Cellars. Although I went to college near Oregon’s wine country I had never been on a winery tour. Thank you Sandie for sharing this experience and showing me through your process and barrel-stacked showroom.
Sara and I took advantage of the spring sunshine with a Santa Cruz beach photo shoot in all my new gear. Sara’s skill and professionalism loaded me up with tips about lighting, posing, and keeping cameras alive while living a sandy lifestyle. Photo camp continued at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk with a feature on colors and patterns. A whole raft of sea otters and a barely buoyant dock piled high with sea lions supplemented the lesson on wildlife photography. These were the first wild sea otters I’d ever seen, and they were every bit as adorable as I could ever hope for! No California experience is complete without some surf photography. We talked about shooting action peering off the cliffs at little groms shredding the sporadic swell. It was really eye opening to shoot all day and edit pictures late into the evening. With more and more practice, what I thought I was creating and what actually appeared on the screen slowly began to mesh.
Sara, Sandie and I also headed to Monterey for a half day quick visit to Light & Motion and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Light & Motion generously sponsors my underwater video equipment. My system had been in for its annual tune up and is now all set for underwater adventures! I met up with Blaise Douros (sales representative and my new go-to troubleshooter) for a tour of the Light & Motion facility. L&M headquarters is built in a refurbished cannery building on the waterfront of Monterey. Within one building lighting systems are innovated, prototyped, manufactured, serviced and distributed. It’s amazing to see the conscientiousness present at every level of this company with an emphasis on reducing waste and boosting productivity. They custom mold and test new pieces downstairs that can immediately hit the drawing board back in the loft if something can be improved. The open air cannery is filled with creativity and great energy. Plus any office that gets wave spray inside the upper-level windows from big crashing swell is super cool! Blaise gave me a quick rundown on the Canon Vixia HFS30 camera and Bluefin housing I’ll be shooting with this year. I was also very excited to get a brand new set of SOLA 1200 lights on my housing. If you are in the market for bike/dive/video lights, you have to check out the brightness on these 1200s! I’m already looking forward to spending more time in Monterey learning about L&M and diving in their backyard kelp forest.
No visit to Monterey is complete without a stop at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We scurried in for a quick visit before closing to see the new ‘Jellies Experience’ exhibit. MBA does incredible education, research and outreach work. One of my favorite programs is Seafood Watch. If you don’t already carry them, right now download pocket-sized guides for ordering sustainable seafood in your region. Or for all you smartphone people out there, get the app! This is a simple step everyone can take to protect our oceans! Educate yourself and make good choices. I could spend days and days exploring Monterey Bay Aquarium, and plan to return to do exactly that soon.
My last day in California was spent on photo-safari around beautiful San Francisco. Riding the open-air, double-decker bus throughout the city, Sara and I shot our way down the Embarcadero, through Union Square, to Fisherman’s Wharf and across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. It’s always fun to play tourist toting a pile of cameras. Sunny skies brought out all the best in this very cool city. Thank you to Sara and Kevin for your generous hospitality including driving me to/from Oakland at wee hours. (Educational lesson- it turns out Oakland is not nearly as close to SF as it appears). It was great for my confidence to start the year capturing memories.
There is so much to explore in this immense state, and I haven’t even gotten in the water yet! California is a short hop from my Scholar home base in Boise; return plans are already being arranged. Thanks for joining me on this 2012 North American Rolex Scholar adventure! I would love to hear from you on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @MeganCook33, reach me by email at NARolexScholar2012@owusscholarship.org or comment on the blogs below. Best fishes and happy bubbling!
