Underwater Dive Photographer Career Hopes Dashed

So my dream of a stint as a glamorous tropical scuba photographer came to an abrupt screeching halt this afternoon.
I got my underwater camera photos back.
"Disappointing" would be putting it very mildly.
"Possibly taken by a blind 4 year old" might be a more accurate description.
Aside from 1 or 2 pretty coral shots, I got zilch. Lots of fish profiles swimming away from me in cloudy dark water. (It was CLEAR and BLUE in real life! I don't get it!) And a lot of blur.

Now a true carpenter never blames her tools, but I did use 200 film in a reusable underwater plastic underwater camera. It's a small step up from the garden variety beach disposables, but obviously, she's no fancy pants flash ready digital. (Maybe I can borrow some of JB's old flash cubes and attach them on top...) In a bold move in these rough economic times, I decided to upgrade to 400 film for the next attempt. And I did see them renting digitals on some boats, so maybe I can try those options before turning my back on a lifelong dream. (OK, month long ) Although I have to admit, I am so shaken and crushed, I am tempted to hang up my underwater camera today to avoid future potential letdowns. But what is life without risk? So I will march on...

In my defense, I was so happy to have reached the all important diving milestone of
" I'm not thinking about dying / breathing every 20 seconds", that I decided to venture down with a camera on my 5th dive, perhaps prematurely. I quickly snapped away like a giddy child with a new toy, and think I took all 27 photos in the first 4 minutes. Also, as a novice fish paparazzo, I have yet to develop any successful "point and shoot" method. I just held the camera out in front of me towards the fish, hoped they were somewhere in the frame, and clicked. Which, as demonstrated by the lack of cool fish in my photos, will not be my method on my next dive. Any tips on form and style are much appreciated.

This is my one cool fish photo. ( I auto corrected it online and it warped into funky colors that I happened to dig. Now that I am thinking about this, maybe I do still have future hopes, but as an artsier dive photographer. I can just warp the blurry photos i take into something slightly abstract....)

I thought I was an ass for splurging on some of the overpriced professional photos on the boats, but after seeing my pathetic attempts in living color (ok, murky grey) today, they turned out to be wise purchases indeed.

Guess I'll have to re-think that "Underwater Photos by Yours Truly" 2009 Calendar I was going to make for everyone as a holiday gift.


my one nice brain coral shot



Can You Guess Which Are Mine?! And which were taken by the pros?
















The one good thing that did come out of making the trip to the photo store... I brought them a "mystery camera" that I found in my drawer. Turns out I had some undeveloped film from Railay Bay in Thailand from last March...