There are some activities that teleport you to a different dimension. For an artist, immersing himself in his art may take him to a whole new level of existence. Scuba diving does that for me. The only difference is that it actually is a new level of existence. I still remember my first dive trip in the summer of 2006. I didn’t know it would become such an essential part of my life. At first, it all felt quite tedious. Despite the warm weather, the water was very cold; we had to wear two layers of wetsuits and carry cumbersome gear across the shore. But the moment I was underwater, I felt light and free. The ethereal experience made it all worthwhile. It changed me and the way I looked at life. The underwater world, despite being affected by the changes in the environment, seems to have a rhythm of its own. It was then that I decided I would learn to capture (on film) and share this magical world. I kept up with my training, and by 2010 I had become a PADI-certified Rescue Diver and underwater photo and videographer. Since then, I have travelled around the world and shot a wide variety of marine life.
As I go underwater, I become aware that I’m entering a habitat of thousands of species and take care not to disturb them. Most of the responsible dive schools will teach you to not touch any living thing underwater and to not pluck or break coral reefs for souvenirs. I follow the principle ‘Don’t take anything but pictures; don’t leave anything but bubbles’. I’m passionate about dispelling myths created around dangerous underwater species, especially sharks. A lot of the trouble created by sharks is by us invading their space and not respecting their boundaries. To this end, I dive in safe groups to photograph sharks in their natural setting without caged barriers. If a diver follows the rules and stays safe, diving with sharks can be an exhilarating experience. My most memorable diving experience was swimming with the Oceanic Blacktip Shark on a recent trip to Durban, South Africa.
It was during one of my dive trips to the Maldives that I met fellow environment enthusiast, Mohamed Shafraz Naeem from Atoll Scuba. He is the mastermind behind the Dive48 event and as I heard more about it, I knew I had to be a part of it. The Dive48 project was born to raise awareness on coral reef protection and the devastating effects of the El Nino natural phenomenon. The data from the event will help officials evaluate the need to close the site for any external activity to give time for the reef to recover. The plan was to produce pictures and videos for the researcher’s data bank and use them to compare — one year from now — the devastating effects of the next El Nino, expected to arrive in the Maldives around mid-2016. I was very happy to be given the opportunity to be a part of something as amazing as this. The process of protecting our planet has to begin with understanding what is harming it. I have seen patches of barren land, where corals used to exist and were destroyed due to excessive bleaching. That sight is not a good one. I would not say this event was eye-opening. Rather, it was re-affirming and gave me factual evidence that we are destroying our world, slowly.
We were a team of nine divers, including two marine biologists and four underwater photographers. We would dive in teams of two for one hour at a time. This meant that each one of us would dive at four-hour intervals, placing two video units (GoPros) in a new spot and let it run till the next two divers came in. We, the photographers, carried our respective underwater cameras to shoot as many photos as we could of the marine life, the coral etc., at different times of the day. A normal dive usually involves a lot of preparation — getting the gear in order, understanding the dive site, studying the conditions of diving on that day, etc. With the Dive48 project, I had many more things to keep in mind, and had to make do with very little rest time in-between dives.
The setting up of the underwater camera is a huge process. I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark III in an Ikelite housing, along with Ikelite strobes. The safety of the camera depends mostly on how you maintain the housing. The housing requires constant cleaning, maintenance of the o-rings, proper lubrication among others.
Besides that, during this trip, we had to make sure that the camera was charged at all times and the memory card had enough space for new photos/footage.
What was most important was the mental preparation to be ready to dive every four hours. Starting it off was exciting and easy. But once we crossed the first 24 hours, we could feel exhaustion creep in, and that’s when we realised how tough it was. But all of us involved are passionate about our work and hope the collective hard work makes a small difference to the big problem.
