New Generation of Underwater Photographers.

They have come a long way, and when one looks at their work, we "oldies", meaning those stubborn seniors who still cling to film and all the rest of it, are full of envy at the new photographers' seemingly unlimited possibilities of bringing home spectacular images.  

Mind you, there aren't many dinosaurs left - I would think that you won't find more than perhaps ten underwater photographers who still use the venerable Nikonos  V. Of those very few, probably no more than five free-dive while photographing, using available light only. They are the laughable, nutty purists, me included, a soon to be extinct species.

Virtually every professional and amateur underwater photographer has now gone digital or else started out using digital equipment.  Contrary to the old photographers who used rolls of film, and were thus rather limited (one roll of 35mm film yielded 36 images), the digital photographers are in a position to shoot "indiscriminately" underwater, often switching on their machine gun-type shutter mode which enables them to expose up to eight frames per second.

Imagine: One second - trrrrrrrrrrrrrr, and all you've got to do then is to choose the best image out of eight. It is not unusual for a digital photographer to "expose" 200 or 300 images on one single tank dive. 

You could say that with such technical feasibilities, it is almost impossible NOT to get master shots, if only by sheer luck. True, but these pros have a different notion about their work. They are pragmatic and think it's the result that counts - period.  Right they are!

What is it that we oldies have to ruminate about such things? Are we not flexible enough to adapt to, and gracefully accept, the new times and the progress that came with it anymore?  Most likely so. Well, then I guess it's time for us to go... Not sure whether:  
:-(     or   :-)

Raul Boesel Jr. is a young underwater photographer and an excellent free-diver. He loves the ocean with an almost uncontrollable enthusiasm, and feels it running through his veins. Even though there is growing competition out in the blue jungle, I could see Raul becoming a widely renowned underwater photographer one day. All he has to do is never be satisfied with his work - the relentless pursuit of excellence is the main driving force behind success. 

Here is a marvelous, rather unique pic Raul took close to Tiger Beach a few weeks ago:

 

Not bad at all, huh?....