water-blogged

New Blog Address

2008-10-06T12:45:00.002-04:00

I have put a lot of recent work into promotional material and will be unveiling a few of things in the next couple of weeks. In an effort to unify all products, I decided that my blog needed to match my website. James Peth at OneJames did a great job designing the new site and I spent a few hours transferring all of the entries over. I am happy to point everybody to the new blog. Comments welcome.

http://blog.timcalver.com

Long Time No Blog / New Gear

2008-08-24T18:59:00.004-04:00

I always struggle with deciding what exactly is worth committing to the pages of this blog and it keeps my number of posts low. I guess it comes from reading other blogs and thinking either "why is this worth posting"", or "wow, that's great!". My life has been a little closer to "why" than "wow" lately, and the result is six weeks of no blog. Apologies.

It's not like I haven't been working. Early August I was in San Francisco for two weeks on my second Bollywood film of the summer. And before and after that project, I spent lots of time on the computer consulting on and designing new promo material. The Bollywood shots in no way fit a blog on underwater photography, and the promo stuff is probably best left until I have something to show. But that will be soon.

In the mean time, to end the blog dry spell, here is a recent photo. More of a snap shot than a finished idea, but then again, yesterday was more of a gear test than a shoot. I finally pulled the trigger on a housing for my Canon 1DsMK3 and yesterday was the first time it was underwater. While Lara swam her workout (and out-swam me), I ran the housing through it's paces. Along the way I learned why it is best to first submerge with no camera in the housing (no water inside, but a good eyepiece lesson was learned.) Even before I shot it underwater, this new camera made my MK2 seem old. But in the new housing, it made me really wish that my system consisted of only MK3 cameras. Only a few thousand Euros stand in my way!

Water Time

2008-07-02T09:15:00.014-04:00

The reality of working on a water film is long hours on and in the water. And after six weeks of four dives a day, ears start to hurt, cuts start to fester and the desire to get wet sometimes isn't there. But it is my personal belief that the simplest thing someone can do to succeed in this business, is to WANT to get in the water every single time the boat stops. Getting in the water when nobody else wants to pays off. (Luckily for the second image here, at least one other person wanted to get in the water with a plague sized group of thimble jellyfish.) Anyway, here are some things that I have been able to shoot in between required dives. Three days to go here in Nassau.

Bollywood Blue

2008-06-18T08:12:00.009-04:00

I have been in Nassau, Bahamas for somewhere around four weeks now working on a Bollywood film. I came on as water safety, but was able to move into the underwater photographer position after the first week ... defining the term "Job-Jumper" along the way. It is true that many days involve shooting Lara Dutta (former Miss Universe and present day Bollywood star) as she swims over the camera in a bikini. And we have all kinds of incredible scenes on the shot list ... sharks, ship wrecks, spear guns and underwater fights to the death (some of which involve the classic knife cutting air hose!) The crew that I work with are good friends, great divers and talented underwater film makers. So needless to say, the image opportunities have been incredible. Unfortunately, I don't feel that I can post never-before-seen photos of Miss Universe in a bikini on this blog, so I will have to make due with some behind the scenes images. Sorry.

This last image was taken on a day off from filming. It shows the first and only Lara in my personal life (Lara O'Neill), swimming through one of the best and most-used underwater studios in the Bahamas. Twenty four feet of crystal clear water, white sand to bounce light everywhere and if desired, schools of fish that answer the call of "rolling!" Now that all that I am doing is shooting, I see images everywhere, and want to keep shooting everything here.

U of M Rowing

2008-05-16T18:10:00.009-04:00

There never seems to be enough days in the week, hours in the last day or pounds in a checked bag leading up to a major trip. Tomorrow I join an all-star underwater crew in Nassau, Bahamas. Pete Zuccarini is the underwater DP on a Bollywood remake of Into the Blue, titled simply Blue. (Sounds like a condo development on Miami Beach.)

Before I change my phone message and get on the plane, I wanted to post a couple of shots taken in the last couple of months with the University of Miami Women's Rowing Team. I was lucky to meet coach Robbie Tenenbaum during a slow period in my schedule way back in January. Robbie welcomed me onto the chase boat with enthusiasm, and was happy to put me into any kind of close proximity as I searched for new ways to capture this incredible sport. I found over the months that I worked with these athletes that there are a couple of different types of perfection that go into a successful rowing image. The easy part is the syncronicity of 8 people working as one. Then there is the decisive moment decision of where to freeze the blades. And finally, what I search for in all images, some sort of perfection in the water.

Gulf Coast Half Ironman

2008-05-12T15:23:00.010-04:00

Lara and I spent the last half of last week in Panama City, Florida. Lara competed in the Gulf Coast Half Ironman Triathlon on Saturday morning . Of course, my official role during these four days was to provide support and the occasional spousal-reality check, but I took enough photo gear to make me think I was on assignment. And speaking as a photographer, I loved the big waves pounding onto the beach at the start of the swim. The scale of green water to swimmer was, at times, impressive. However, as group after colored-capped group ran into the water, and then paused to think about the next 1.2 miles, it was obvious that quite a few athletes were not prepared for the swell.

Pura Vida

2008-05-03T23:44:00.015-04:00

Swimming in the ocean swells at sunrise, after six days in Nosara, Costa Rica, I can distinctly remember feeling close to understanding the idea of "Pura Vida". In large part, I learned by watching the staff at the Harmony Hotel ... they surf before work, run the beach at lunch and low tide, make incredible smoothies and mojitos, play a weekly game of beach soccer, and dance salsa late late late into the night. And in between all of this, they run an incredible hotel on a beautiful beach and help a visiting photographer with absolutely no salsa skills get through a tough assignment.

Now, after one week in Miami and after too much computer time editing the images, I see that I should have somehow recorded my thoughts in the ocean. The memory of Pura Vida survived the flight home, but the distinct feeling was left at the Harmony Hotel. It's that feeling that makes me want to go back soon. Thanks to Susan and John, Lee, Pauline and Marie Jose.

Florida Springs

2008-04-06T19:07:00.017-04:00

I spent much of last week in Central and Northern Florida with Neil. We were both looking for something to fill some empty days before new projects begin, and add something new and different to our portfolios. Our visit was perfectly timed to coincide with spring break in that part of the state. As a result, we had a hard time finding an empty frame and clear water. But the trip was worth it. I'm not sure that my resulting images are anything that Wes Skiles couldn't shoot in his sleep, but I did capture some images that expanded my idea of water photography. The water in those springs is so incredibly clear ... almost perfectly clear. Laying on the bottom in the Itchetucknee River, it was only the smooth surface ripples and my eventual need for a breath that ruined the illusion that I was not underwater at all. The way that the colors blue and green appear in one frame underlines for me that these images were shot in fresh water. In the ocean, you get very little green.It was my third trip to that part of the state, and my second trip to both Ginny and Alexander Springs. The shot that I was anticipating was the mixing water over top of the Devil's Eye. It is a truly amazing natural event ... crystal clear aquifer outflow swirling with tannic river water. It is something you really need to see to believe, and something that might make you think "PhotoShop" when you see the images.
The Blue Hole in Itchtucknee was the last dive before the long drive back south. The sun never really made it to the point in the sky that we hoped for. But the couple of hours that we spent in the 68 degree water made us wish for a fresh water spring in the backyard.

Business Week

2008-04-01T10:07:00.003-04:00

I love the calls that take my photography in a direction that I have been wanting to go. Last week I got such a a call from Kathy Moore at Business Week magazine to shoot a CEO portrait. It took a while to arrange our schedules and find a good weather window, but on Friday morning I photographed Jerry Norman, the president and CEO of the Neptune Society on the Neptune Memorial Reef in Biscayne Bay. My idea for the shot was for a traditional CEO portrait in a non-traditional location, and Jerry was game to give it a try. Of course, the realities of having a person stand on the bottom in forty feet of water wearing only a business suit are quite challenging. Peter Manno and Neil Andrea were my assistants and were essential parts of the shoot. The water could have been a little clearer, but I think that all things considered, we got some great images. Once the article runs, I will post a few more images.

Myth Busters

2008-04-01T08:57:00.010-04:00

I usually get one call a year right around Shark Week to shoot for the Discovery Channel. Last year it was for the documentary about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. This year it was with the Myth Busters crew. Since the program is still a few weeks from running, I probably can't say too much about the show. However, the crew was a lot of fun, and it is a unique set of hosts that can look good filling syringes with dog urine and fecal secretions. (If that doesn't make you want to tune in, then I don't know what will.)

The shoot took place in Nassau and we dove with JP Genasi and Stuart Cove's. I always like getting into the water at Stuart Cove's shark dive. There is nothing natural about that spot, or about 50 Caribbean Reef sharks circling in forty feet of water. However, it is as close to a studio situation as you will ever find for photographing sharks. The white sand bottom produces amazing light, the sharks are everywhere, and if you have an idea that you want to try ... shooting down on a shark, have a shark swim left to right through frame, or panning for a blur, or using the sharks to frame a diver ... you don't have to wait too long for the opportunity. And in most cases, JP Genasi can make it happen. All he needs is a fist full of bait and a chain mail suit.

JP Genasi

Earth Hour Miami

2008-03-23T12:41:00.003-04:00

I provided a portfolio of images to be projected at Monday's Earth Hour event at the Bank of America Tower. Amy Rosenberg is a friend from Lara's LegalArt days, and is organizing this environmental event for Mayor Manny Diaz. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend, as I flew to Nassau this morning for a quick Discovery Channel shoot. But if you have the chance, go! And check the Earth Hour site for information about turning out the lights on March 29th at 8Pm, as well as ways to cut power use every day. It is a simple, easy and important thing we can all do.

Bequia Boats

2008-03-22T16:08:00.003-04:00

I picked up a copy of the April Caribbean Travel & Life magazine this morning. I've got a couple images on page 40 with an article by Chris Cox. "The Fleet Petit". I was happy to see that they were finally used. The photos of Christopher Waldron outside of Withfield Sails were some of my favorites of the trip. It seems like a long time ago.

Hawaii by Land

2008-03-20T22:35:00.009-04:00

I have been to a couple of volcanic islands in the past ... St. Vincent and Dominica. Some of the beaches were black sand, and the peak of the volcano could sometimes be seen in the distance. But driving around Hawaii, I saw first hand how these islands are made. The simplest way that I could sum it up was with the following image. I saw the photo as I drove to a meeting with the director ... a flash of three colors through the car window. But they seemed to perfectly capture the natural elements of Hawaii - the ocean, the vegetation and the volcano. I parked the car on the side of the highway and had to hike over an old lava flow until the image looked good through the 400mm.

The Hawaii I was Hoping For

2008-03-20T00:39:00.008-04:00

I took two days after shooting wrapped to see some of the Big Island. (I feel a little weird using such a familiar term for such a new place, but I also don't like names that don't really say where you are ... such as "I'm going to Africa." Anyway.) I found Brett LeMaster's company Mele Nai'a through some sort of web search, and I had some great email conversations with his partner Leina before I left Miami. To be honest, all I needed to know was Brett's reputation as a freediver and see the photos of False Killer Whales on their website to know that I wanted to dive with them. I REALLY made the right decision! Spinner dolphins is the basis of their business, and we had just found a pod on Monday morning when Brett got a call about some Pilot whales logging on the surface. Before slipping in the water in front of the slowly moving pod, Brett casually warned me about Oceanic Whitetips that often travel with the whales. And as I sat in blue water waiting for the whales to pass, the first thing I saw come out of the distance was a shark. As it got bigger, I consciously told myself to be ready for an aggressive shark. And it was aggressive, in a slightly disinterested way. On that first pass, I had to stick my fin in it's face to send a message, and I know I was nervous because I didn't think to shoot the shark just behind my fins. It was nice to turn and see Brett behind me. But after that, the sharks were turned simply by eye contact, and I have to admit that I was wishing them just a little closer, just a little closer. Wow are they incredible! Such huge fins. Such amazing color. I have wanted to get in the water with an Oceanic Whitetip for a long time now. I can't believe how seemingly easily is happened.

Hawaii Production

2008-03-20T00:00:00.011-04:00

There came a point on Day 2 of the production ... sometime after the wind went quiet on Mauna Kea, and the clouds completely rolled over Parker Ranch, and the production reached a generally low point ... there came a point when one of the clients pointed out that Bob Gordon's company motto is "Making the impossible, possible". Yes, it was more a comment on how impossible the idea of ever completing the commercial seemed at that point. But at the same time it was probably obvious to everybody that the best way to overcome most impossible situations is a talented helicopter pilot. And in Hawaii we had two of them ... Craig Hosking and Don Evans. Plus Akoni Kama, who's job it was to be literally dragged around by a helicopter. Who needs wind when you have a Hughes 500?

The fact of any film shoot is that mornings are early. We had back to back 4:15 am calls on this job. And it was a surreal experience to drive through the pitch black, with an impossible number of stars overhead, following small crew signs along the roadside. And when the sun came up, our location was revealed as something closer to the moon than the Hawaii I was expecting. Mauna Kea was one of the most dramatic and beautiful places that I have ever been.

MIT Triathlon

2008-03-17T00:04:00.006-04:00

Lara ran the Olympic distance event at the Miami International Triathlon this morning. I have been looking forward to shooting lots of swimmers churning water. However, the swimming portion of all events except the sprint happened before the sun came up. Here are a selection of the few that almost worked. I blame my poor shooting on lack of sleep and the huge amounts of Nyquil in my system. Note: all camera blur on the bike photos is intentional. All blur on the swimming photos is the result of the 7 am start and the 7:29 sunrise.

I am trying to wade through the gigabytes of photos that I returned from Hawaii with. It might take me a couple of days to get something posted.

Kingman, AZ

2008-03-01T05:45:00.010-05:00

I flew home on Thursday from three days in Kingman, Arizona. The return flight on Air Tran (the airline with least leg-room) took us high over the snow covered country. Even though I spend much of any flight looking out of the window, the days I spent in Kingman now make me consider aerial views in a much different light.

This project was part of Bob Gordon's on-going series of commercials. The story dealt with two guys who load their old Jeep into an even older cargo plane, fall out at 10,000 feet and parachute safely to the desert floor where they drive away in search of even more adventure. All skeptical looks by readers can easily be explained by three words ... foreign cigarette ad. (Someday soon I will approach this topic.)

The key shots to this shoot were all done from either plane to plane, or helicopter to plane and some amazing technology was used to for the motion picture photography. Of course, being "the still guy" on a commercial shoot, Space Cams and Snake Heads are not available to me. All of my key shots were taken while strapped into the back seat of a helicopter. (The flight crew thoughtfully provided paper-tape to make sure that the seatbelt stayed closed.) Once strapped in, I was a on a ride that both changed my perspective and made me a part of the action in a very immediate way. The logistics of these sequences were detailed and there is a lifetime of pilot experience that goes into getting a cargo plane, which stalls out just under 100 mph to fly alongside a helicopter that maxes out just over 100 mph. And there is a lot of trust in paper tape by any photographer who sticks his head and camera out into a hundred mile an hour head wind and squints through the viewfinder. I have to thank Craig Hosking for getting me into some incredible camera positions. And for the paper-tape that kept me in the helicopter.

The view from that high above the desert is amazing and in a lot of ways it reminded me of underwater photography. Looking down on all of that neutral negative space, a silver plane literally popped off the page in the similar way to a freediver in the blue or a dolphin on the bank. And the dark horizontal line of the distant mountains reminded me of a still day in the Gulf Strem. The scales were entirely different, but the connected and inspired feeling was the same. I think I could have spent the entire shoot looking at the abstract possibilities presented by the desert far below.

Anyway, it was a tough shoot in many ways, but I came away with some great photography. Orlando Noa and David Dominick of Digital Decaf were a great addition to the still department. And as always, Bob's crew was great to work with. New stop is Hawaii. I am already shopping for a climbing harness to save on paper-tape!

February Catch Up

2008-02-23T15:57:00.011-05:00

I have been away from the blog for a while now. There may not have been a lot of assignments to comment on, but new ideas, new photos and a trip or two would have found space. I could chalk it up to basic laziness, but to be honest, I am thinking about the consequences of simply putting ideas out there for others to see. It is easy to believe that few people visit a site, and nobody really reads a blog. However, it is an indescribable feeling to become aware that another photographer has paid close attention to your work. Right down to what I called my last show. Anyway, I will leave it at that for now. And for the rest, the rain is pouring here in Miami, and I am right in the middle of a couple of unusual and interesting assignments. Seems like a good time to jump back in.

I always appreciate working with a crew, and the three days that I spent working with Bob Gordon and Pete Zuccarini last week produced some great images. I was hired by Bob to shoot the still photos for an Indonesian soccer tournament campaign. It was set entirely in a pool in Ft. Lauderdale. Of course, footwork is key in soccer, and Pete had guys training for weeks to cross-volley kick and dribble all while holding their breath. At the same time, Matt O'Connor and Harper Hellams worked hard to makes sure there was a ball for every scene ... sinkers, floaters, mid water balls and balls that could fly across the pool. Alex Krim and Neil Andrea provided water safety. We had directors, editors, wardrobe and PA's in a small camp around the pool, and six guys who's specialty is soccer and were very excited to see what water could add to their game. And in the end, it is amazing what happens when a dozen people focus their combined efforts on making something happen in front of a lens. Today I am flying to Kingman, Arizona to continue work with Bob's crew. The next stop will reach towards the pinacle of what a shoot can be when money is only a relative consideration and might make me wonder how an underwater guy ended up in a helicopter.

Lightroom

2008-01-20T07:42:00.000-05:00

Adobe Lightroom has been installed on my computer since sometime last summer. However, it is safe to say that using it only to create impressive web pages is not getting the most out of the program. Last weekend I sat in on a four day course offered by D65. Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer are the go-to couple for breaking the Lightroom learning curve down to size. I was lucky to meet Jamie one week before I bought my first digital SLR way back in 2004. Their workflow became the way that I work, and I have made it a point to refresh my workflow with a D65 course each time Adobe updates their photo software. To say that Seth has a thorough understanding of the program is an understatement. To say it is an understatement is an understatement. But the success of the course is how Jamie and Seth pass this understanding along to photographers. At the end of four days, I felt I knew what Lightroom could do and how to best use it. And walking away from the course, I knew that I had days of keywording in front of me, and many more hard drives to buy.

2008 Outside Wall Calendar

2007-12-14T22:53:00.002-05:00

Our copy of Outside Magazine arrived yesterday. It included the 2008 wall calendar ... a gift for new subscribers. I am very excited to have my photo of Pete freediving with a humpback whale as the photo above the month of September. And it is in good company. The calendar includes some great images.

Getting Old.

2007-12-08T22:09:00.002-05:00

Ok, it is too late at night to try to find a way to fit these images into some sort of a narrative. Both Curacao and Bimini produced images that remind me why I think that I have something to offer as an underwater photographer. And the stand out photos from both trips remind me that years ago I told Pete that I would start shooting macro photography when I was too old to freedive. Well, I just turned 38, and both assignments found me spending long, patient hours behind my 100mm macro. On scuba, no less! There is something about a Petersen shrimp in an anenome that shows me there is a world of underwater photography still to discover. But Katie's style while freediving is reason enough to always have the 16-35mm as the lens of first choice.

Ocean Futures

2007-12-08T21:40:00.000-05:00

I had the chance to spend a week in Bimini aboard the Apnea. Fabiene Coustea and Ocean Futures flew to the island to film a documentary which focused on the environmental problems (some might say the ecological disaster) created by the development at Bimini Bay. This was the first time that I visited the north end of the island in years, and yes, I was truly shocked by what I saw. Bimini is just too small for the vast numbers of cookie cutter town homes that are planned and it's mangrove shoreline is far to valuable as habitat to be removed for something as self serving as a golf course or a channel to bring yachts to a backyard. Please take a look at these sites. Bimini needs all of the friends it can get.

Catch-Up

2007-12-08T20:11:00.000-05:00

Two trips and the Thanksgiving holiday have really put me behind in my blog. But I have a couple of hours in a noisy hotel room to try and get caught up. What follows is what seems noteworthy from three weeks and two projects.

Gallery Opening

2007-11-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

My gallery show at the Biscayne Nature Center opened on Saturday afternoon. It was a great turn out and I'd like to thank everyone who braved some truly incredible Miami traffic to see the photos. Lara and I were talking that morning about what a nice community feel Key Biscayne has, and when you narrow that community down to a group of water people, the Nature Center is an great place for everybody to gather. Many thanks to Theo Long and her staff for all the help in the lead up to the show. Many more thanks to Deblois for the music. Buy her CD!

I thought that the show looked really good. Lara's Eye continues to be the image that raises the most questions. And for some reason many people want to know how much Photoshop is involved in the prints. I think it might be a default question that starts a question about the process and ideas behind the images. And I also like to think that the question has a lot to do with making sure that photos like these are still swimming around.

Ironman

2007-11-06T08:23:00.001-05:00

Lara entered the 2008 Florida Ironman Triathlon on Sunday. We heard that it sells out quickly, so she had her whole family on standby to hit the website precisely at 1pm in hopes of someone securing a spot for her. But it turns out that Lara was the one who made it through. She was so excited. So thus begins the year of early mornings, healthy eating and "right" choices. Or in Lara's case, I should say EARLIER mornings, HEALTHIER eating and RIGHTER (?) choices. But you can follow the whole process on Lara's blog. Her first entry sounds like it might have been written by a WWF wrestling promoter, but she tells me that this is the kind of attitude needed to complete an Ironman. It should be an interesting year.

Caribbean Travel & Life

2007-11-03T11:27:00.002-04:00

I had lunch with Dave Herndon on Wednesday on my way through Orlando. It was nice to get caught up on everything that has changed since we camped in the Dry Tortugas so many years ago. Life changes quickly! He gave me a copy of the December issue of his magazine which features Chris Cox's article and my photos from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Maybe because it is the most recent, or maybe because of the great portraits I shot on the trip, or maybe because it was something that Lara and I worked on together, but this assignment still feels like my best for the magazine. But it wasn't until I discovered the St. Vincent and the Grenadines booth at the DEMA show and was able to show the magazine to everybody that made the trip happen, that I really knew what it was to feel good about an assignment. It was so fun to stand around with all of the great people from the tourism department, Young Island Resort and Indigo Dive and talk about all of the great spots that we visited in July. After so much time on the island for Pirates of the Caribbean and then this assignment, SVG has many good memories for me.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center Gallery Show - November 10th 2-5PM

2007-10-26T18:07:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I picked up the promo cards for my upcoming gallery show at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center. It took one rejected attempt, but Ser-Mar did a nice job. There is a huge difference between these cards and the product offered by Modern Postcard. I don't know what the coating is, but they look almost wet. Very glossy. Tthe show opens on November 10th. Click on the image for more information.

Design District

2007-10-24T22:15:00.001-04:00

I have been back and forth to DistrictLab the last few days. The drive from the beach into the Design District is always good for a couple of reasons. 1. It's close and the traffic is almost manageable ... compared to most places in Miami. 2. It involves the Julia Tuttle Causeway, which is as Miami as roads get here. (All it's missing is the cruise ships.) And 3. The closer you get to the Design District, the better the design gets! Between the cement factories, the Target stores and the guys living in vans are murals worth driving out of your way to see. But by far the best is the easiest to find. Right where Biscayne goes under 195, a man and a woman stand in the sun. Their shadows against the wall make it seem like they are standing in the grass, and his hands and expression might be apologizing or might be imploring. But it is her hips that turn my head ... every single time I drive by. Don't tell Lara, but it might be love!

Sloooow

2007-10-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

When the assignments slow down and then stop, there is really only one thing to do. Marketing. I have spent many hours in front of the computer designing a new promo card. The results went into the mail yesterday. It is a little anti-climatic to spend a week looking at images and fonts, another week matching editors and addresses, and a weekend labeling and stamping to then simply hand 500 cards to the post office. But that's the drill. The best that can be hoped for is that the card finds a home on a photo editors wall or in a file, but more likely the card gets one glance before landing in the trash. Such is the life of a promo card.

I really like the design part of the process. When I put these two images together ... Dave in his Kayak and Lara at the university pool ... I felt a relation between them. Motion, expression, composition and color were elements that drew me to these images. That was two weeks ago. Now I think that I might have had one or two specific magazines in my head when I chose the photographs. My goal with these cards is to convince any editor that water and underwater offers a fresh look for any magazine. I'm just not sure that these two images suggest that idea. But the good thing about a marketing campaign is that I have another shot at it in two months.

Something else that I noticed in this process. I do not always immediately recognize THE shot in a roll of film. This image of David on the Calchec River didn't even make the blog when I first wrote about the trip. Three months later, it is one of my favourite images.

Swim

2007-09-23T23:10:00.000-04:00

Lara and I swam at the University of Miami pool yesterday. It had been a long time since our last visit, but the scene hasn't really changed. Most of the students still lay around the pool catching rays, and three or four people are in the pool swimming lengths. (I might say that university was nothing like that for me, but it might be more a comment on my age. Or the fact that I went to school in Toronto.) Lara is extremely focused on distance and speed these days ... two things that will help get her through a triathlon next year. I have to admit that years as an underwater photographer have ruined me for any kind of lengths. There is just too much water to look at, too many possibilities to consider. Lengths require me to turn off the creative side of my brain, and water usually has the opposite reaction on me. (How is that for a reason not to swim lengths?) After the workout, we spent some time shooting the details of a body moving through a lane of water. Lara is very patient when it comes stuff like this. She learned long ago that "one more time" has no real meaning to me, even though I say it after every shot. And she patiently continues down the lane as I try to swim in the same space that she is using. Only a swift kick or a hard bump from the housing gets a reaction.

I have been using my AquaTech housing for these images. The thing I really like about this housing is the Canon 580EX strobe underwater. It permits great things like second curtain sync on a slow shutter speed, or a hi-speed sync on a 1/2000th of a second shutter speed. This opens up so many ways to capture motion, and control the background. I am anxious to see how far above 1/250th of a second I can get with the Ikelite strobes in my Seacam housing.

New Promotion

2007-09-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Two new places to find my work went up this week. Taking Larry's advice, I now have a portfolio on both Workbook.com and Blackbook.com. (Larry has decades of experience and a huge amount of talent, and I am always thankful that he is so open to helping.) There is a lot of great work up on both sites, and it is nice to see that my portfolio has something different to offer. Water is the simplest theme that runs through my images, and it is my hope that an editor looking through the portrait, lifestyle or travel section will see that is a theme that can apply to any story. I don't want to change what I do, but I would like to find a bigger market for my work. Links to my new portfolios are below.

http://www.workbook.com/portfolios/calver_t/
http://www.blackbook.com/TimCalver

New Website

2007-08-31T21:53:00.000-04:00

My new website went up yesterday. Thanks very much to Nadine Baurin at Creataria. (http://www.creataria.com) It was a great experience to work with Nadine. She took my website plans, trimmed away all of the bad ideas, added her own great thoughts, and delivered a beautiful site. On time. All while preparing for her wedding. I would highly recommend her.

The site went up sometime between late night west coast time and first thing east coast time. And for a while yesterday morning, it seemed that some sort of a big announcement preceded the update. In the space of a couple of hours, I had three calls for three different jobs, two of which were brand new clients and just a coincidence that they came on the same day that my new work went up.

Anyway, if you found this blog without going through the website, please check out http://www.timcalver.com

Dolphins

2007-07-05T21:09:00.000-04:00

I always intend to write these things immediately ... that is the purpose of a blog, isn't it? But for some reason it takes me until Thursday to get Monday on paper.

Monday was the day that the Miami Seaquarium shoot happened. A tropical wave postponed the shoot for a couple of days last week, and afternoon thunderstorms were still a factor on Monday. But by the time they rolled in, the shoot was over. Young dolphins unaccustomed to divers were more of a factor than the weather. And it was so frustrating to look up from the bottom of the Dolphin Harbor facility, see world class light shafts, realize that an amazing photo was possible, and then watch the dolphins do everything they could to stay out of the photo. I would like to think that in the end persistence paid off, and two or three moments made the shoot a success, but I'm not exactly sure. I got some nice photos, but my dolphin, diver and light shafts could have been truly amazing and wasn't. There may be a chance for a re-shoot.

It was good to work to work with Pete and Cuaks again.

Great Quote

2007-06-22T16:16:00.000-04:00

I just finished posting the river stuff, and I lay down on the couch to kill some time with the endless magazines that somehow make their way into our mailbox. I can across some remarkable photos in Wired by Rick Graves. He is shooting NASCAR with a modified Hasselblad which freezes the cars at 200 mph. Anyway, he had a quote that applies equally to freezing fast cars and blurring water and athletes.

"Failure is a necessity and a lot of times, success is luck."

Rivers - British Columbia

2007-06-22T15:17:00.001-04:00

Lara and I flew in from Vancouver on Wednesday night. It was a great trip to Whistler to see Dave, Mom and Dad. Everybody came from a long way away for an unfortunately rare, complete Calver reunion.

Lara and I stayed in Dave's cosy apartment and our Whistler days were filled with good food, long walks or runs on the trail, and catching up. We filled his tiny living room with our duffel bags and my camera gear, but it was for me a crowded reminder to use the equipment that I lugged across the country. I always feel that some of my best photos come out of personal trips, and I was looking forward to getting in a river with David.

We scouted the Calchec on Thursday night and returned on Friday to shoot. The river seemed to offer a lot of what we were looking for ... reasonable access for David, reasonable water flow for a swimmer, and reasonably good waves for a kayaker. I was a little worried about the water temperature ... a chilly 5 degrees Celcius. But it turned out that my 5/4/3 with a hooded vest was the right suit. Good thing, because I would have felt cold and dumb with a thicker suit hanging in the closet in Miami!

The water level was such that I could crawl and walk through the river to a cluster of rocks where David could make repeated runs in his kayak. I shot my 20mm in a dome port but had all kinds of problems with water drops. No matter how many times I rubbed spit over the acrylic, the river would throw little drops of water up on the dome, and there they would stick. I really need to find a solution to this problem.

Things were much better when I switched to the 24-70 behind a flat port. Of course, the flat port is much smaller than the dome, but it also got rid of water much much better. It made me really want a flat port for my 16-35 instead of the dome and extension ring that I bought. (I have not been making the most informed gear purchases lately.) I shot the flat port on the opposite side of the river from where we started. There was a big-ish hydrolic that Dave could surf in and I could stand close to. This is where I got the best shots of the afternoon. I tried a mix of slow and fast shutter speeds, and liked the look of the water motion from the slow shutter speed, but liked the recycle times on the strobe better on the fast shutter speed. I had tested these shots a lot in Miami before the trip, but I did notice one big difference in the river. With a lot of white water and spray, I think it fooled the e-TTL into not putting out as much light. Yes, I should have been shooting on Manual, but that is a lesson learned for the next trip.

Anyway, here are a couple of images from the Calchec river. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me. There is a good feeling that getting into the water produces, and a good feeling to working with your brother. I was happy to combine them.

Morning Swims

2007-06-07T15:02:00.000-04:00

The ocean off 79th Street has been calm the last few mornings. Lara have I been swimming either early or late in the day. We swim from one marker-buoy 100 meters off shore, down a few blocks to the next marker-buoy and then back again. The swim takes us along the outside edge of the sandbar and is rarely more than 8 feet deep. Most of the time I can just see rippled sand through my crappy goggles. I doubt that the distance we swim is more than a mile, but it is far enough, both in length and distance offshore, to make me feel like I am doing something.

If we swim our course in the evening, I usually take the morning to shoot some photos of Lara swimming. I just received my new AquaTech housing from Australia and I am eager to work the kinks out before next weeks' Vancouver trip. The system I bought includes a housing for my Canon 1Ds MKII, a dome for the 20mm, a flat port for my 24-70mm, and a housing for the 580 EXII strobe. I bought this splash housing thinking that it would be light and highly swimmable, but there is no getting around the fact that the 1Ds MKII is a big heavy camera. It is a good workout to push the housing and flash through the water and keep up with Lara. But the results have been really encouraging. Second curtain sync on the flash and a lucky hit of light off the mirrored goggles, and you really have an open water swim image. And the following can't be overstated. it is so nice to have a model who gets out of bed at 6:20, dives into 77 degree water and swims in the direction I point. And with only a little grumpiness!

First Blog Ever

2007-06-05T22:20:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I decided that I would start a blog to coincide with my website update. New photos, new design, new features. At the time, many photography related things were in the works, and I pictured everything neatly coming together at one point in time, and my new blog summing it all up. But as is more in keeping with my life's pace, there have been a few delays, a few successes and so far, no website update. I decided that I could either continue to wait, or start the blog. So here it is. water-blogged ... as in a blog about a lot of time in the water.