Phoblography 11/28/2009
I never would have imagined myself blogging photography or any other topic for that matter. Too much time on the computer is a bad thing. Life is a visual feast and there’s just too much to see and do in this world to spend it sitting in front of a screen. I am at odds with myself needing to spend more time underwater yet also needing to publish and keep a day job to stay alive. It’s a balancing act. • So here I sit at my computer wondering if anybody would actually want to read this self-centered blather about how cool it is to shoot film underwater, it’s mostly ego stoking stuff. But here it comes! • • • • • • Most of my old dive partners have failed me in some very important ways over the years and I’ve had more than enough of the nonsense that goes on within some of the local dive clubs. Finding competent, reliable and available dive partners has always been difficult. • I’m not much into shore diving anymore, I don’t own a boat and charter diving is expensive so if you have a boat and would love to help support a struggling artist, take me along! I make an excellent tour guide and I can take you to some awesome locations. • • • • • • This is my first website since I took down my personal website in 2002. At that time I was still supporting a family, money was very tight as always and I didn’t have any products to sell so I decided not to spend money on a commercial website. • I had just settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against The North Shore Frogmen, a local scuba diving club that I alleged had published pages from my book, Diving Cape Ann, on their website without attribution to and permission from me. The terms of the settlement agreement prevent me from saying anything further but that much is a matter of public record. • It seemed to me then as it does now that there are a lot of people out there in cyberspace who think that the world wide web is a cosmic free for all, that all content is up for grabs and copyright laws don’t apply. • There also seems to be a growing level of anti-social behavior and attitudes among our society in general. Civility has taken a beating in a world where people can cowardly spew their vitriol at individuals without fear while hiding behind the anonymity of the internet. I digress. • • • • • • My photographic specialty is underwater. By far, I have devoted more film to the undersea world than the topside world. But I will be including galleries of all my best photographs in the months ahead both undersea and topside. • I am old enough to remember the great photographic journals of the fifties and sixties such as Life magazine. Those marvelous photojournalists could capture an entire story in a single frame and in black and white, too. They were more than just journalistic photographers, they were artists, craftsmen and artisans and my inspiration with photography came from them. • Black and white is truly the photographic artist’s medium. Color photography is more eye catching simply because it has color. It doesn’t matter if the photograph is otherwise boring, our eyes, or rather, our brains, will naturally choose color over grayscale. • Without the benefit of colorful eye candy to get attention the photographer has to concentrate on the more fundamental aspects of photography: light and shade, texture, shape, perspective, depth of field, composition, focus, exposure and subject matter. Black and white is what separates the professional from the amateur and I’m not talking about shooting in color and converting the image to grayscale. I’m talking about shooting in original black and white. • I love the printed image. Each photograph is a moment frozen in time. After nearly 500 dives and counting, the fascinating marine life and moods of New England coastal waters never cease to amaze and inspire me. It always satisfies my soul, it never disappoints. Even when the diving is bad, it’s good. • • • • • • Copyright © 2009–2011 by Liquid Space Publishing and Donald W. Whitehead. All rights reserved. 1 Comment | AuthorDonald Whitehead is a published author and underwater photographer living in Salem, Massachusetts. Donald is available at very reasonable rates for slide presentations to your club, group or organization. His audiences include both divers and the general public. ArchivesCategories |
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