Blogs on photographers’ web sites should probably be for the purpose of promoting our photographs.
Now that I finally have a blog, however, it seems a shame not to use it as a soap-box as well – just occasionally, of course – to shed some light on what marine photography really involves. Many people imagine that we pop out in the bay on a nice sunny day, grab a few snaps, head back ashore, plug the camera’s card into the computer and wait while the photos magically sort and index themselves before appearing on our web site a few minutes later. All we have to do then is sit back with a cup of tea and watch the orders roll in. Of course we have no overheads to worry about and we do it because we enjoy it. Being afloat is a hobby for the people we’re photographing, so it must be ours too – right?
Rather than attempt to correct all the many and varied misapprehensions in one go, let’s start gently and look at just one example of what we have to face. Anyone who owns a boat knows that boating isn’t cheap. Just before the International Paint Poole Regatta the other week, an alarm on on the RIB started beeping and flashing. The engine (a Yamaha 115, which generally runs beautifully) had only recently been serviced, so I hot-footed it to the service engineers the moment I got ashore. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, we established that the alarm was indicating water in the fuel. We checked and there wasn’t any, so it looked as though the sensor was at fault. Essentially it’s a bowl that contains the fuel tilter and a float switch – which, if water gets in, will rise, making a contact and triggering the alarm. This little piece of plastic with a cable on the end cost £175. And being told that it needed changing? Another £100. That's the way the money goes...