A pair of procreating eels is more exciting to an underwater photographer with expensive equipment than top athletes battling with everything they have.
Jan Maisenbacher recently reminded me of the story of how we blame other people for not doing a job. The job, in this case, is producing better video and still photography of underwater rugby. How can we get good photography if somebody (Davrell) blames everybody else for not doing what everybody knew anybody could do but in the end nobody did?
In fact, not everybody can take good photos and videos because you have invest in expensive equipment. Skill is also necessary. Pekka Tuuri has both.
I recently published a story, utilizing two shots by photographer Pekka Tuuri. He took them when he worked at the 2017 European Championships. Reader interest in the story was low. Wanting to figure out why, I contacted Tuuri to talk about the visual impact of underwater rugby:
Question: Hi Pekka, I looked at your photos from the European Underwater Rugby Championships. Some were very nice. Good resolution. I wonder what sort of equipment you had. Did you shoot with a flash?
Answer: I use a full frame DSLR in housing. Strobes are attached to my camera with long arms. Dual strobes at full power and angled straight towards the surface to get reflected ceiling light.
Answer: I shoot everything underwater. I like variety. Underwater rugby provided that, but in the pool you can’t get close enough.
Question: Should the CMAS photo competitions include sports as a category?
Answer: Well, sports are a niche in underwater photography.
Question: Since people like looking at photos of people, why is there so little interest in underwater sports?
Answer: It really puzzles me. Most of the underwater photography is of nature. All the most well known underwater photographers are nature photographers while in land photography all of known photographers have people as their subject.
Question: What is the explanation?
Answer: Divers don’t look like humans, I guess.
Question: This is your photo, what do you think of it?
Answer: Mediocre, no faces are visible. There are no facial expressions.
Question: When they come up on land they are amazing.
Answer: Yep, that is the fundamental problem. Compare that one with this nature shot that wins hands down.
Question: Death struggle or mating?
Answer: Mating.
Question: What kind of eel is it?
Answer: They are freshwater eels, actually river lamprey.
Davrell: Thank you.
Originally posted on Davrell Tien’s page (UWRugby.org).
