February 27, 2002
Watery camera work
Collins displays his underwater photographs at bookstore exhibit
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Don Collins is sharing his memories of a lifetime this month in a photographic display of underwater pictures at Borders Books and Music.
Collins talked about his adventures and techniques Saturday to a small gathering at an artist's reception, his first every professional show.
He proudly highlighted the centerpiece of his array of colorful images from tropical seas around the world: an image of a mother whale and her calf. He took this picture last November while on a trip to Tonga in the western Pacific. Tonga is probably the only place in the world where humans can approach whales, although Collins noted that when you get 10 feet away from a whale, the whale is in control.
"We jumped off the boat about 200 yards from the whales and then swam toward them," Collins noted. "I took the shot with available light while bobbing in the waves on the surface because you're not allowed to use a flash or air tanks so you don't scare the whales."
"It was the excitement of a lifetime to be next to a 60-foot creature."
A veteran diver for 25 years, Collins also spent time with some sharks on that trip, though the lighting was too dim to take any pictures. That experience is also something he will always remember, even without any images.
"I was in a cave with eight white-tipped sharks," said Collins, a cardio-vascular technician at Munson Medical Center. "The photos capture the beauty of the underwater world but it does not capture the excitement of it, like with the sharks. When you are diving you never know what you are going to see next."
Since he began taking pictures underwater five years ago, Collins has accumulated a portfolio from locales ranging from the Caribbean and San Salvador to the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands. His wife, Carolyn, is a sailor and a snorkeler and accompanies him on his adventures. In fact, she was the motivator for the trip to Tonga, which is renown as a sailing Mecca.
He and his wife are making plans for upcoming diving and photography adventures to Mexico, Belize and the Seychelles, an island in the Indian Ocean.
Collins uses a 35-mm Nikon N-90 encased in a Plexiglas housing with an underwater strobe. The camera, which weighs 20 pounds on the surface, has negligible weight under water though it does cause considerable drag when maneuvering around.
Collins has always loved diving, calling it similar to flying, and is thankful that he mastered the sport first before taking up a camera. He believes that going from diving to photography is easier than the other way around because it is more difficult for someone to learn diving than photography.
"I think almost every tropical diver is a frustrated photographer so they could share the incredible things they see," Collins said. "But it is almost an overload of equipment. To do the photography it truly is that you have to be comfortable with your diving equipment. I know what my limitations are and that makes the photographic process enjoyable for me."
Collins typically takes up to 200 photographs per trip, culling ruthlessly among the developed slides for those worthy of enlarging and framing. Usually only five percent of his images make it to this stage.
Before diving, Collins faces a major decision: macro lens or zoom. Once under water, he cannot change lenses for obvious reasons and has to flip a mental coin about which one he will need. He has become good humored over the years about the shots missed because of having the wrong lens. Other camera maintenance includes greasing the O-rings and systematically checking that everything is sealed before submerging.
However, he completes his meticulous checks with sort of a wry resignation.
"I have never flooded a camera yet but it is only a matter of time," said Collins, who has taught diving locally, although not often since he began pursuing his photographic hobby. "You take an expensive camera into salt water and it will flood eventually. You're always checking your camera when you are first submerging."