It’s not what you think. But you must admit that title got your attention. 
Applied myself to more skills build-up (yup, that’s what I’m calling these dives now) in underwater photography Sunday and had to spend a fair amount of time on my knees or flush against the sand.
Macro photography or close-up photography makes sense given where I am in my skills curve. Most macro subjects do not move a lot compared to more active marine life forms, and hence presumably, are easier to shoot. But they can be very hard to spot because in most cases they are very well camouflaged.
Divers compensate by moving as close as possible to the subjects and this could mean getting down on one’s knees, or literally dropping to the ground.
Moreover, macro subjects are mostly found in, how shall I put this, conditions that are not ideal. In fact, macro photography happens mostly and — dare I say — more successfully amid muck such that it’s not uncommon to hear divers plan to go “muck” diving. In land speak that would be the equivalent of saying to your SO “sweetie, I’m going to go to the outskirts of the dumps today to take photos.” (shaking of heads here and mutters of “…those nutty divers”)
The second dive was off Babusanta in Talicud Island, which in the afternoon often means battling the currents and diving in a soup of easily stirred silt and trash. But most times, dives there are rewarding.
The ambient light bathed the area in brownish tones and at some point I felt that it was diving in sepia. I gave up on using the strobe as flash because I still haven’t figured out how best to use it and it washed out and overexposed my shots.
In the spirit of sharing (or you can also call it making public my humiliation), here are some photos. (You can tell I’m really into this now and that I’m a newbie no? hehe)
This little ornate ghost pipefish was battling to stay close to the soft coral formation that it called home. Ghost pipefish are able to mimic very well the color of their host and it takes a good spotter to find them.
Charlie patiently waited for us to catch up so he could point out these two robust ghost pipefish. The bigger one is the female. They were openly drifting in the current and could have been easily mistaken for floating dried blades of sea grass. I wonder if they were moving to another host.
Most scorpionfish (sometimes they’re called stonefish) huddle against coral but perhaps this one opted for what was readily available and cozied up against a starfish. There was more rubble than coral in that area. Stonefish spines are nasty and can be very painful. But steamed stonefish makes a really tasty dish (grin).
Maeng found two spiny seahorses amid the rubble and their coloration made spotting them doubly difficult. Also, they were very shy. One buried its head in the algae; and the other one plainly fled and even turned its back on me. I felt like a paparazzi making a nuisance of myself trying to photograph a star. The seahorses probably felt the same way.
Over lunch, somebody remarked that frogfish (a kind of anglerfish) were hard to come by these days. (It’s been noted that it is relatively easier to find frogfish in Davao compared to other dive sites. Gerry mentioned that he saw frogfish being sold for Php150 a piece in Cartimar. Which is a total waste, I don’t think they are good aquarium fish and I haven’t heard of any frogfish dish.) So we were very elated to find this spotted warty frogfish that was about an inch and a half big (or an inch and a half small). For a frogfish, it was very active and it kept moving about on its tiny legs (yes, their fins end in what appears to be stubby digits and they’re often found resting on the two fins. So much so that to sign for frogfish, I’ve seen divers mimic a mime with two hands spread out, keeping the arms close to their chest like somebody doing “bulaga!”). But it was so tiny that I had to hug the sea floor to get a passable angle. Judging from this photo, I wasn’t very successful. That also left my knees free game for the sea urchins that had colonized the area. If you look closely, you can see the esca or lure on top of the head which they wave about simulating the movement of worms to attract fish. Much like somebody doing angler fishing (kaya nga sila tinawag na angler fish in the mistaken notion that nature imitates humans). Frogfish may seem slow compared to other fish but they sure can gobble prey in a flash.
And look, a star on a star. The photo doesn’t show it very well but there’s a tiny brittle starfish on top of this horned seastar.
My favorite shot of the day is this nondescript tube anemone being whipped by the current. If you look closely at the left side of the body you would see a very tiny white and orange-striped anemone shrimp. I know, you don’t carry magnifying lenses with you. But hey I just had to point that out.
Reviewing the shots, I realized that I had taken more photos at Babusanta than at Dizon Wall. The latter, a slope that ends in a wall, is more colorful and diverse and is a favorite snorkeling site in Talicud (the other one being Coral Garden). It does not disappoint. But sometimes I find the excess of details distracting.
The appeal of Babusanta, to me anyway, is its minimalism and the challenge of a search. Stripped of competing colors and shapes, one learns to scan but also to home in and focus; what life forms there are, at the very least, merit a cursory examination. And there is the reward of a find and being absorbed in it and by it.
I wonder if the analogy can be extended to experiences, to a life, marked by surplus to a point of excess. After some time, the eyes can glaze over at the bonanza of shapes and colors; and one can become indifferent and end up taking things for granted. But I imagine that one’s eyes would light up at a simple find after much searching. Who was it that said, “what we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly”?
Somebody remarked after seeing my cut and scratched knees and elbows after the dive that I was a bit too old to be sporting them. But – and be warned that this a bit of a jump in the narration – as I recall a number of religions entail worship that involves being prostrate — dropping to one’s knees and being on one’s elbows. So as far as paying homage to the holy in the ordinary maybe I’m not too off the mark.
But that, mon ami, is another story.
