I recently came across the term "chimping". For
those of you who have never heard this term, do some online searches,
it is quite amusing.
Basically, chimping is a somewhat derogatory
term about digital photographers who check their LCD screens.
There are exceptions of course, but essentially the term describes
the 'ooing and ahhing' over photos on the back of the camera.
For example, I take a shot, and say to my friend "hey, hey, check out this
shot". And the two of us go "Ooh, ahh" when we look at the LCD
screen. We are making sounds not unlike a chimpanzee, and are 'chimping'.
There's more to it, but the above explanation shall suffice for this write-up.
Anyway,
back in September 2008, I was doing some serious chimping after a SCUBA dive
down in the Channel Islands off of southern California. I was showing people
my photos from the dive while the camera housing was still dripping wet. At the
time, my housing had a sticky control, the control that scrolls through the images
on the screen, seriously affecting my chimping.
I unlatched my camera housing to relieve the sticky control, and thus breaking
the watertight seal around my camera.
I proceeded to walk over to the rinse bucket and dunk my opened housing into
three feet of fresh water. The massive amount of bubbles erupting from my rig
came as quite a shock. I distinctly remember thinking "why are there bubbles
coming out of my camera housing?". I then remember thinking "WHO CARES
WHY, TAKE IT OUT!!!".
Despite all my best efforts, my camera and lens were
dead. Seven years of underwater photography under my belt, and my first major
flood was in the rinse bucket.
Total idiot maneuver on my part.
Luckily, my beloved girlfriend loaned me her camera gear for the rest of the
trip, knowing full well I would have pouted like a five year old who dropped
their ice cream cone if I couldn't take photos. She's the best, really. :)
My
first day back after the trip, I got my insurance to start the process of replacing
my gear. And while we were gone, I had received an email from the Nautilus
Explorer, a dive charter boat I've been on a couple times., The captain offered
me a trip to Guadalupe Island off Mexico for three days of shark diving...for
free!
The catch? The trip was in four days. No way the insurance is going to get
my replacement gear in four days. I had to borrow my girlfriend's rig.
This monkey
was going to photograph some sharks!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 12-24mm with B+W +2 diopter
1/160sec @ f7.1, ISO 400
Ikelite Housing and 8" Dome Port
Ikelite DS-125 Strobe on half power |
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