Angling Up: The Surface Beckons
Contributors' Picks from Around the WorldPublished in X-Ray Magazine
Issue 113, August 2022
Text and Photos by Michael Rothschild
As much as divers love being underwater, we are air-breathing mammals. No matter how skilled, trained and technically equipped we may be, sooner or later, the surface beckons. It is at the back of our minds as we start our dive, but as time goes on, as tank pressure drops and as nitrogen accumulates, the drive to pierce that shining ceiling becomes stronger and stronger, until it can be resisted no more. So, it seems natural that the surface is the subject of many of my favorite photographs. All of these images—like most shot at this angle—incorporate Snell’s window to frame the subject.
The first image (Photo 1) is of my dive buddy on a surface interval. I love her expression and her hand gesture. I also like the balance of the strobe on her face against the sunball, with a few moon jellies to break up the green backdrop.
The second image (Photo 2) is of a divemaster at the end of a safety stop. Both his smile and his body language suggest the joy of diving. And like the first image, it is driven by a diver’s face with no regulator to hide that grin.
The third image (Photo 3) is of a tank of oxygen suspended from a dive boat at Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon in Micronesia. The lines in this photo are strong elements, radiating outwards from the sunball along with the rays of light, including the equipment lines, ladder and anchor line. You can imagine what a welcome sight this is to a diver running low on deco gas.
The fourth image (Photo 4) is of “the prettiest junkyard in the world”— the harbor of the town of Dildo, in Newfoundland, Canada. The waters here are stunningly clear, letting one to easily see the thousands of bottles and other debris that cover the floor of this cove.
The first image (Photo 1) is of my dive buddy on a surface interval. I love her expression and her hand gesture. I also like the balance of the strobe on her face against the sunball, with a few moon jellies to break up the green backdrop.
The second image (Photo 2) is of a divemaster at the end of a safety stop. Both his smile and his body language suggest the joy of diving. And like the first image, it is driven by a diver’s face with no regulator to hide that grin.
The third image (Photo 3) is of a tank of oxygen suspended from a dive boat at Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon in Micronesia. The lines in this photo are strong elements, radiating outwards from the sunball along with the rays of light, including the equipment lines, ladder and anchor line. You can imagine what a welcome sight this is to a diver running low on deco gas.
The fourth image (Photo 4) is of “the prettiest junkyard in the world”— the harbor of the town of Dildo, in Newfoundland, Canada. The waters here are stunningly clear, letting one to easily see the thousands of bottles and other debris that cover the floor of this cove.
