Early morning dive

On a recent morning dive, this morning actually, I experienced something unusual. My sinuses have been acting up, but that's mostly because I haven't been diving in a few weeks. At least not in the volume before now.

The short sightedness of local management has "blessed" me with being in charge of my own scuba shop temporarily. It's really cramping my style.

I can't really teach because I work in the shop on the weekends, and most people plan to dive at this time, because they work during the week, when I'm off. So I'm making due with what I can, but then a domino of 'things' keep occurring; pools closed, another pool manager is a jerk, people can't drive that far, people don't have cars, people don't care...

Regardless, I still have to get in the water. Did a shallow exploratory dive a few days ago, and the sinuses acted up a little. Today, I could 'feel' bubbles moving through. A little blockage now, and kinda sore. I'm also tired.

Rest is not on the menu however, as this morning it was 0500 and driving to dive in the water; after the dive, rush off and go open the store. (Timing was good though, so now I think I can do this again, and again, and again...)

I love early morning time. I'm one of those sick morning people. I remember being awake before the whole house when I was a kid, eating cereal and watching cartoons, sometimes out in the woods before the house is up. Now I drink coffee and go diving with my best dive buddy in the world. (Sorry, a little sappy, but still.)

Mr. 328359

Took a different angle on things today. There's tons of plankton and small fish right now, everyone  is complaining about visibility, not realizing that right now it's food they see for all the sea life they get to enjoy.

Anyway, below are some pictures of our dive buddies from this morning, I really missed them and was happy to see so many friends around. Took some liberty with creativity today as well, not something I commonly do. Hope you enjoy.

Reflections on Teaching

There are many ways to teach people. I take the approach of; show you, show me, do one, teach one, teach me, and again, and again....now theoreticals. I like to have people think, this is when the learning imprinting takes place in my experience. You've got a foundation, now you've got a structure, a context to apply it to if you will, as you work within these confines, you see who looks outside the box, and who just accepts it.

An out of the box thinker is what I have been labeled. I enjoy the label as it gives me liberty to say things out of the ordinary, or that others are not willing to say. It also lets me present some of the more outlandish ideas, expecting to be able to settle on a middle ground, or be pleased and get the idea to go forward.

The type of training I went through for the last few weeks was as usual, but so laissez-faire as to be....weird. Structure is what I'm accustomed to, however I function very well without it. There was structure, but it was at the whims of the weather and fatigue of the participants.

I got to see how my way of doing things is better and worse than others. Positive and negative feedback was given in proper proportions, and real learning occurred.

Scuba Instructor training is not like any other type of training. There is a specific formula to teaching people to scuba dive...but you can move various parts of the formula around to suit the student, the instructor, or the circumstances, but you still must maintain a particular order, and building process. There must be the foundation before the other components, otherwise you're set for failure.

It takes special people to do this, and while it might seem like the dream job, it's still a job; I's have to be dotted, and T's crossed; missing any could lead to the end of a beautiful career, being too cavalier and overly-confident can be your demise.

I was going through the Instructor Development Instructor Trainer portion of the courses. The step you take before Master Instructor, and then Course Director. Our joke in my house was that we had no idea what I would do with 'my second life' when we moved. Looks like it found me instead!!

No matter how hard I try to go back to what I did before here, it doesn't work out for me. Resume after resume, application after application - nothing. Yet scuba keeps coming and coming, dragging me along to sights unseen and depths other never consider. Without realizing it I've dove 10 or 12 times in a week and not all of them are teaching, there's fun in there too.

I do truly love watching when people 'get it'. The satisfaction of seeing someone's world change for the better is worth the tired days, sunburns and little food when you forget to pack a lunch.

Well, it looks like more diving in my future, and if things keep going well, more research too. There's a beautiful world out there that most people only capture as a background for their beach photos, or the baseline for a sunset. I intend to bring as much of that world to view as possible. Let's see what we can see.

This way, please, Sir.

Leave only bubbles!!

Back-up: The Great Photo Loss of 2013

If you're reading this, all I can say is BACK-UP your stuff.

There's a sinking feeling you get when you realize a mistake has been made, but it goes deeper when you realize there's nothing you can do.

Except with MORE technology. I was in the process of transferring 'older' photos from one drive to another. No big deal, been done hundreds of times. Formatted the new drive, set it up and everything was ready to go.

I select the stuff to send over so I can back it up.
I send it.

disk drive: Wow, that's alot of stuff.
Estimated time: 1 hour 45 minutes
disk drive: To much....can't....stuff...it.....take...
Writing

Cool, I'll make some coffee and head to work, leaving the computer to 'do it's thing'.

computer: Take it! It's data, you're ready for this!!
disk drive: No...to much...so fast...trying...

Go about my day, come back, no errors or anything on the computer. GREAT!! now I have more space on the first drive to work with and won't lose everything, and I just happen to have a couple hundred MORE photos...soooo.....

1st disk drive: heh, heh

Take more photos, load more photos, go about my business for a few days, staying busy with projects. Finally get some time and want to show my wife some of the old photos so we can reminisce...wait, I thought I put it here...

disk drive: Files? Hmmm...no...I don't remember any of those....
computer: Yes you do, the shortcut says it's right here. Look, there's even a few bytes left, you can't say it's not here.
1st disk drive: Whistling looking away.
disk drive: No, I distinctly recall not having them here.

Now, I thought I put them here. Let me check the other hard drive...not there...(sinking)...hmmm

1st disk drive: Huh? Wha? No buddy, nothing here to see, move along.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Ok. Remain calm. Data in - data out. If I haven't done to much work since the initial transfer...well, it has been a week, and I have been working on timelapse projects...That's only 2000+ more photos...and there was that night shoot...

Gone. Nothing there to find.

So, expert time!! Wait, that was supposed to be me. Wife's solution, buy a computer and drive just for photography. Awesome idea, except I barely make enough to contribute to the house account, and I'm not making any money on the photography yet. Oh, and the material I was using for the book, that's gone now.

See, this is when ADHD is a curse. Projects were in various stages of creation, even now I just realized that some of my video projects were in the transfer... (further sinking).

Ok, enough, back to expert time. Hello internet!!

Found a couple of programs:
First: Undelete Plus - all it did was give me a report of what is recoverable. For $40 it can recover it, maybe.
Second: PC Inspector File Recovery - wouldn't work. Period. Would scan, then close. Scan, then close. Scan...
Third: Restoration - This file appears malicious... I've already got enough problems, sorry....
Fourth: Piriform Recuva - Scan and...wait....hey look, some of my files!!
Finally: Mini-tool was the best recover program I found, even though the primary scan took....TWO DAYS!!

1st disk drive: Hey, that tickles.
disk drive: whoa, what's that noise?
computer: Told you guys, he built it, he fixes it.
1st disk drive: giggle...make it stop...giggle

First scan was mostly successful, unfortunately many of them had already been overwritten. So, gone, forever.

But wait, there's a 'deep scan' option. This brings images of comatose people and zombie-like stares to mind. What the hell, let's give it a try, I've already recovered 3000+ photos...

09Mar2013: I held off on publishing this as I kept running scans and did an audit on how it all went down. Long story short, back your stuff up. I ended up with 30,000+ photos recovered; estimated loss of 100,000+ and videos. By the time I got to the two day scan, I had some recovered, but the last scan, taking two days, was the most fruitful.

Make sure you back up, and if you are going to backup a drive to do a hardware refresh...back up in parts and pieces, don't try to be overly efficient like I did.

Negligent posting, or just busy?

I missed last weeks post, so I'm trying to get a jump start by writing first, then adding photos so we'll see how this goes.

Firstly, HOLY COW!! I've shot over a thousand photos (yes, 1000+) in the past week. I think the camera is protesting as now it has dust on the mirror, but I'm also hard on things, so who knows for sure. Going the next day or so to get a cleaner for the mirror artifacts, which only show up on long exposure.

10sec exposure showing artifacts

Leather Base in Depot Island

During all the shooting this past week, had to pamper the camera so I bought a custom strap for it. There's a little shop in Mihama (American Village = tourist trap) where you can get all kinds of things made from leather (Leather Base). I was originally hoping they could make a protective case for my camera, but they don't have the tools. So, just the strap please. Turned out pretty nice and is very comfy. Besides, can't go wrong with handmade leather!!



There was a Cherry Blossom Festival in Nago (sakura no hana) , and a Sunflower Festival (himawari) near where I work (shot that for about three days!!)



I'm tired of flowers. Now I know why other photographers despise flowers. There's only so much you can do, and they don't really do anything. With this in mind, I took this photo (insert faded beauty). Maybe I'll start shooting flowers in 'repose'.


Of course I say this as the azalea festival gets ready to start...




Got back to shooting in the water. I've been in the water this whole time, but mainly teaching and I don't take a camera or anything as it is distracting to the students and Divemasters. Students can have cameras, but only on their last dive and only after any left over skills have been completed.

Slight increase in number of nudibranchs in the area. Robert THE Divemaster has a identification goal for the little sea slugs and with me looking for sponge, lets just say there's going to be plenty of slow, photographic dives.


Expanded my training abilities and added Search and Recovery Specialty Instructor and Underwater Photographer Instructor to my repertoire. Obviously I'll be adding more as the money comes in, but that's slow coming here. I'll keep working at teaching scuba and doing photography. Looking at doing stock photos to make a little side cash, and maybe revisit some online consulting I used to do.

Exploring time lapse photography over the next month or so, so there will be videos eventually. More planning and gear involved here, and the spending of money of course. I'm going to try and DIY most of it, but motors are complicated, so I'll get off the shelf for that.

Well, back to more photos!!

Graffiti or Street Art?

Okinawa is quite beautiful this time of year...or everyday for that matter. And there's one thing that stands out, the street art or graffiti. Whichever, regardless I'll be doing a series on these and have a master portfolio on http://flic.kr/ps/8J1JU as I build a library, so be sure to view the set once you find it up.

Graffiti - writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.    As per the online Oxford Dictionary. There seems to be a distinct line drawn between Street Art and Graffiti, with Street Art as everything else BUT graffiti, but once you see some of these, how are they not art?

There's obviously talent, composition, a statement being made.

I will shoot as much as I can, geotagging while I'm at it. There are a few obvious artists around the island that have made their mark.

So, the debate is over art? or not? Some are primitive while others are incredibly elaborate, and placement based on seclusion or high-traffic. The time and effort put into these is stunning for some of the ones I have coming up, so stay tuned!

Oh yeah, and if you see this:

Pterois sp. (Lionfish)

DON'T touch!!

Pick up your trash, and leave bubbles!!

Kin Red Diving

So I spent most of the morning today identifying marine animals from a photo shoot Robert L and I did on Sunday. Pretty interesting dive site, only the third time I've been there, but I have to say a dream for a photographer.

Left side

Right side

Buoyancy is key in this area

The area has a nice entry point with easy access, and isn't to deep either (10m/30ft). However, be
forewarned, the bottom is VERY silty. You so much as look at the bottom and you can destroy visibility. There is no current to speak of, so if you do muck it up, you either have to move on or give up on making a shot. Don't be 'that diver' if you go there, especially if there are local photographers there, you'll be sure not make any friends.

Robert and I saw Thor amboinensis and Holothuria turriscelsa as well as some beautiful sponge formations (my specialty) and a couple of nudibranchs, with Blue Dragon (Pteraeolidia ianthina) being a regular show for the day.

Watch out for fishermen,

The structures to the right (pylons) are the primary place to go for shooting but you have to watch out for fishermen. Most of the shots were in the shallower area (3m/15ft). This is also an area that can't handle to many divers at one time, so if it looks busy, you're probably best going somewhere else, especially since visibility is a primary concern here.

Keep in mind when you dive sites like this, if it's a primarily local dive spot, be courteous. Park properly, don't be loud, pick up your trash. Robert and I picked up trash while we were there, even though it wasn't ours, it doesn't matter if it's yours or theirs, pick some up. Help Ty's environment!!

As always, leave only bubbles, take out the trash, and I'll see you below.