An Afternoon with Andy Martinez
Today I had the fantastic opportunity to dive with Andy Martinez. Andy has written several books on the aquatic life of the Nor’East waters and is an incredibly talented photographer — it was an absolute pleasure to work with him. We met at Folly Cove in Rockport, Massachusetts, one of my favorite shore dives and the site of one of my first open water dives. After chatting for a while and formulating a dive plan, we headed in. We’d timed the tides properly, so getting in was an absolute breeze. Once under, we followed the left side of Folly (facing out to sea). At first it was just a few crabs and sea grass, but then a horseshoe crab came into view; my first time seeing one underwater, so I jumped right on setting up my lighting.
I’m trying to step up my color photography game, and proper lighting on your subject is critical, especially in New England, where anything unlit just reads as bright green. During my internship, Backscatter was kind enough to lend me two Backscatter Atom flashes — hybrids that work as both flashes and video lights. Flashes are infinitely brighter than video lights because they release a lot of power at once, rather than letting out a smaller amount over a longer stretch of time.
That’s the real difference: reach versus intensity, and it means more of your shot gets lit and filled with light. I’ve also been shooting exclusively in manual, trying to be more purposeful controlling everything I can in camera: aperture, ISO, exposure, shutter speed, the whole nine. It pushes me to understand what each of these elements does on its own and how they work together to nail an exposure. My hope is that it makes me more creative down the line.
As we made our way back, the visibility opened up and light started pouring down through the water column — one of those stretches where Folly really shows off. A few schools of small fish drifted past, catching the light and scattering it every time they turned. It was in that light that we got lucky and found a lady crab, my first time ever seeing one. We spent a good while trying to work her — chasing lighting angles, waiting for her to hold still for even a second. Lady crabs move fast, and getting a clean shot took some patience, but between the light and the visibility, it was one of the more rewarding photo challenges of the dive.
Andy and I made our way back to shore — this ended up being the longest dive I’ve ever done, clocking in at an hour and five minutes. I’m glad we got so much time in the water. Working with Andy was really great, and I’m thankful we got the opportunity to dive together. Post-dive, we stopped for lunch at Lanes Cove. It was absolutely perfect weather for the outing, and I’m glad I got to share a beautiful day with such a fantastic mentor.
