A quick intro

 

Life is too short to spend it sitting under fluorescent lights peering at a computer monitor for eight hours a day. So a couple of years ago I decided to take one of the other things I was good at in my life, SCUBA diving, and combine it with my love of photography. I left my comfortable career in Information Technology and signed up for a commercial diving class, fully intent on being the next BBC underwater camera operator or filmmaker, hanging out at wherever-it-is-that-he-hangs-out with David Attenborough, and generally having a great time filming cool creatures underwater. Turns out you can't just get an occupational dive cert and apply to the BBC for a job. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

After calling and emailing as many local film contacts as I could, the general advice seemed to be that I might be able to get on a production if I volunteer my time, and that there wasn't really much going on at the moment. So I took a job seafood harvesting and tried to get out and take some photographs as often as possible. 

I got a video rig and a drone to add to my stills camera and set about trying to capture as much of the underwater environment as I could. Unfortunately, a small Instagram account and a fledgling YouTube account does not attract the attention of, well, anyone really. 

I signed myself up for a cinematography workshop with Liquid Motion Academy, as well as a couple of photography workshops, and decided to set up this blog page to document my attempts to establish myself as a professional underwater wildlife cinematographer. My hope is that it will inspire other folks to get out with a camera and record the world beneath the waves so it will be around for future generations to enjoy.

Fraser.