Day 3

Continuing in our theme of ambient light photography, we headed over to the iconic Pit in the Dos Ojos system. If you haven’t heard of it, uniquely for the area, this is a vertical shaft, that is deep, and at the right time of day and season, produces amazing light beams. It is huge and contains a somewhat wispy layer of hydrogen sulfide, which looks similar to a cloud at its base.

Natalie provided a thorough site briefing, and Tom gave the team detailed pointers on how best to exploit the site photographically. Unfortunately, while gearing up, I tore the neck of my drysuit, which relegated me to the reserve’s bench for the day.

The participants dived under the watchful eyes of Natalie and Tom, with Arya and Lilia providing additional supervision and acting as models when required, along with Beto who ensured that everything ran smoothly topside.

I think it is fair to say that they found the shooting and diving conditions challenging, but were able to get some good images.

One of the advantages of workshops is the informal sharing of information on techniques and trips.

The second dive had better light rays and everyone had an opportunity to understand how the site worked and how to best get great images there.

After diving, we had a late lunch and headed back to the house. They then selected images taken during the day, for inclusion in the evening’s image review. Tom and Adam then chatted through the nuts and bolts of image composition in the cenotes, including how to select and light subjects and to avoid distractions in the frame that detract from the image’s power.

After dinner, we reviewed their images and it was amazing to see such a great body of work. Lots of constructive criticism, with the goal of helping them to improve their image-making skills. Here are their images from the review:

Days 1& 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7