The third Wetpixel/Under the Jungle Cenote Photography Workshop is underway here in the wonderful Yucatan. The participants have all arrived safely and as is now a pattern for the first day, we commenced with a thorough briefing from Under the Jungle’s Natalie Gibb, focusing on the key safety information required to dive safely and with minimal impact on the cenote environment.

We then set off to Cenote Chikin Ha for some shake-down and set up testing dives.

The cenote has some beautiful light that shines through the openings in the cave and is a great place to start getting familiar with the environment.

Natalie and Tom St George provided a site and photographic briefing and after weight checks, we set off to capture images in the cenote. The cavern line follows through a halocline and onto the open area of the cenote.

Aa is typical, there was amazing visibility!

We are operating on a 1:1 guide basis, which gives great photographic flexibility. The guides and mentors are also expert models, so they can do double duty and provide a subject in the frame. An important part of effective cenote photography is the use of models to provide a reference and scale in the frame, and communicating with the model in terms of position and pose is an important skill to master.

After lunch, we did another dive in the cenote to increase comfort and to further develop the procedures needed to dive safely and efficiently.

We then returned to base, and Tom St George and Adam discussed some ideas about the equipment setup and camera settings, along with how to customize the photographic tools for the cenote environment.

Lastly, we reviewed a selection of the participant’s images from the day, providing feedback and generating ideas for creative photography in the beautiful and unique environment. Here is a selection of the images from the image review:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6