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		UWphotoNewbie: Underwater Photography
		About Me: I’ve been snorkeling ever since I learned to swim. As a child I could easily spend whole days with my head underwater looking for shells in the surf or watching fish on a reef. Not much has changed. As a natural swimmer and outdoor enthusiast, it was only a matter of time before I took up diving. Photography seemed like the natural progression of the sport. In 2001 I bought a small pocket digital camera. A cheap housing was available so I went for it thinking all I wanted to do with it was take pictures while ice climbing or skiing and maybe even snorkeling as well. From the first time I took it snorkeling it was much more fun than I bargained for. I brought it on my first dive I was hooked. Through diving I have developed a true appreciation for the art of photography and have brought my family to many beautiful beaches. This “cheap” housing has grown into a very expensive hobby--like I needed another one!
	Last updated: 10/21/05	Current Travel and Projects: I am currently in the process of getting this site updated. This page is just the framework of what will be here eventually   I’m headed to Turks and Caicos in November 2005. I plan to put into practice many new concepts and ideas as well as test some new equipment: new Ikelite D70 iTTL housing upgrade and dual sync cord, 105mm Nikkor with custom Ikelite port for Nikon 4T diopter, and Ikelite mini-C lite focus light.
		Community: I am a member of CUPS the Colorado Underwater Photographic Society   I also participate regularly on the wetpixel forums—an excellent place to share photos, exchange ideas, research equipment, and learn about photography, diving and image processing.
		Instruction: I took a short course through Cathy Church’s photo center on Grand Cayman in 2002. I was diving with a brand new system a Canon Digital Elph S300 in a simple Canon housing and a New Ikelite DS-125 strobe with a Digital TTL sensor. The strobe wasn’t syncing and I didn’t know why. Cathy made herself available that very afternoon and read-up on the system to help me. Her and her assistant spent the afternoon debugging my system and got it working. After a short 1-tank intro dive I was off taking underwater photos 100% improved from before. http://www.cathychurch.com/ I took a short PADI specialty course as part of my Advanced Diver Certification in Underwater photography through the LDS in Boulder Scuba Joe. It’s a good basic course that all photographers should take. It primarily covers camera care and the basics of exposure, DOF, and shutter speeds. The course was a good refresher but it is very sparse in terms of technique. I did my Advanced Openwater training in Key Largo on a dive trip with Scuba Joe. Since then, most of my additional training has been self-taught through books and online reading. Both wetpixel and digitaldiver are excellent for this. The best book in my opinion is Martin Edge’s “The Underwater Photographer” . Jim Church’s “Essential Guide to Composition” is a timeless classic that is still very relevant in the digital age. Underwater Photography Magazine is the best printed journal on the subject—better yet its free online too!
		Contact Me: Email: Chrismzeller@comcast.net My Homepage: http://home.comcast.net/~chrismzeller/
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Copyright: Please feel free to use any of this site’s format or written content in order to share your knowledge of this sport with the world. Please do not use any of the photos on this site in any way without written consent from the author: Chris Zeller