getting the most from photography tradeshows
There’s a great expression in scuba diving: Plan your dive, dive your plan.
Whether you’re into scuba-diving or not, you can appreciate the challenge. You’re headed to the bottom of the ocean for a very limited time. You’ve got a tank on your back with a fixed amount of air, and how long that air lasts is totally dependent on how deep you go, together with your skill set in terms of buoyancy and breathing.
Unless you’re a complete hot dog, you’re always diving with a buddy. The two of you are a team, not only looking for things that interest you in the ocean, but watching each other’s backs and following the rules of safe diving.
If you stick to your plan, the dive has all the potential to create some great memories; but change your plan midstream, and it can become a complete waste of time. Here’s an example.
Early in my diving career, actually on one of my first dives, I decided to chase an angel fish for a picture. I was swimming with a Hasselblad H38 underwater housing, which was anything but petite and easy to maneuver. I didn’t stick with the plan, and wound up going deeper than anticipated. I was just about to run out of air when I realized the stupidity of what I’d been doing.
I came up from the dive sharing air with my buddy. No real damage done except to my ego, and I learned a lesson that I never forgot. And, oh yeah, I never did get the shot I wanted—nobody wins chasing any critter that can swim faster.
