New "toys"

I'm excited to share with you my most recent addition to my equipment bag: an underwater housing set-up! I haven't taken it the drink yet, but can't wait to try it! Those who know me, know how thorough of a shopper I am, and the housing purchase was under no less scrutiny. Thanks to my friends and family for being patient and great sounding boards! Features, price, accessibility, and other options were all considered sensibly. I literally have spent months weighing my options carefully and recently came to a conclusion...



Haha! No, that's not it! That's my old housing for my Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot. It was on a recent honeymoon shoot with that gear that I really fell in love with underwater photography.

Here's a very brief theory and review that I hope will help some of you other topside photographers in making a housing choice. In years past, I would buy an underwater film-based disposable camera, and that was cool, but pretty limiting. The Panasonic FX-30 I have did a great job for its cost and size... it was the world's smallest 28mm point-and-shoot and about $350 when it was new, plus about another $300 for the housing. Being used to a professional-level camera topside, I quickly became annoyed with the limitations and shutter lag of the point-and-shoot underwater, despite it being way better than a disposable. When I decided I wanted to house a dslr, I had a lot of options. Housings for my D3 however cost about $7000-8000, not including a lens port (which you need to house the lens). Also, in the unlikely event of a housing flood, I didn't want to drown a five thousand dollar camera. So, I bought a D300 and decided on a Sea & Sea MDX-D300 housing. The housing was not cheap, but is a very good value when you consider its superior engineering, build materials, and quality craftsmanship. Unlike its polycarbonate counterparts, the MDX-D300 is machined out of a solid block of aluminum. I also considered Subal, Aquatica, Ikelite, and Seatool. Backscatter has good resources, as do many of the underwater photography forums, like Wetpixel.





There are two basic types of underwater photography, I've learned: macro and wide angle. Telephoto lenses are impractical due to the inherent characteristics of shooting in water and the intense fall-off of light. For my first trip with the new gear (another honeymoon shoot coming up at the end of this month in St. Thomas), I decided to start with wide angle. I chose this primarily because of my subjects... in this case, a recently-married couple. For this, I bought a 9.5" dome port to house my 12-24mm lens and my 10.5mm fisheye. So, I hope to test it out not only recreationally, but also with my clients. They're both swimmers, so I'm sure they'll be very comfortable in the water.

Here is the port attached to the housing, next to the 10.5mm for scale. It's gonna make packing interesting!


For light, I opted for the Sea & Sea YS-250, considered the flagship of their strobe line, it should do nicely. It's kinda big too... here it is compared to my Nikon SB-900 and the SB-800.





Here's the set-up:


And the housing alone, compared to the D300 and the D3 for scale:


So, even though I'll be quite out of my element with this gear underwater, I have a great enthusiasm for it and am very excited to try it out soon!! I'll be sure to post photos as soon as I have them ready!

Amy and Michael

Jill and I have such a great time keeping in touch with many of our clients, but we're both especially glad to know Amy and Michael. We developed a special bond with them and have become good friends after their wedding as Jill and I both were fortunate enough to have been invited with them to cover their honeymoon in Kauai. Their Biltmore Estate wedding was spectacular, and was planned to a tee by the fabulous Tara. The Bloom Room did the amazing flowers... and you might catch a glimpse of Paul from Four Seasons Films in one of the shots... they make such a great team. I'm privileged to work with them all! Here are a few of my favorite images from the wedding and honeymoon...

And here's a little slideshow for you guys. Thanks for being so great.

Here's what Amy and Michael had to say about their experience...

Corey’s photography is simply exceptional. My husband I made the decision to invest in the highest quality photography for our wedding and we are so glad! Although we knew we were working with the best in the market, the images from our wedding managed to completely exceed our expectations. Our family and friends continue to rave about the photographs even months after the wedding. Corey’s photography truly is a work of art and we highly recommend him.

One afternoon, a few months before our wedding, my husband made a suggestion to me that we plan to bring our photographer, Corey McNabb, on our honeymoon to Hawaii. Aside from what I felt would be prohibitively complicated travel arrangements and cost, I had simply never heard of such a thing. I thought surely my husband had just lost perspective on the wedding planning, but he continued to persevere and eventually sold me on the concept. Little did I know that this decision would turn an already fantastic honeymoon vacation into the experience of a lifetime! Corey and his wonderful wife, Jill, joined us on the second week of our honeymoon in Kauai. They handled all of the travel logistics with ease and worked graciously within our schedule, completely respecting our privacy. The time spent with Corey and Jill truly ended up being the highlight of our trip! We had photo shoots with them on secret beaches, remote jungle trails, in and around ancient lava caves and at a historic Hawaiian chapel. The photography from these photo shoots is exquisite beyond what I ever could have imagined and I love that we have memorialized forever the uniqueness of this experience through the images captured. Working with Corey and Jill, my husband and I felt like movie stars and the photo shoots enabled us to continue enjoying the wedding day experience, but in a relaxed, comfortable, stress-free andbeautiful environment. For anyone who has thought having your photographer accompany you on your honeymoon is a bit odd, think again. Capturing this incredible time of your life through the eyes of an artist like Corey will be an experience you will never forget.

Corey

Hawaii bound...

I'll be posting a few images of some of my recent weddings, bridal sessions, and engagements, including some fun ones we did in Chicago, in the coming days once I get settled into our hotel. We're on our way to Kauai for some honeymoon coverage for Amy and Mike who were married at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville this past Sunday. Here's one quick image of the fun-loving couple that I grabbed on the Estate after their wedding.... more to come soon!