Posted by mike on August 09, 2001 at 04:39:28:
In Reply to: Re: Hypothetical question on the prop. restrictions around the Channel Is. posted by seldom seen slim on August 08, 2001 at 23:17:49:
i would say that there is more to life than sharing a good bug or calico with friends, or for that matter, even snarfing the whole thing myself (which is my usual course of action). What ever i eat, is soon forgotten, but i still look at my journals and pictures from a long ago trip to the Galapagos and say "geez, that is unfriggin believable..i can't believe i saw/did that..what an awesome trip..time to buy some more airplane tickets"! I hardly ever enter the water anywhere on the planet without hunting for something. Sometimes i hunt with a camera, sometimes its a pole spear or gun, sometimes its just a good pair of gloves, 3 1/4 inch gauge and a mesh bag. If i can't hunt for food, i hunt for photographs. Of course my vacation pictures are not of the top of the boat, nor of any of my dive buddies. No, hunting with a camera for me is about excelling at something thats difficult. Of patience, of stalking, of planning, the surge of adrenaline as i think "oh please little fishie, don't move"..."turn sideways a little bit"..."move in front of that blue water background" of that moment of truth when that little rat-bastard fish is in focus, in the frame, angling towards the lens, in a great pose, with a great, colorful background, and the shutter release is depressed, the camera goes click, the strobe fires and i mentally scream YESSSSSSSSSS! YAH BABY! WOO WOO WOO!
and when i get the slide (i don't allow print film in the house except for copying slides) back from the developer, and it looks every bit as sharp and brilliant as i thought it would, than i again scream inside YESSSSSS! YAH BABY! WOO WOO WOO!
(of course, sometimes it turns out like crud, in which case i do what i would have done anyhow, which is to thumb through Calif Diving News and see which boat is going somewhere that interests me at my nearest or second nearest available convenience, usually that weekend)
I do the same when the legal bug lands in the bag, or the spear cleanly and instantaneously kills the calico, lingcod, or (shhhh, don't tell anyone), rockfish stone cold, through the skull. If the local diving really deteriorates or governmental action forcloses everything, i just go back to hunting 5000 & 6000 meter peaks (which, needs to be more actively pursued anyway)