In Reply to: One last thought posted by Elaine on June 22, 2006 at 00:53:35:

Hi Elaine,

Helium is a photographer's best friend, especially on a challenging dive. The dumbest things I've ever done diving were when I was distracted by picture taking. If you don't have the right mix this just gets worse and worse as you get deeper. Also besides just the safety issues you're going to take better pictures if you are clear headed.

As far as solo diving I've found I'm much more productive if I'm diving as part of a team. This doesn't have to be a one-sided thing with the extra-cool photographer and his/her camera sherpa. Your buddy can act as a model, look for new subjects and for a dive like Osborne Banks, get in your face and tell you "forget the stupid picture - our bottom time is up and we need to leave now!" All useful things. I've actually found that some of my best photography dives are where my buddy has the camera with the macro lens and I look for nudibranchs (my core competency).

$.02

Clinton