That ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME picture

[Buddy Thomason]

Great pictures!
David, I particularly like your second shot (camels). A good photograph has to evoke something in the viewer and that one certainly does.
I haven't yet had the opportunity for what I think of as the shot of a lifetime, but I'm ready. In the meantime here are two images that evoke thoughts and feelings in me. They are not great photographs but they are personal favorites of mine.
This image of the full moon rising is as powerful and mysterious as any I have seen. There is also an optical illusion at work, which I will leave you to figure out. This picture had such an effect on me that I named my small photography business FULL MOON PHOTOGRAPHY and I use the image on my card.


This second image never fails to stir me, though it is a common sight on the South Carolina coast. To me, this is what it must be like to fly, not high - but low, riding the the lip of the surf, close enough to catch some splash, perfect in the wind.

that moon shot is incredible! Now on ye olde desktop.

[Bob Betzner]

I only just happened across these old photos that I took in 1981. I always loved how the seagull, as an image of tranquility, happened into the shot of such drama, with the sail flailing away in the wind. Fog had enveloped the area and visibility was 25 ft until the choppers came in and whipped it up. Two tugs sunk trying to get her out - and she washed out.

Oh, the bald guy is me, circa 1981, with my younger brother.

EDIT: As I recall, I owned a Canon AE-1 when I took this pictures. It was set on auto

[Jim Cooper]

Exceptional shots. All of them.

I have a couple that come immediately to mind as I thought of this. My other life (rowing) is filled with visuals. This was taken last May, as I stuffed a digicam in my long sweatpants pocket as I rowed in an eight. We had just finished a piece and were turning around to head back into the harbor. I stopped rowing, grabbed the camera, and let the others in my boat keep it spinning as I saw this opportunity coming. (You can see our turning puddles in the foreground.)



(Canon 850IS set on auto) This is actually a women's 2-person boat. So inline you can hardly tell.

It's not once in a lifetime, it's only one stroke of 600 in a 3-mile race. But in a sport of precision it's a great example. (Unknown crew at the Head of the Charles in Boston)



Lastly, as Dr. Darom is inclined to agree, you can't TAKE a lousy shot of a happy kid. This one always makes me smile because I threw out all the conventions and simply snapped the shutter as my son bowled me over.



(Also: Rule of three's.... )

Thanks. Looking forward to more.

Coop

[Kevin Jones]

I'm really enjoying these non-knife photos.
Please keep them coming.

[David Darom]

Okay Kevin.
As several sunsets have been posted here, this is one more
but of a terrifying adventure type...

First some basic physics:
When light hits the surface of water at a low angle, most of it is reflected
back and very little penetrates.
In the sea, with a setting sun, it is therefore already dark underwater
(sunlight does not penetrate), even though there is quite a lot of light
above the water...

Understanding the above, here is one of many adventures I had during
my over 2,000 scuba dives in the Red Sea, and also I consider it as one
of several ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME pictures out of many tens of thousands
that I shot over the years. This picture is from 1974...

Emerging from a late afternoon dive, I was standing in waist-deep water
on the way to the beach. A splash attracted my attention as a shark's fin
sliced through the water between me and the beach.
Knowing that if I put my head u/w I shall be in near darkness, I stood still,
took this picture (the last one on the roll) and watched the shark continue
away from me, chasing a group of fish.... It all lasted about 5 seconds...

I used a wide angle lens so things were really much closer then what they
seem in the picture, and I leave it to your imagination as to what went
through my mind during those rather long 5 seconds.


All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

[Buddy Thomason]

Great spur of the moment capture, David. I too have unexpectedly encountered a shark in waist-deep water - South Carolina coast, the fall of 1978. I was ignorant and everything was against me. It was dusk, it was fall and the Bluefish were starting their run up and down the coast, the tide was coming in and a storm at sea was blowing the water and everything in it my way (hey, that's why I was out in it - the body surfing was as good as it ever gets in that location - very exciting). At 28 years of age I was a young lion and believed nothing could hurt me.

A surreal moment ensued and it seemed like time stopped. I saw the long dark shadow in green murky water no more than 10 feet from me, moving slowly, dorsal fin in full view. We were both parallel to the shore about 40 yards out in the water. I froze. The shark swam away and I got back to shore as fast as possible. My adrenal glands had squeezed out an inordinate amount of adrenaline in response to the threat and about 90 seconds later I suddenly became weak and dizzy - had to sit down in the sand for a while.

As with you, David, it all happened quickly. Though I was never in doubt about what I'd seen and experienced, friends later asked me how did I really know it was a shark and not, for example, an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin or a large Loggerhead Sea Turtle - maybe even a Manta Ray - all possibilities for sure. The real reason I knew was the tip of that dorsal fin was very ragged, from the shark aggressively scrapping for food in all sorts tight spots. That's the lasting image I have - that ragged dorsal fin and under it an ominous dark shadow in the green murky water at dusk - very close - way too close. I could not have made up that ragged fin tip. If my mind was filling in blanks with it's best guess, as sometimes happens, the fin would've been clean like every picture, film, video etc. I'd ever seen. Even in real life I've never seen a dorsal fin with a ragged tip like that - but I immediately knew its meaning. Everything about the situation screamed shark. Yet the image of that ragged fin summed up the whole frightening experience. I stood no chance against such a creature.

Thanks for sharing the picture and story, David. Turns out we're both members of a fairly small club.

[David Darom]

Hello Buddy,
It is an experience to remember, isn't it?
Sharks are so amazing when viewed swimming underwater. And the adrenalin
does pump through ones body - sometimes nearly out of control...

I did a book on the sharks of the red sea and Eastern Mediterranean, and got
to photograph quite a few of them in the Red Sea.

The cover picture of the book was of a 2 meter black-tip shark that surprised me
on one of my dives. I swerved towards it and while it was zooming past me I
managed to get this great picture... I was always good at composing my pictures
even if it was a reflex act when there is less than a second to think... But here I think
that I was probably also very lucky with this shot

It all happened a few meters beyond the reef's edge, where the sea bottom drops
straight down to 100 meters, and about 30 meters from the shore...
Here there was no time for excitement as the whole event ended almost as fast
as it started. The only excitement was the fact that I got to take a picture and the
troubling question was did I get a good one in the fraction of time before this
beautiful fish was gone... It was after all 1974...


One of our major finds was actually on land, and about 2400 feet above sea level.
it was a beautiful fossilized imprint of a small shark 150,000,000 years old!!!

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

[Buddy Thomason]

Fascinating. What an interesting career you've had! Well, as regards sharks, this is the only way I'll be getting a close up view for the rest of my life - the public aquarium. I shot this in '08 at Ripley's Sea Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - moving walkways through these plexiglass tubes. Not much excitement though, I will admit that.



I don't know about you but I look back on the stuff I did all those years ago, and frankly I'm surprised I'm still among the living. Plus, where did all that energy come from? Amazing.

[David Darom]

Originally Posted by Buddy Thomason

I don't know about you but I look back on the stuff I did all those years ago, and frankly I'm surprised I'm still among the living. Plus, where did all that energy come from? Amazing.

You said it well, Buddy. I share your feeling and so does my wife
who "picnicked" with friends on the beach while I was diving
with a partner to photograph the amazing night life on
the shark infested coral reefs....

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)