Why commercial diving?

From the moment I discovered scuba diving as a teenager, I was in love with the sport. I quickly took the route to PADI Professional and spent my first holiday from university working in a dive center in Thailand.

My studies however lead me to a career in scientific research and scuba diving took the back seat as a mere hobby.
When I decided to leave physics behind, a good 10 years later, my love for diving resurfaced and I started fantasizing about commercial diving. However, the idea seemed far fetched at the time, the course was very expensive and more importantly, I wanted to focus on developing my new career as camera operator.

Once again, the underwater world was something I would only visit in my free time.
But one will rarely see me without some sort of camera and my compulsion to take pictures is of course equally strong in the ocean.
It didn’t take long before I realized that I somehow needed to combine my hobby with my job. But being a PADI Divemaster as well as a camera operator does not equal being an underwater camera operator.
When filming documentaries, movies or commercials, as well as aid scientific research with camera systems under water, technical difficulties and health & safety requirements make a much more profound diving education necessary and required by law.

There is only one way to learn how to handle heavy equipment, communication devices, tools and all kinds of difficult or dangerous situations under water, while staying calm and doing your job: Becoming a Commercial Diver

 

When a recent camera job took me to Spain for two months, I couldn’t stay out of the water. On my few days off, the local dive center became my regular “hang-out”. One thing lead to another and the TV engagement was promptly followed by a scuba and photography one in Porto Cristo, Mallorca.

Spend some extra time working on a warm, sunny island in the mediterranean before returning to London… who would say no to that?

 

In the water every day, I soon found myself researching commercial diving schools in Spain and when I came across Tato Noain’s Escuela de Buceo Profesional one thing became clear: London would have to wait a little longer!

 

Why this page?

I have decided to document as much of this experience as possible, within the confines of what instructors as well as dive and work safety and discipline allow.

This project is primarily designed to serve as a nice memory for my colleagues as well as a Thank You to Tato Noain and his staff here at the school.

But perhaps a few of you out there, will find this interesting enough to keep reading.

What am I using and why?

Due to the nature of the course it’s not always possible to take pictures or video footage without hindering the progress of my colleagues as well as my own, or even potentially endanger my fellow divers. Therefore most of the photos will be taken on my iPhone 6S and videos on my GoPro Hero Session 4. I will often hand these to fellow students or instructors should I not be able to film or take pictures and of course I will attempt to credit everyone accordingly.
Whenever possible I will use my Canon 5D Mk II or my Canon 7D for stills as well as video.

What now?

In oder to keep you guys updated as quickly as possible, I will occasionally add further pictures or videos to already published “diary entries”. So please keep checking back in.

Enjoy yourselves and come along for the dive 😉

… and if you feel like it, go ahead and share.