Shooting Below Decks

Joseph C. Dovala · Issue 34, Jan/Feb 2007 · pp. 23–28

Products mentioned: Nikon D2X, Subal ND2, Nikkor 12-24mm zoom, Nikkor 10.5mm fisheye, Sea&Sea YS-120 strobes

Shooting Below Decks by Joseph C. Dovala Not all sunken ships are the same. There are shallow wrecks, deep wrecks, very old barely discernable wrecks, wrecks sunk in war, wrecks sunk to make artificial reefs, even wrecks placed on the sea bed for Hollywood movies. While each ship has a different history and characteristics they share one thing in common – they all have been transformed into undersea time capsules. The ship’s design reflects how life at sea existed in a particular era, and personal effects that went down with them signs a personal signature to those that walked and worked the decks. Even vessels placed intentionally on the bottom as man-made reefs, often have glorious histories contained within their hulls that can be felt by the astute diver during a visit. As artificial reefs they tend to attract, and ultimately, possibly sire their own population of critters from encru…