420 Dive Log Australasia OCTOBER 2026

writing and underwater photography is the perfect antidote to the total mind control facing our society from a thousand electronic machines that are hell bent on manipulating our brains. Photography as a form of Art and creativity After you move past you one millionth underwater photo, you realise that it is more about the art form, capturing the beauty and magical light. Once you arrive here, it is art for art sake. The competitive drive mellows and the satisfaction of personal endeavour becomes more important. Expressing your individuality Electronic media has become all encompasing and almost everyone on the planet is trapped inside a bubble of technology including television, computers and mobile phones . On the whole, this may be a many sided blessing, increasing productivity and raising the standard of living. On the other side, it is increasingly more difficult to become an individual who can express creativity and acheive something special with their lives. Now that AI is doing a lot of the thinking for us and our tech masters are telling us how to think on every topic, the human race is heading down a very uncertain path. MInd control in the comfort of your own home has been the mantra of the curse of TV for

decades. Nowadays, mind control has reached dizzying level of sophistication where we are told what to think, what to buy and more. All of us are individuals and we all want to be recongised as a very unique and special creature. As I say many times, you have to find your own style of Underwater photography and the whole game is to please yourself, gain some mastery and hopefully a level of excellence. Following the crowd has its rewards but you are confined to the knowledge limit of the crowd. If they are uneducated, this can be a low bar. but being a real person is a better goal. How to maintain your individual style Keep learning. Keep trying to improve. Currently, I am learning about more than seventy ways to make changes to the composition of a photo from my land photo lecturer. Each concept can be useful in a specific situation and can make a photo really zing. Analyse your photos. Think about how a change of angle or background would affect the result. In short, the more mental input and planning you use, the better the result. Other benefits Photography is used in many other areas of diving such as: • Shark whale and dolphin research. • Giving public Lectures Preparing talks. • Running underwater photo courses.

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Dive Log Australasia #420 October ’26

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