Message from John A. Scarlett
Welcome to my gallery. My name is Chip Scarlett, and I am a full-time executive in the biotechnology industry and a part-time underwater photographer and dive journalist.
For the tekkies: Like most underwater photographers, I am an equipment hog and have been through numerous generations of cameras, housings, and strobes. Not to mention dive gear. For a number of years I relied on the magnificent Nikon F5 in a Sea&Sea housing, backed up by the ubiquitous Nikonos V with 15 mm lens. The F5 was the epitome of a film camera underwater, especially with the DA-30 Action Finder, and I shed a tear or two as I sent both of my F5 bodies and the housing off to be sold. However, the ability to judge both exposure and - more importantly for me - precise strobe placement underwater led me to go all-digital. After several years honing my underwater digital skills with the Nikon D100 in both a Sea&Sea and Titan housing, I now shoot the D2X in a Subal housing. I also routinely travel with 6 - 8 strobes, including the Sea & Sea 90DXs and, more recently, Inon Z220s. Both of these strobes can be individually adjusted for power, which is very convenient when subject-to-strobe distance can't be altered easily because of terrain or other conditions. Being a dedicated Nikonista, I have invested in the newest series of wide-angle Nikon lens designed specifically for their digital SLRs. The Nikon 12-24DX is a lovely true wideangle (gives the equivalent of an 18-36mm zoom in the film world) that produces high quality rectilinear images. For the very sharpest of edges, I rely on the Nikon 16mm fisheye. Although this is a lens from the film world, shooting through the center produces remarkable wide-angle pictures. It is also the choice of many of us who are beginning to shoot Alex Mustard's "Magic Filter" without strobes. The filter is a rear-mount, which is much nicer than having to put a large filter on top of the 12-24mm. The Nikon 10.5DX fisheye is the digital cousin of the 16mm fisheye, but gives you a true fisheye perspective - underwater, the effect is very pleasing. All three can accomodate close-focus wide-angle shots. I'm experimenting with diopters, etc. at the moment to refine the wide-angle part of my repertoire. For macro shots, I rely on both the 60 mm and 105 mm Nikons. The newest version of the 105 now includes VR (vibration reduction) and improved autofocusing. If you look at my galleries, you'll notice that in the past I've been more oriented to macro than w/a - this reflects both Susan's and my love of critters and behavior - but I am slowly returning to the thrill of capturing w/a scenes and large animals that are inaccessible to non-divers.
And speaking of the magic filter - almost all the u/w images displayed in my Bahamas 2006 gallery were taken with Alex Mustard's "Magic Filter" (www.amustard.com). This isn't the place for a commercial or a serious description of its pros and cons, but this technology produces stunning wide-angle images in the right conditions (lots of ambient light; shallow; good viz), as I believe is demonstrated in this gallery. And yes, there are no composites in that gallery - they were very, very big tiger sharks. What fun.
For the few above-water shots I've included in this website, I've come to rely on the terrific 17-55 Nikon zoom lens. I rarely shoot a prime lens out of the water these days - this lens is just so sharp and crisp, it's hard to image doing better. I also lug along the 80-400 mm Nikon VR lens frequently, but it only gets used occasionally. f/4 is just awfully slow.
Incidently, the images taken on film were scanned using a Nikon 4000ED, which now mostly gathers dust on my desk, I'm afraid. The only film camera I have retained is my Leica M6TTL. There are some objects which retain their extraordinary lust-factor, even as they fade from the scene. I hope one of my grandkids-to-come appreciates it someday. However, the update is that I have also now obtained the all-digital Leica M8. As this is written, there is quite a bit of controversy over this camera and it's obvious beta-status ... the IR filter over the sensor leaves alot to be desired, among other early version glitches ... but I personally think it is a terrific camera that delivers very crisp, Leica images using a very low noise 10.2 MPx sensor. Let the other Leica fanatics (most of whom have not made the jump to digital before purchasing this body) rant and rave ... I'll keep mine, thank you very much. Of course, when the first firmware update comes out ...
For the divers: I'm often asked how Susan and I see these animals, when Joe and Jill Everydaydiver never do. I'm afraid the truth is that you have to go to remote, slightly dangerous places to see these sights. And go with really skilled boat captains, skiff drivers and other divers/photographers. Where to start? Try Fiji (for luscious soft corals, etc.) on the Nai'a, Bali/Komodo (for incredible macro) on the Pindito or Kararu (now Voyager), or the Cocos (for big animals) aboard the Sea Hunter. All three are relatively easy, safe (from kidnapping/terrorist attack), and the diving is superb. And when you go, upgrade your dive gear. This isn't kiddie Carribbean diving, and there's no US Coast Guard to find you or evacuate you to a recompression chamber. Consider redundant air sources (ponies, spare air, etc.), get a surface marker buoy (sausage) that's at least 5 ft in length, put noise-makers and whistles and strobes everywhere, and make sure the rest of your equipment (bc, fins, computers, etc.) are top-of -the-line and regularly serviced. Nothing like spending $5,000 to get there, only to have some key piece of equipment fail on the first dive. As we say, there ain't no repair shop in the middle of the Banda Sea. Again, for the propellerheads: Susan and I dived Scubapro everything for many years, and never regretted it. However, for the past 3 years we've dived the Atomic titanium first and second stage regulator (ours are T1Xs), as well as the titanium "safe second", or Air2 as most of us would call it. These are outstanding regulators, and when you service them after 2 years, they look brand new inside. The only reason to do a service is to replace the seals ... I'd consider stretching the service interval to every 3 years at the rate we're going. We also used to dive the Scubapro Classic BC routinely, but have moved to OMS backplate systems recently. This gives us lots of D-rings to hang all of our stuff, and we like the sensation of being suspended from the wing when we're diving. We also both carry small ponys - ours are 6 cu. ft. Luxfer aluminium tanks and Abyss combined tank valve/1st stage regulators, with Scubapro R390 second stages. This gives us enough gas to get up off a 130 ft. bottom and make the surface safety (but without much of a stop at 15 ft!). I've had two regulator failures at depth in all the diving we've done, and since I was basically solo diving each time, was pretty happy to have the pony, which made everything a non-event. Most people think it can never happen to them ... but Susan and I know better. Our surface marker bouys are Halcyon 4.5 footers with Trident stobes at the top, and we each carry an ACR strobe/flashlight on the straps of our BCs. For open-ocean diving (Galapagos, Cocos) we go with 6 or even 10 foot SMBs. Can't get enough orange in the sky when the waves are big and the divers are very, very small. One final note - I think the most important safety device I have is my bright yellow beanie - it's amazing how I can be seen in the water from small boats when divers right next to me with dark hair or black hoods just melt into the sea. The time to think about all this stuff is when you're dry and have the internet and a credit card handy - not when you've been drifting for an our at sea!
I'd like to acknowledge the people who have helped me become a much better underwater photographer in the past few years. Many thanks go to Berkley White and his colleagures at Backscatter, Inc. (Monterey, CA) for designing and servicing all this equipment, to Maurico Handler (Tortola, British Virgin Islands) who is undoubtably the world's finest instructor for advanced underwater still photography, to Larry Smith, the best divemaster in the world who taught me how to see and photograph pigmy seahorses (although sometimes only Larry can actually find them!), to David Doubilet, who continues to inspire and amaze us with his artistry, and to Ron and Valerie, Douglas, Bob and Dinah, Howard and Michele, Bill, Bret and all the other incredible friends and legends of the sea with whom Susan and I have been privilaged to dive and take pictures. May the Gods of wind, water and photoshop treat you well. And especially to Stan Waterman, who has been such a good friend to our family, and who so evocatively speaks the language of the sea, while still managing fit in the most ribald and salacious comments. Thank you all for some of the happiest moments of Susan's and my life.
Chip Scarlett
Austin, TX and Burlingame, CA
November 2006
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