The young men
SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE!!! Fearless Explorers off shore Papua New Guinea. The literal middle of nowhere. These three young boys paddled their dugouts almost a mile t...
Read more
SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE!!! Fearless Explorers off shore Papua New Guinea. The literal middle of nowhere. These three young boys paddled their dugouts almost a mile to our dive ship to see us. Someone took a video of them and showed it to them. they squealed with delight because they had never seen themselves on 'film' before. If you look carefully, the young man on our left is blind in his left eye.
Read less
Read less
Nov, 2014Views
2457
Likes
Awards
Featured
Contest Finalist in Photojournalism Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
Love it
Genius
Emotions
Impressed
Happy
Top Ranks
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 1
Top 10 rank
Top 20 rankTop 20 rank week 2
Categories
Platinum
ricklecompte
January 18, 2015
My thanks to the Louisiana Photographic Society for awarding this image the 1st Place blue ribbon in January '14 for this image.
Platinum
Platinum
Zo45
June 03, 2016
Thank you for coming to Papua New Guinea.
Amazing Photography
Greetings from Papua New Guinea
Amazing Photography
Greetings from Papua New Guinea
PRO
brendaglen
November 17, 2017
Wow ! We live in such an amazing world. You are so fortunate to have had this experience. Thanks for sharing this wonderful photo.
Platinum
ricklecompte
November 17, 2017
My pleasure Brendaglen, as the Buddha said, "Do not tell me what you know, tell how much you have traveled" :-) Did you read the BTL at the very bottom of the page? More to story
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
I took this image out in the far flung reaches of the planet, in the true middle of nowhere, twixt active Volcanoes (elsewhere on my profile page), sailing for 10 days Near Papua New Guinea without touching a shore. We were hard core divers doing naught but sleep, eat, dive dive dive, eat, dive dive, eat dive and sleep again. There were about a dozen of us - a dozen photographers on a voyage of a lifetime!Time
These young explores approached our vessel around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They had paddled out about a mile in their tiny dugouts. They had no more fear of doing it as you own child would riding a bike. As I said, we were way way way off the world's beaten track and a visit by our small sailing ship was an event! They were excited and joyous. And just a sure as we were experiencing the thrill of discovery, so were they. One of the others aboard had a small video camera and filmed them. He turned round the camera & when they got to see the pictures of themselves moving and laughing - they exploded with pure boyhood glee. It was perhaps the first time they had seen themselves other than polished metal or a still pond or the glassy surface inside the collapsed volcano cauldron. I have other shots of them where I am below surface and they dive down to wave at me. NOTE: the boy on your left... his left eye... he is blind. No medical out here.Lighting
Papua New Guinea is right near the equator and the harsh sun beat down on us all the time. Every (and I mean every) day about eve time, there would come a storm of rain and winds. Then it would be gone again 'til tomorrow. Nothing ever dried. So light changed from soft and glorious to hard as nails. Flexibility is the key and what to prepare for. The nearest camera shop is a thousand miles away.Equipment
This was taken with my very first digital camera - a sony with a whooping 4 meg res and a lot of memory sticks. Sony made an underwater housing for this camera that fit in my BC pocket and strong enough to withstand a depth of 170 feet. Each night I would back up all the sticks in my laptop, reformat, and press ahead.Inspiration
I was latye coming to underwater photography. My snobbish attitude when asked, "Did you take pictures?". was if you want to see these things, learn to dive, and travel. Then one day off the coast of Belize at the 1st full moon in May, i was in a swarm of 6 Whale Sharks - each about 25 to 30 feet long. When I tried to convey the experience, the wonder of it, I saw eyes glaze over in disbelief. I bought the camera and have never set it down. I am inspired to show others the wonderment of our world. The diversity in flora and fauna that needs protected. Let my eyes as seen through images be their eyes.Editing
The image was pretty much as I saw it. I converted to Black and White, toned it slightly, removed some logos off things that were visually distracting. There is the original color version on my page.In my camera bag
I believe in travel light. When answering the Call to Adventure, it is camera, case, housing (if diving), a tripod I hardly ever use, batteries, storage and a laptop. I have a couple of filters but never have had them on the lens. My old 4 meg Sony is on the shelf these days. My main camera is a Sony A7m2 with a 24 - 240. I carry a Sony A300 as back up with a kit lens.Feedback
Want to capture this kind of sot? Feel deep inside yourself for the Call to Adventure. It is there! There are a 1,000 reasons to not do it, but not one excuse. You will always be not ready. There will always be something that takes your life away. The job, the kids. the wife. the planning. the money, the the the the. And it will be gone. Remember when you saw that image in your brain but the camera was in the house and you did not take it because the lawn needed mowing or the garbage taken out? That fleeting moment of time is gone forever, yet the grass grew again and there will always be more garbage. Go, GO! I wish thee well and look forward to that perfect image and memory from a distant exotic land captured and created by y-o-u. Geaux!
