Swimming with my 30D

[RAitch]

So, I'm back safely from Florida and have had a couple minutes to look at the pictures. There are some good ones but not sure how much I'll be sharing. I was mostly capturing family moments.

Here's a shot of the family that I almost pulled off. My wife looks a little distorted and it's not the sharpest thing in the world, but I thought it was different.

Yes, my son is pointing at my 30D and 24-105L (and probably one of Dante's memory cards) inches from the water in the resort pool. Some of the water level shots I took really turned out nicely. I love getting down low.

You should have seen the looks on people's faces when I climbed in the pool with my "huge camera". The comments I overheard were pretty funny.

Anyway, let me know what you think.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c124/houtbyr/People/IMG_7874.jpg

[mdm]

Very brave but I like the results.

[AmericanFirst]

Last Canon I saw go swimming NEVER worked... again! I guess it must be nice to be able to play fast and loose with $1700.00 worth of equipment. It only takes once... you slip and that's all she wrote. :lol:

[beckybun]

That is a super cute and creative shot :)

[cbock]

you're a brave soul! glad it worked out. nice shot. i'll be in so. fla. this summer. i don't think i'll be willing to do that!

[drisley]

That's one of the most frightening shots I've ever seen.
I cringe every time i look at you in the pool with the equipment!:eek:

[bolantej]

please, for the sake of our nerves, get a waterproof bag or something. adorable shot, though. glad it wasn't your last.

[Mathiau]

hehe, i have done that with my rebel before, got in the pool and hoped i didnt slip!

nice pic!

[Dante King]

.... I love getting down low.

Well snakes dont get very high. HISSSSSS. LOL. Glad to hear you made it back. Nice shot. Great colors. Tyler is cute as ever. Good thing he resembles mom! OH! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[bachscuttler]

Thats RAitch for you...always pushing the boat out creatively!

Great shot mate.

If you do ever slip in the pool and it dies, send it to me (you know where I am) and I'll carry it around pretending it's my second camera.

[Rob612]

Just make sure that you are in shallow water and be ready to raise your arm to keep the camera out of it even if you slip and end seated on the bottom. Wondìt' do it in deep water but in about 3 ft or less I've done it many times. And once slipped :) But my arm was long enough to keep the cam out. A few drops, but that was all.

[Keiffer]

WOW you are brave Rich, And please share some of the comments by the people about you getting in the pool with your expensive cam LOL. The things we'll do to get a new view:-) Cool shot by the way and hope you enjoyed your stay here in Fl:-)

[Jim G]

You got some balls :p Nice shot ;) I love the way your son is pointing at the camera and I'm not sure what you mean about not sharp, I can make out the individual hairs on his head just fine :p

[RAitch]

Waterproof bag? MAH! That's for sissies! ;)

Drisley... I can make you cringe some more... I probably took about 200-300 shots from water level. This was one of the few where you can see me though. If you knew my son, you'd appreciate how hard (and lucky) it was to get this shot. It's not framed perfectly, but I was shocked at how close I got. BTW, that's not cropped at all.

Dante... you always know how to make me feel better! LOL

Thanks Steve. If it ever falls in and turns into a brick... it's yours!!

Everybody else: thanks for the comments. I'll post some more pics if you want.

COMMENTS I HEARD: (people forget how easy sound travels over water)

"I can't believe they paid for a professional photographer to come out to the resort"
"I'll laugh so hard if that dude slips"
"Is that guy crazy? That camera must be worth $1000"
(if they only knew it's more like $3000+)
walking by the pool... stop... look... stare... ponder... continue walking away as I hear "what's with the guy in the pool taking pictures?"
"That's cool, one of the resort guys is taking pictures of people in the pool"
"I wonder how much they're paying that guy?"(BTW, we were with my brother-in-law so it looked like I was just taking pics of their baby or something LOL)

[RAitch]

You got some balls :p Nice shot ;) I love the way your son is pointing at the camera and I'm not sure what you mean about not sharp, I can make out the individual hairs on his head just fine :p
Yeah, parts are sharp, but I should have set a wider aperature to get more in focus. His face is really soft because I was the focus point.
I love that I got him pointing too. He loves to point... but rarely at the camera. He either wants to see the little kid inside the camera screen or turns the other way.
If he's been staring in 1 direction for 5 minutes and I walk over in front of him, he'll turn the other way. It's SOOO hard to get a shot of him looking at the camera.

[mrclark321]

Great shot Rich. :)

Dan

[Choderboy]

I reckon you did pull it off.

Got a laugh out of the spectator comments. (except the person who was going to laugh so hard if you slipped - that's just plain mean)

I would be paranoid about somebody (intentionally or not) diving into the pool and soaking the camera.

A broken body / lens could be funny - see what the reactions were when you did slip.

[Mathiau]

ahahaha

nice comments from people :)

and those are the same people who you look in their faily photo album and see the same pics over and over and over cause they dont dare do anything like that.

[RAitch]

I always try to do something different with angles... almost all of my shots of Tyler are from his eye level or lower. I like the way it makes him look bigger. I'm not a fan of the kid shots taken almost straight down because the photog didn't want to get dirty. There's only one pose I like that way... and it involves a cocked head and a big pout. Puppy dog eyes might help too.

[taramcg]

Love it! I agree, you are a brave, brave man.

[thescottandrew]

very nice shot, i would never be brave enough to take my camera in the pooll though:lol:

[Skrim17]

well he's already a year older...

[sixsixfour]

brave. i wouldnt even come near the water with one of my cameras unless im absolutely sure.

[MikeI]

That picture is awesome! Very unique...and my son has those same glasses!

I get a little freaked out when I take my camera out of the case when I'm ON my boat. I can't imagine being in a pool. You were one errant cannon ball away from disaster.

[twins29]

Nice shot but no zoom lens for this situation?

[RAitch]

Wow, I forgot about this one. How time flies!!
Thanks for digging Crissa... oh the memories.

Brave... stupid... I like to think there is a fine line between the 2. Would I do it again?? Sure. Would I go in the lake with it, probably not.

twins29: what do you mean? It's my 24-105 which zoomed last I checked. Does that mean you don't like the comp. and would have preferred something tighter or not so tight?

[karien]

WOW, it is stunning photo!! I like it a lot. And you are very brave!!

[twins29]

twins29: what do you mean? It's my 24-105 which zoomed last I checked. Does that mean you don't like the comp. and would have preferred something tighter or not so tight?

oh no i meant i would be scared to bring my camera in the water when i can be outside of the pool and taked pics with my zoom. not as brave as you.;)

[Canonista]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=329721

You're lucky those were the ONLY comments.... :)

[RAitch]

oh no i meant i would be scared to bring my camera in the water when i can be outside of the pool and taked pics with my zoom. not as brave as you.;)
Oh, OK... you mean tele. I thought by zoom you meant you didn't like how I was forced into the composition or something.

A long zoom would be an option, but the experience would be different.

Thanks.

[minton]

I'd be one of the people using a tele lens here.. It reminds me of a dream where I was by the sea and a large wave came and washed over me, soaking my camera (1d at the time). Ever since then I've been somewhat paranoid around large amounts of water!
Nice job though :)

[RAitch]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=329721

You're lucky those were the ONLY comments.... :)
It was always obvious I was taking pictures of only my family.

The stranger part was my brother-in-law was in the pool with us. To some, we might have looked like a gay couple that brought the nanny on vacation to watch the kid. LOL

[RAitch]

I'd be one of the people using a tele lens here.. It reminds me of a dream where I was by the sea and a large wave came and washed over me, soaking my camera (1d at the time). Ever since then I've been somewhat paranoid around large amounts of water!
Nice job though :)
It's not the only time I've been in water with my camera... but that day was the closest it ever was to the water. I was up to my neck.. almost chin in the water at time. I guess I was pretty stupid, oh well.

[Sugarman]

Very brave but I like the results.
Ditto! Great shot.