My January Underwater

Another light month of diving due to yucky weather, but my OM-1 camera rig finally came together and I got to dive it!

January 9 - Fort Constitution (New Castle, New Hampshire)

Gear configuration: Olympus OM-1 + 60mm macro lens

First dive with the OM-1! We arrived ahead of low tide slack, which can be a bit dicey for visibility. When we arrived the water was crystal clear and very low, but it filled in some by the time we geared up and hit the water. We submerged and I started finding any little macro thing to shoot with the new picture. I felt like I was struggling with working distance and suspected I had accidentally set the AF limiter on the lens (which turned out to be correct), but I worked around it and got a good test drive on the camera. We found a couple small Coryphella nudis, tons of Acadian hermit crabs, lots of massive sea stars, plenty of open frilled anemones, and I even found a scallop. The water was freezing, but I’m excited at how well the pictures came out!

January 15 - Folly Cove (Gloucester, Massachusetts)

Gear configuration: Olympus OM-1 + 60mm macro lens

Dive #2 with the OM-1! I set the AF limiter correctly and it’s a good thing I did because there were tiny Placida dendritica EVERYWHERE. Dives like this are nice because I can start being choosy about positioning to capture the best images. I saw several Palio dubia, two Coryphella verrucosa, and a single Onchidoris muricata, which I utterly failed to get in focus. The conditions were great, the water was cold, and the air temperature was pleasant. This made for a quick warm-up once I got out of the water.

Pictures